Reply to: State of the Market

[oliverson]

Just to add. I do absolutely need a job,.contract prr ******* something.

Just had a look to become an Uber driver and from what I can see, it looks like it will cost ~£1k to get a taxi license from tfl. Not sure if this a route I want to go down, although I am running out of options ATM.

Not a great choice if you do sell the car, as indicated in one of your previous posts.

I've been in your shoes, particularly in the financial crash as I too contracted in London (banking) so I know how it feels (evictions, car repossessions, hours away from home repossessions, ruined credit file, £ 1.20 in my bank account on Christmas Day, etc, etc), but forget about any medication, etc., you don't need it, you just need a break.

I learned a lot from that period, so when it happened again Covid/Brexit/IR35, I was better prepared, so much so that I rode out a 17 month period on the bench, which is a lot longer than the aforementioned bench period. I wasn't over committed on outgoings and I survived by borrowing money as my credit file had been 'repaired', i.e. the defaults had all dropped off after 6 years. I was talking to insolvency practitioners and it got quite close but at the 11th hour, out of the blue, somebody pinged me on LinkedIn. 3 years down the line, things look mighty different thank the lord.

My advice to you would be, and it probably doesn't seem like it right now, BELIEVE things will turn around. If you can take on additional borrowing to survive, DO IT. You know that when you're back in contract, the money is good and whilst recovery and repair does take time, at least the wolves are kept from the door. As others have speculated, I do now believe that when these two elections are out of the way and interest rates start to fall, the market will pick back up again. Why wouldn't it? Perhaps not as lucrative as it once was due to IR35, but perhaps that goes away with Labour's proposed 'Worker' status, which to me sounds like inside IR35 but with employee benefits. I've got a mate on an inside gig at a London bank, on something like £ 850 a day. He's going to be mighty pleased if he gets sick/holiday pay and a pension as well.

Have faith, things turn around, they always do, from one dev to another! I'm living proof and today I just signed another 12 month extension. So my 'recovery' from 17 months on the bench goes on!!

[Fraidycat]

I am a highly experienced software developer who can code in Java, C#, EpiServer, SQL.

Just some feedback on what jumped out at me when looking at your linked in profie:

I am an experienced Java dev i have no idea what Epi server. Is there lots demand for this skill?

Your linked in profile also mentions this skill more than once.

I only mention this because your linked in profile comes over as very high level to me, i hope your CV is different.

As a java dev i would hope your CV has more detail about Java, things like, Multi threading, OOP design patterns etc, Spring/Hibernate/REST API development.

If you have any C/C++ programming i would mention this on my CV mention to give hirers a feeling that you can get your hands dirty with lower level languages as well.

[SchumiStars]

Just to add. I do absolutely need a job,.contract prr ******* something.

Just had a look to become an Uber driver and from what I can see, it looks like it will cost ~£1k to get a taxi license from tfl. Not sure if this a route I want to go down, although I am running out of options ATM.

[rocktronAMP]

Can you rent for while, just cut your cloth till things pickup. I've had to do that after divorce etc things will get better.

I watched a bit of BBC Breakfast (breaking my last advice), but this news is relevant.
£6,054 average mortgage arrears (Source: StepChange)

JFC! That is the state of the nation, 2024. So it is not just you. It is us. Lots of us owe money to whoever, wherever on whatever: houses, flats, cars, bikes, gas boiler installation / urgent renovations, kitchen and/or bath installation, flood rework and the rest of it.

As contractors, we used to slap £18K on a used nearly-new car without concern. (Circa 2013 / 2014 for me) We thought we were in the money, literally. Now it is scratching on PCP car schemes and monthly subscription for hybrid of electric. (We're missing the hope-and-a-pray emoticon)

[SchumiStars]

Aye, I've found this to be such a toxic behaviour, especially common in boomers.

"Therapy? Pills? Absolutely not! We're not weak...we just need to get on with it!"

I'm not a boomer. I was born in 1977!

In my spare time, I am active in a number of sports including boxing and cycling, which looks after my mental health.

I am always grateful for what I have, as we all know it could be a lot worse. This also helps mental health.

I am not saying I'm without issues. I have Asperger's and ADHD, and that I don't end up in negative mental cycles.

If I have a positive mindset then positivity will follow.

I am a highly experienced software developer who can code in Java, C#, EpiServer, SQL. I am a higher Oxford grad who lives and works in London. I am the man. At some point, the world will know my name, until that, I will continue to grind.

...hope dies last.

[PCTNN]

If you don't need medication then I agree with you that you shouldn't be taking it. However, if someone does need medication, that isn't a sign of weakness.

(Again, I'm not trying to talk you into anything, I'm just concerned about anyone else who might be reading this who has clinical depression.)

Aye, I've found this to be such a toxic behaviour, especially common in boomers.

"Therapy? Pills? Absolutely not! We're not weak...we just need to get on with it!"

[SussexSeagull]

No I don't have any of these. I am too strong for anything like needing pills. I just need a job.

Going to put the car up for sale. I do love that car and it's been in the family for 25yrs but no point holding onto something that could help.

Being down is an entirely understandable reaction to your current plight. I know, I have been there. However if it ever looks like turning to depression, go and see your GP and take whatever treatment he recommends.

It's not about being strong.

[GJABS]

No I don't have any of these. I am too strong for anything like needing pills. I just need a job.

I'm sure you are strong, but everyone has limits to what they can handle.

[hobnob]

I am too strong for anything like needing pills.

If you don't need medication then I agree with you that you shouldn't be taking it. However, if someone does need medication, that isn't a sign of weakness.

(Again, I'm not trying to talk you into anything, I'm just concerned about anyone else who might be reading this who has clinical depression.)

[WTFH]

I’ve been contacted by three separate agencies recently to work for Mrs Sunak’s tax-free organisation. The role is replacing someone on a client site, who didn’t work through them and who the client don’t want to replace, but the ClientCo were not aware that the no-existent role was being advertised. I let their head of IT know over a couple of bottles of wine yesterday evening (since he signs my timesheets) and he was not impressed.

[Fraidycat]

The pressure is mostly in the head, i risk a nervous breakdown when i have financial problems. But my dad was the opposite, while I was growing up he would be in perpetual mortgage arrears and not pay council tax/rates and the bailiffs would come knocking often. And he would not even be stressed about it all. He would re mortgage every few years to pull out equity and pay off this debts. House prices were going up so much in the 70s and 80s, he could do that


In SchumiStars situation he would have gone to his mortgage broker and seen how much equity he could pull out of the house.

[SchumiStars]

You're saying that because you've got anxiety and depression. I know what it's like
I would suggest seeing your GP for some medication in the short term at least, even benzodiazepines, to get you over the worst of this.

No I don't have any of these. I am too strong for anything like needing pills. I just need a job.

Going to put the car up for sale. I do love that car and it's been in the family for 25yrs but no point holding onto something that could help.

[GJABS]

Hoping to have long departed before I get to the end of the mortgage. Although, I may bring it forward if this does not resolve soon.

I can see why people do themselves in. The pressure is immeasurable.

You're saying that because you've got anxiety and depression. I know what it's like
I would suggest seeing your GP for some medication in the short term at least, even benzodiazepines, to get you over the worst of this.

[Fraidycat]

The pressure is immeasurable.

Its a lot worse if you don't have an understanding spouse (i don't). A bit easier if you do. Well off parents or in-laws would be a nice backstop. Failing that you need a big war chest and/or access to credit lines.

"Elon Musk was once in such dire financial straits that the parents of his then-girlfriend Talulah Riley, the British actress who was dating Elon Musk at the time in 2008, offered to remortgage their house in order to keep his companies from collapsing. recalled that even though his companies – SpaceX and Tesla – were teetering on the brink of oblivion, Musk turned down her parents' offer.
'He looked like death itself,' Riley said.
'I remember thinking this guy would have a heart attack and die. He seemed like a man on the brink.' She said that Musk was nearly broke when he began suffering from what might be known as 'industrial night terrors.' 'He was in physical pain,' Riley said. 'He would climb up me and start screaming while still asleep.'

[Unix]

Hoping to have long departed before I get to the end of the mortgage. Although, I may bring it forward if this does not resolve soon.

I can see why people do themselves in. The pressure is immeasurable.

Can you rent for while, just cut your cloth till things pickup. I've had to do that after divorce etc things will get better.