Reply to: State of the Market

[Bluenose]

Been out of contract since the end of June - never known the market as bad. I'm a tester (Analyst/Lead/Manager/Programme Manager) and been doing it for over 25 years. Done, Finance (N Rock), Public Sector (NHS, HMRC, DWP), Retail (Morrisons and Poundland) and Pharma (Merck, Oxford BioMedica and Genmab). I've had 3 interviews in 3 months - it's dire.

It's a question of timing whenever we go through a bear market, testing is one of the last things to pickup.

the pipeline for testing work over the next market cycle is enormous due to the aforementioned SAP/Oracle/Dynamics/Salesforce avalanche but I can't see it warming up for another year.

try and get a EU work permit if you can.

[eek]

Microsoft Dynamics 365 - why is this appearing in every other job post all of a sudden?

Whenever I see a statement about Dynamics - the first question is which part of Dynamics are you talking about because it's a very broad area.

From Finance to resource management through HR and Customer service to Sales and Marketing

[Wobblyheed]

Been out of contract since the end of June - never known the market as bad. I'm a tester (Analyst/Lead/Manager/Programme Manager) and been doing it for over 25 years. Done, Finance (N Rock), Public Sector (NHS, HMRC, DWP), Retail (Morrisons and Poundland) and Pharma (Merck, Oxford BioMedica and Genmab). I've had 3 interviews in 3 months - it's dire.

[Bluenose]

Microsoft Dynamics 365 - why is this appearing in every other job post all of a sudden?

Sap decided to go cloud first and then cloud only. this triggered a load of procurement decisions amongst their customer base and I guess SAP didn’t win them all.

[MyUserName]

He can be bothered to do a hard days graft. Very rare amongst contractors.

Hmmm ... not worth it ...

[alphadog]

But the work I put in at school and college in order to get a place at Oxbridge, and the hard work required during the degree course itself was an "investment", one that I hoped would pay out -more- than the work I put in to do it. That's the reason we make investments - to get out more than we put in, otherwise what's the point. It is the case that Oxbridge graduates do better in their careers on average than non-Oxbridge graduates, and that was why I did it.

So I think I am entitled to feel a little disappointed that this hasn't worked out for me in the way it has for most other Oxbridge grads or even non-oxbridge grads, but you're right that I must not have achieved very much since.

Well done for getting into oxbridge and graduating. I once wondered whether I could go there for a masters degree, but didn't look into it seriously in the end. I probably considered it for superficial/status/enjoyment reasons rather that what I should have wanted (hard work / improve myself, etc).

I guess in careers there is always an element of chance in the doors that open to you, and when they open to you. Not every one is going to make it to the C-suite. But not everyone wants to make it to the top either. Over the years I've come to realise that ambition/persistence (something I don't have a lot of) is an important aspect that has a significant bearing on how careers can progress.

Whatever the case, I hope you are happy enough and appreciate your own achievements. If you want more, you could try dialing up your ambition and letting it express itself in your interactions with others, and see what happens.

[GJABS]

I have met many Oxbridge graduates whose careers didn't turn out like they hoped. Mainly because they defined their worth by the day they received an acceptance letter rather than what they had achieved since.

I worked with a Cambridge graduate who complained that his boss favoured interview candidates from tulip universities because he attended one (Bath).

This was despite his boss being five years younger than him and an MD to his VP.

But the work I put in at school and college in order to get a place at Oxbridge, and the hard work required during the degree course itself was an "investment", one that I hoped would pay out -more- than the work I put in to do it. That's the reason we make investments - to get out more than we put in, otherwise what's the point. It is the case that Oxbridge graduates do better in their careers on average than non-Oxbridge graduates, and that was why I did it.

So I think I am entitled to feel a little disappointed that this hasn't worked out for me in the way it has for most other Oxbridge grads or even non-oxbridge grads, but you're right that I must not have achieved very much since.

[tsmith]

Microsoft Dynamics 365 - why is this appearing in every other job post all of a sudden?

[TheDude]

Overall a £350/day contract in the place (the city), where conventional wisdom states that rates of pay should be at their highest, isn't much of a crowning achievement to the career I thought I might be able to expect when I went to study at Cambridge Uni all those years ago

I have met many Oxbridge graduates whose careers didn't turn out like they hoped. Mainly because they defined their worth by the day they received an acceptance letter rather than what they had achieved since.

I worked with a Cambridge graduate who complained that his boss favoured interview candidates from tulip universities because he attended one (Bath).

This was despite his boss being five years younger than him and an MD to his VP.

[northernladuk]

What is the skill?

He can be bothered to do a hard days graft. Very rare amongst contractors.

[MyUserName]

I am in contract at the moment (although the renewal decision is going to the wire) but I have a skill on my LinkedIn that must be desirable as I have had multiple calls for it.

What is the skill?

[SussexSeagull]

I am in contract at the moment (although the renewal decision is going to the wire) but I have a skill on my LinkedIn that must be desirable as I have had multiple calls for it.

[northernladuk]

I think agencies have been shifting more to LinkedIn, I would throw the towel in on jobserve tbh.

My burner has been working like a good 'un these past six weeks, the market is alive it's just that certain parts of it are dead and others are going beserk. The record for the past 12 months was set on Wednesday when it went off eight times about eight different roles.

Witness the requests for 15 SAP contractors for one project and 8 Salesforce contractors for another.

I doubt there is a single benched SAP contractor on this board who's linked in inbox isn't lit up like a Christmas tree.

At this rate, by the first quarter of next year, I reckon there won't be enough Sap, Oracle or Salesforce consultants in the world to do the work that's needed.

I saw that as well. Even though I wasn't looking in that area I've got SAP on my CV and late August my inbox went mad. There were at least 3 major clients running massive programmes to switch to S4. Two of them had multiple agencies looking so got numerous calls for the same clients. Was a tad hectic to say the least.

[ladymuck]

This is true.
I was an Apple Macintosh support engineer contractor back in 1996 working for Cable and Wireless in Milton Keynes. I remember there was a room full of system architect contractors who it was said were on £1500/week - which seemed like a huge amount of money back then compared with my £643/week.



My career history is chequered.
While I have had periods of long running contracts with multiple extensions (such as in 2013 for two years a small company in Maidenhead £370/day SQL DBA), and more recently an energy company on the south coast, on and off for 3 years at £400/day, I have also had several periods of months off with depression (caused, I found out recently, by undiagnosed untreated autism), and also after the end of several contracts periods of months where I have chosen to put off applying for roles as I haven't needed the money (live with parents) and felt like a break. A bit lazy, true. I have around 20 contracts on my CV, which might suggest to clients I might be getting fired regularly (I was only "fired" from two of them though, they said I was no good).
I have also only done one training course (Microsoft exam) every 5 years or so (also lazy, possibly), and have tended to be pigeon-holed by clients into doing work where I already have the experience, so have not been able to acquire many new areas of experience.
To rectify the situation I think I need to do more training in order possibly to justify clients giving me work in those areas. But at age 53 is it worth it?
Overall a £350/day contract in the place (the city), where conventional wisdom states that rates of pay should be at their highest, isn't much of a crowning achievement to the career I thought I might be able to expect when I went to study at Cambridge Uni all those years ago

Cambridge you say? I wonder if you were there around the same time as my partner!! He was at the Corpus Christie dinner this weekend....

[GJABS]

£350 a day is about £85K a year and some void period at end if you don't walk into another role.

£80K (£40per hour) was the going rate in the City in the mid 90s, 30 years ago!

They are not going to get many or any good CVs for that rate.

This is true.
I was an Apple Macintosh support engineer contractor back in 1996 working for Cable and Wireless in Milton Keynes. I remember there was a room full of system architect contractors who it was said were on £1500/week - which seemed like a huge amount of money back then compared with my £643/week.

If you are any good then they got lucky.

My career history is chequered.
While I have had periods of long running contracts with multiple extensions (such as in 2013 for two years a small company in Maidenhead £370/day SQL DBA), and more recently an energy company on the south coast, on and off for 3 years at £400/day, I have also had several periods of months off with depression (caused, I found out recently, by undiagnosed untreated autism), and also after the end of several contracts periods of months where I have chosen to put off applying for roles as I haven't needed the money (live with parents) and felt like a break. A bit lazy, true. I have around 20 contracts on my CV, which might suggest to clients I might be getting fired regularly (I was only "fired" from two of them though, they said I was no good).
I have also only done one training course (Microsoft exam) every 5 years or so (also lazy, possibly), and have tended to be pigeon-holed by clients into doing work where I already have the experience, so have not been able to acquire many new areas of experience.
To rectify the situation I think I need to do more training in order possibly to justify clients giving me work in those areas. But at age 53 is it worth it?
Overall a £350/day contract in the place (the city), where conventional wisdom states that rates of pay should be at their highest, isn't much of a crowning achievement to the career I thought I might be able to expect when I went to study at Cambridge Uni all those years ago