Reply to: State of the Market

[avonleigh]

I’ve been a front-end contractor for 15 years. But the current market feels very strange.

I see contract roles that are a perfect match; Same tech, same level, same kind of work and my CV is good, 2 pages, clear, up to date.

So I apply but hear I nothing. No reply at all!

I did get calls for two roles, but both were put on hold...

Are there even real jobs on the market right now? Or are roles being posted without budget or approval?

This is depressing...

There are jobs but still only a slight improvement on the last 3 years imho. Also the problem is there are so many people out of work currently, it's astonishing. Every other person I see on LinkedIn seems to be 'open to work'. I also saw somebody post a PM contract the other day and had 435 CV's in 6 hours. Then you have AI filtering out CV's, so even if your CV is excellent, you may not even get to the recruiter unless all your keywords match the ad.

[cyborg1337]

I’ve been a front-end contractor for 15 years. But the current market feels very strange.

I see contract roles that are a perfect match; Same tech, same level, same kind of work and my CV is good, 2 pages, clear, up to date.

So I apply but hear I nothing. No reply at all!

I did get calls for two roles, but both were put on hold...

Are there even real jobs on the market right now? Or are roles being posted without budget or approval?

This is depressing...

[ladymuck]

The slightly more security conscious seem to use Citrix. Others just use M365, not always with MFA.

[Dorkeaux]

I've only used my own kit since the end of 2018. Do firms still dole out laptops to contractors?

Sure, some.
In the last 5 years, all my clients have shifted to Citrix implementations instead of secure-ish laptops.
But there are still lots that dole out the laptops.

[sadkingbilly]

only if they work in spain.

[caminito]

The good old days when you could install software on a company PC easily... nowadays need a SNOW request just to get internet access. I recall being on one project as a consultant and someone installed Morpheus (P2P file sharing) on the laptop and downloaded about 2GB of songs. That would be a sackable offence these days!

I've only used my own kit since the end of 2018. Do firms still dole out laptops to contractors?

[TheDude]

Aggravating. Is this for a permie role?
In defence of the interviewer, Mrs Dorkeaux is often asked to conduct interviews on behalf of PermieCo, her employer.
She is given no agency whatever.
The interviewees will not be working with her, the interview questions are scripted.
She is not permitted to deviate from the script, and as you say the interview is recorded an summarised by a LLM.

She gets very frustrated not being able to follow lines of conversation nor leave out stupid questions.
Seemingly, it all comes down to liability and risk.

Contract role. Inside IR35. The rate is the same as I was earning in 2013 at the same bank when I was outside IR35

[Dorkeaux]

Aggravating. Is this for a permie role?
In defence of the interviewer, Mrs Dorkeaux is often asked to conduct interviews on behalf of PermieCo, her employer.
She is given no agency whatever.
The interviewees will not be working with her, the interview questions are scripted.
She is not permitted to deviate from the script, and as you say the interview is recorded an summarised by a LLM.

She gets very frustrated not being able to follow lines of conversation nor leave out stupid questions.
Seemingly, it all comes down to liability and risk.

[TheDude]

Interview Friday.

Interviewer reading from script, interview recorded and analysed by AI.

Example dialogue:

Interviewer: What were some of the new features introduced in Java 8 and Java 21?

Me: I am not a Java developer.

Interviewer: *pauses*

Interviewer: In Java 21 how would you implement a....

[malvolio]

The good old days when you could install software on a company PC easily... nowadays need a SNOW request just to get internet access. I recall being on one project as a consultant and someone installed Morpheus (P2P file sharing) on the laptop and downloaded about 2GB of songs. That would be a sackable offence these days!

Probably was then, had anyone taken any notice!

Mind you I had to deal with an irate MOD manager when his new server was running slowly. It turned out the ops were using the built in CD player to play Merlion albums (among other dross) and soaking up a chunk of system memory and marginal CPU power

[hungry_hog]

Done a lot of public sector roles over the years. One time I was on a 12 month role. Used to walk past this lady's desk when I needed to go to lunch / toilet etc. Every time I would see her playing solitaire on her pc pretty much. A lot of people in the public sector are doing nothing but don't leave. Mainly cos their employer is paying 28% into their pensions every month. Another project I was on three of the team were playing championship manager most of the time. Cos there is no urgency to projects and often big delays. They were contractors too and not permies.

The good old days when you could install software on a company PC easily... nowadays need a SNOW request just to get internet access. I recall being on one project as a consultant and someone installed Morpheus (P2P file sharing) on the laptop and downloaded about 2GB of songs. That would be a sackable offence these days!

[avonleigh]

Done a lot of public sector roles over the years. One time I was on a 12 month role. Used to walk past this lady's desk when I needed to go to lunch / toilet etc. Every time I would see her playing solitaire on her pc pretty much. A lot of people in the public sector are doing nothing but don't leave. Mainly cos their employer is paying 28% into their pensions every month. Another project I was on three of the team were playing championship manager most of the time. Cos there is no urgency to projects and often big delays. They were contractors too and not permies.

[ladymuck]

I was offered a gig at a local authority before Christmas. I start next week. That's how the public sector operates...

Makes you understand why all these councils are broke.

[willendure]

An opportunity presented itself at a bank where a friend is currently contracting. Sent my CV to the hiring manager and the feedback was that I've been out of investment banking too long (several years after ten years solid), so I think that door is closed for me now.

On a different note, I'm now two months into my new contract. This is the first public sector contract I've ever had and what a complete pile it is. Loads of people doing absolutely nothing. Death by scrum. Same rate I was on back in 2004. As good as it gets?

I'm thinking maybe I should have stayed retired!

*Loads of people doing absolutely nothing*

The only perk of working in the public sector holiday camp.

[Dorkeaux]

Aside from the usual shower of nothingburger lowball roles from the agencies no one has ever heard of, I am getting an increasing number of calls for roles falling into an appropriate range.

One today was very promising, and approaches (but doesn't meet) my highest ever rate from some years ago.

Once you discount the obvious chancers, I feel the availability of roles and rates have started to improve.

Fingers crossed.

PS
.. and another one just now. They aren't blinking at my ask for day rate.

Worth noting that these are not the result of me actively looking, nor being intrinsically awesome nor having the fabled "niche skills" but rather me distributing my CV in a promiscuous and unseemly manner for many years.