Reply to: Bench update

[rz6bm7]

How long have you been out of contract?
1 Months, initially out of choice (turned down my last extension to re locate / have baby (not me , my girlfriend - I had given birth the IT market wouldn't be a concern ;o) )

What area of IT do you work in?

PMO Wintel PRINCE2 large infrastructure (maybe a little lot hands off of late)

How are you finding the market at present?

It's not good rates are down lots of people talking about jobs but no one paying any money topped with no one here (in france) using Prince2 or Wintel infrastructure & no one in the UK paying enough to commute for.

[zemoxyl]

How long have you been out of contract?

Just about3 months - but not seriously looking.

What area of IT do you work in?

Oracle - anything to do with it.

How are you finding the market at present?

Some life. Improving. But a wise man would be looking to re-skill in areas where there is plenty of demand. Check the IB jobs for example.

[zemoxyl]

Hmmm...

I Oracle DBA'd for several years (contract) and so still know a fair number in that field. Not a single one of them is on the bench - and they have nothing like the additional skills you list above. Mind you, they do do Production DBA work. Couldn't you just put this on your cv? On the assumption your DBA skills are up to the job and you'd actually want to do it.

This is London-based, BTW.

I think there's definitely work to be had in the banks, if your last contract was production DBA.

[nomadd]

DBA work bores me to death. I can do it as a stop-gap, but I really don't want to do it...

Amen to that. I only used to do it on the two development teams I led as there was no-one else with the Oracle skills. But doing it full-time would make me want to shoot myself. Then again, it depends on how long you end up spending on the bench. Could always be a short 3 month'er sort of thing you might find; even I could handle that, if only to watch it top up the warchest.

[TheFaQQer]

Hmmm...

I Oracle DBA'd for several years (contract) and so still know a fair number in that field. Not a single one of them is on the bench - and they have nothing like the additional skills you list above. Mind you, they do do Production DBA work. Couldn't you just put this on your cv? On the assumption your DBA skills are up to the job and you'd actually want to do it.

This is London-based, BTW.

DBA work bores me to death. I can do it as a stop-gap, but I really don't want to do it, and having no real world experience of it makes the chances of getting a gig in it negligible.

[nomadd]

How long have you been out of contract?

Just over 6 months - last billable day was August 28th

What area of IT do you work in?

Oracle - anything to do with it. eBS Functional, eBS Technical, hybrid, bespoke development, Workflow, Forms, Reports, PL/SQL, DBA stuff (but not a production DBA)

How are you finding the market at present?

Slowly picking up, but not a great deal around. Have already extended my jobserve search to include permie roles, just in case.

Hmmm...

I Oracle DBA'd for several years (contract) and so still know a fair number in that field. Not a single one of them is on the bench - and they have nothing like the additional skills you list above. Mind you, they do do Production DBA work. Couldn't you just put this on your cv? On the assumption your DBA skills are up to the job and you'd actually want to do it.

This is London-based, BTW.

[TheFaQQer]

How long have you been out of contract?

Just over 6 months - last billable day was August 28th

What area of IT do you work in?

Oracle - anything to do with it. eBS Functional, eBS Technical, hybrid, bespoke development, Workflow, Forms, Reports, PL/SQL, DBA stuff (but not a production DBA)

How are you finding the market at present?

Slowly picking up, but not a great deal around. Have already extended my jobserve search to include permie roles, just in case.

[cojak]

Perot
ICL
Sema
Hoskyns

Now that's just cruel!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_auditors

[BenchMaster]

Who are these BIG 4 consultancies?

Perot
ICL
Sema
Hoskyns

[cojak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhCSTwIwfsA

Here will tell you

[peterc2609]

Who are these BIG 4 consultancies?

[TinTrump]

How long have you been out of contract?
2 months

What area of IT do you work in?
ERP & BI tools

How are you finding the market at present?
Still on holiday and not actively looking but at least the email contract updates I receive are more numerous than this time last year.

[norrahe]

Some consultancies are hiring.........

Contractors we hope?

[SueEllen]

It's just a shame that all the big consultancies aren't hiring, or they use ICT's/offshoring to get the job done.

Some consultancies are hiring.........

[cojak]

No, you're not stupid. I didn't articulate clearly.

All of these banks use the facilities of consultancies large and small.
Starting with the big 4 management consultancies, big technology consultancies and so forth downwards.
Any one you care to mention will have/have had an agreement with the banks to supply services.
Get yourself onto the books of one or more of the majors and they'll bodyshop you out to the retail or investment banks or financial institutions.

Therein you get the banking experience you require. Same guy, different hat.
And I'm talking from experience here.

HTH.

Rats, had I thought of that I might not have turned down a permie offer from a consultancy.

You live and learn...