Originally posted by SchumiStars
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Reply to: State of the Market
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Previously on "State of the Market"
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TBF, it's probably harder to find PMs than Devs ATM. i.e. Loads of Devs available.
Living on a prayer, as usual.
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Would say Project Managers come first in a project not BA's. I have always believed when there is a lot of demand for PM's the dev and test roles will follow. Wouldn't give that article any credence though. Agents always churn stuff like this out. Guess we will see in a few weeks if there is any real confidence returning,
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Originally posted by SchumiStars View PostWhy the emphasis on Project Management, Scrum when there are no projects to deliver or manage?
Usually it's the BAs that are required early in a project to build the reqs.
Doesn't look great for tech, again. Surprised to see the low of 54mths, that would put us in COVID. Perhaps the increase we saw was just a flash in the pan, 2yr upward blip.
Think, i will take it, as a pinch of salt tbh.
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Why the emphasis on Project Management, Scrum when there are no projects to deliver or manage?
Usually it's the BAs that are required early in a project to build the reqs.
Doesn't look great for tech, again. Surprised to see the low of 54mths, that would put us in COVID. Perhaps the increase we saw was just a flash in the pan, 2yr upward blip.
Think, i will take it, as a pinch of salt tbh.
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This is from the update I get from a recruiting pimp about, oddly enough, the state of the contracting market. As ever, take with a pinch, etc...
The Market
2024 is now out of the way and from a market perspective, many organisations and individuals are glad to see the back of it. Whilst we witnessed some stable periods of activity across the contract market, our own MI backed up with industry data shows the market contracted significantly from the end of 2022, with demand for IT contractors hitting a low for us in December 2023 and a UK 54-month low in December 2024 (REC).
As highlighted in previous newsletters, the market downturn has been down to a number of factors, the majority of which can be attributed to economic uncertainty due to both national and global macro-economic factors such as budgets, elections, wars, inflation and interest rates, all of which have led organisations to pause programmes, limiting investment and spend over the past 2 years.
Looking ahead to 2025, the outlook remains cautious but optimistic. Business confidence is expected to improve as firms adapt to new economic conditions and post-Budget changes. There is pent up demand for change and transformation, both to address legacy issues but also to continue digital transformation initiatives, not to mention the inevitable focus on both Cyber Security and AI adoption.
It has been an encouraging start to 2025. Whilst we don’t expect the market to pick up significantly across Q1, there are strong indications that we will see the IT Contract market grow over the course of the year - hopefully this will be borne out!
Nothing about return to office vs WFH, sorry Schumi.
qh
Last edited by quackhandle; 8 February 2025, 16:29.
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If UK hirers don't hire many contractors, then they don't know what to look for (outside of a tick-box checklist or recommendation). I used to specialise in working for clients that don't have experience with analysis /architect /testing for difficult projects. They want the work doing, but don't know how to do it, or have brought in suppliers who then get stuck. Repeated roles month after month that never get filled. For that reason, I'm out and now retired. Jobserve app has been deleted, if recruiter gets in touch then great. Crazy market times.
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The guy I was with, he hired a SQL DBA/Developer, outside, 50ph, working for 50hrs per month. The guy he hired was living and working in Canada.
The outside contracts can be worked by people outside the country which is bizarre to me. That people outside the UK are getting UK jobs, paid higher!!
THIS IS THE STATE OF THE MARKET!!!
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I was out last night to one of my favourite restaurants in London.
Prior to lockdown, Fri night, you would struggle to get to the front of the bar. As I was driving round, most of the pubs looked half empty.
Ok, so yes, it was freezing cold and it was raining but there did seem to be lot less people out. Even the place I went to used to have queues outside as seem to have diminished.
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Originally posted by Bluenose View Post
I think thats a bit of false equivalance there, the global CAGR rate for technology is estimated at 10% per year, every year for the next ten years.
The money is there on the table globally and it is a big money.
But its not on the table for mediocre coders or devops peeps that want to contract and not leave the M25 - you need to be top notch and willing to be flexible.
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Doesn't there always have to be average contractors on the grounds that there has to be people in the middle of the good ones and the bad ones? Also, if all the average and bad ones drop out of the market some of the good ones will become average and bad.
I think the actual ability to do a contract well and being good at what you do gets diluted by everything having several hundred applicants and clients chasing a unicorn that exactly matches everything they could possibly dream of.
However the bigger problem is the contract market, especially outside IR35, has disappeared and if it ceases to be a channel clients look at then it really doesn't matter how good you are at what you do.
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Originally posted by dsc View Post
Very much this, I always found the UK odd in the sense that there was huge amounts of very average contractors easily landing contracts as there wasn't enough people on the market.
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I'm not looking as I've retired, but a friend sent me a few links to DevOps contracts, outside IR35, etc. The market doesn't seem that bad to me (or him). Are you guys looking sure you're not stale? When did you last update your skillset? If you're sat there doing the same Java or .NET that you did 20 years ago, what do you expect? Or if you're one of the millions of JavaScript developers only, either front or backend, did you not stop to think of potential supply/demand issues down the road as bootcamp after bootcamp churn out rookies with those skills, all prepared to work for far less than you or I?Last edited by oliverson; 7 February 2025, 17:04.
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Originally posted by dsc View Post
Wow this might actually be very interesting, basically means all bods need to be inside the UK, so any offshoring is practically finished.
The guidance appears to suggest any Govt work is out of scope now.
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Originally posted by Manic View Post
No you used to be able to get Basic (BPSS) outside the UK and therefore work on some Govt work. We have been told HMG have tightened the rules and as a result all non resident BPSS clearances will be revoked by our security vetting team. We were informed this week.
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