Reply to: State of the Market

[oliverson]

I've said it a few times on here before but the .Net Developer Contract market is gone, and from what it seems other developer tech stacks aren't faring much better.

Currently on a FTC, which ends in 10 months and I've realistically got 7 years until I can even think about retiring. So I'm looking at using the next 10 months to try and pick a niche that will see me out.

I'm not sure that's going to work either.

I have a 'deep' background in .NET, going back to when it was in beta and more recently lots of 'in demand' skills ranging from Azure to AWS, Kubernetes to Iac (Terraform). Front end (Angular/React), backend (.NET, Node).

What good are these skills doing me in today's market? Absolutely **** all. I can barely get a sniff of anything. Any ads I apply to from the likes of JobServe or LinkedIn result in absolutely nothing. A black hole into which I fire my CV. Any follow ups to the agent that I track down on LinkedIn. Nothing. My network? Next to nothing. It is as if there's a force field around the contract market that is hell bent on preventing me getting back in.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this, so, I don't think it's your skills that are the issue.

Just seen Rachael from accounts on the TV peddling more bad news to come, resulting in the pound dropping in value. That's going to be good for business eh?

Looks like the lifeline somebody threw me as I was drowning in my nightmare the other night has been yanked away!

[malvolio]

Wow that is intrusive...

Not at all. Just think what it is aiming top protect.

It costs the sponsor a few thousands as well, so it is not done lightly.

And, of course, there are levels above DV, and different vetting requirements across different organisations even for DV.

It is not as simple as many people think.

[Cookielove]

Have had SC clearance for years. Quite straight forward, takes 3-4 months. DV is a whole different ball game. Can take 12 months to get. 20-30 pages to fill out and they go deep into your finances and even look into your friends and family. Quite often they will interview them too. It's incrediblty intrusive and puts a lot of people off. I would love to have DV but never had the opportunity.

Wow that is intrusive...

[malvolio]

Saw a job but it says that you must have active SC Clearance as a minimum, with DV-Clearance a preference.

DV I don't know a huge about but I think that is not easy or quick and is usually for senior civil servant types...anyone know?

I don't have current SC clearance and I've never had DV clearance.

Perhaps have a read of this thread. It's old, long and tedious, but the first couple of pages will answer most questions.

[avonleigh]

Saw a job but it says that you must have active SC Clearance as a minimum, with DV-Clearance a preference.

DV I don't know a huge about but I think that is not easy or quick and is usually for senior civil servant types...anyone know?

I don't have current SC clearance and I've never had DV clearance.

Have had SC clearance for years. Quite straight forward, takes 3-4 months. DV is a whole different ball game. Can take 12 months to get. 20-30 pages to fill out and they go deep into your finances and even look into your friends and family. Quite often they will interview them too. It's incrediblty intrusive and puts a lot of people off. I would love to have DV but never had the opportunity.

[coolhandluke]

I've said it a few times on here before but the .Net Developer Contract market is gone, and from what it seems other developer tech stacks aren't faring much better.

Currently on a FTC, which ends in 10 months and I've realistically got 7 years until I can even think about retiring. So I'm looking at using the next 10 months to try and pick a niche that will see me out.

[Cookielove]

Saw a job but it says that you must have active SC Clearance as a minimum, with DV-Clearance a preference.

DV I don't know a huge about but I think that is not easy or quick and is usually for senior civil servant types...anyone know?

I don't have current SC clearance and I've never had DV clearance.

[Ketto]

The money savings of offshoring give the impression of it being a good deal. Having worked with offshore teams in my last gig, I am not convinced there is really a saving - they were bloody hopeless and workshy and the communication barrier was difficult.

Earlier we were talking about Agile slowing the work down - there was one sprint we did where the offshore devs spent 2 weeks to write literally 3 lines of code. Last week I wrote 1500 lines of code in a morning! In my view a smaller but higher quality team of British engineers would have cost the same and moved at least twice as fast, so would have been twice as cost effective. Shame its hard to get this accross to those who hold the purse strings somehow.

My favourite recent example was a Technical Author whose first language wasn't English, who booked £65,000 of resource time for updating the text on seven web pages via a Content Management System. Having to explain to a Technical Author the use of to/two/too, there/their etc was painful. The acronym for Number Once blew his mind too.

[TheDude]

Done 2 longer contracts - both 3 years, outside IR35 on an open ended rolling contract. Both were great, really interesting work, and constant billing for a long period like that is great for your personal finances too! Both fairly unique situations though, I don't really expect to find things like that. But I do agree about the risk of stagnation skills wise, you have to keep up in this business.

All of my contracts have been over two years in duration...until last September.

I have done three short term contracts since then with breaks in between. Those non billing months really do add up.

[TheDude]

Good news - I have just been informed I am a perfect match for this role: Senior Java developer (Chinese speaking)

[willendure]

I think this is all fair comment. Plus I think offshoring has improved to the point that even if it isn't the best option in terms of quality, the money savings make it worthwhile.

The money savings of offshoring give the impression of it being a good deal. Having worked with offshore teams in my last gig, I am not convinced there is really a saving - they were bloody hopeless and workshy and the communication barrier was difficult.

Earlier we were talking about Agile slowing the work down - there was one sprint we did where the offshore devs spent 2 weeks to write literally 3 lines of code. Last week I wrote 1500 lines of code in a morning! In my view a smaller but higher quality team of British engineers would have cost the same and moved at least twice as fast, so would have been twice as cost effective. Shame its hard to get this accross to those who hold the purse strings somehow.

[willendure]

Done 2 longer contracts - both 3 years, outside IR35 on an open ended rolling contract. Both were great, really interesting work, and constant billing for a long period like that is great for your personal finances too! Both fairly unique situations though, I don't really expect to find things like that. But I do agree about the risk of stagnation skills wise, you have to keep up in this business.

[Ketto]

I know that feeling. I can feel the brain rot setting in when I've been somewhere for too long.

Me too, as i negotiate new five month SOW taking me into year three due to state of the market.

[ladymuck]

Ironically, with hindsight, the longest contracts I did were amongst the worst career moves I ever did in the long term because you fall into a rut of turning up, doing what turns into repetitive work and keep invoicing.

I know that feeling. I can feel the brain rot setting in when I've been somewhere for too long.

[SchumiStars]

Ironically, with hindsight, the longest contracts I did were amongst the worst career moves I ever did in the long term because you fall into a rut of turning up, doing what turns into repetitive work and keep invoicing.

Yep I agree.

I had a 3yr contract and when I came back out, the technology had moved on considerably. I had loads of experience of existing software but nothing new.

I spent some time interviewing for roles which I could do but the methods (git, tdd, jira, node) were not my toolkit. Had so spend some time, in lower paid roles for the upskill.

I say lower rate, I would be over the moon now with that or any offer! Right off to bed, more running and gym tomorrow.