Reply to: Working more locally

[Peoplesoft bloke]

short lived joy - gig gets canned next month - reasons beyond my control so I can't moan or feel bad. Nice while it lasted good luck to y'all.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Well done - I'm in the middle of a WFH gig at the moment, now through to the summer holidays.

Which means I can enjoy all that lovely north-western sunshine

After the last 4 years of sh1te weather I am actually considering moving abroad (e.g. Dubai) in the next year or so. Watch me get offered a gig about 2 metres from home if I do decide to do that....

[TheFaQQer]

Thanks to all who contributed - I actually scored a gig working from home for the first time ever without even trying (someone phoned me) - how lucky was that? Don't think it'll last long, but it's great for now.

Well done - I'm in the middle of a WFH gig at the moment, now through to the summer holidays.

Which means I can enjoy all that lovely north-western sunshine

[Old Greg]

Thanks to all who contributed - I actually scored a gig working from home for the first time ever without even trying (someone phoned me) - how lucky was that? Don't think it'll last long, but it's great for now.

Well done mate. Make sure you get out for a walk before you start work every day and at lunch as well, even if it's just to the newsagent.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Thanks to all who contributed - I actually scored a gig working from home for the first time ever without even trying (someone phoned me) - how lucky was that? Don't think it'll last long, but it's great for now.

Congrats

Wish me luck doing the same in the near future.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Thanks to all who contributed - I actually scored a gig working from home for the first time ever without even trying (someone phoned me) - how lucky was that? Don't think it'll last long, but it's great for now.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Peoplesoft, Rather than closer to home, why not try to get one working from home. It's getting more common these days.

I wish - never found a client yet who would let me do this

[Bagpuss]

Peoplesoft, Rather than closer to home, why not try to get one working from home. It's getting more common these days.

[nomadd]

It's not just the rate that's the problem with local jobs, it's also the sheer dreariness a lot of the time. Every job I've done down in London, or in Europe has been for big name clients on interesting, fast-moving and high-profile projects which other clients recognise on your CV, and which end up in public view on the web, so you can actually show your work to people.

I've done three local contracts around Manchester, and they've all been corporate intranet, half-launched, bland projects with vague, moveable deadlines. And they're always based on dull industrial estates which you have to drive to in a car and where you die of boredom if you try going for a lunchtime stroll. And I'm starting another of those roles in the New Year after finishing my current one in London.

Yes, I'm looking forward to less travel and being at home by teatime, but I'm also bracing myself for a bleak and uninspiring few months at work.

Yeah, kind of in the same position myself. Moved heavily into the High-performance/low-latency "grid" side of things on a couple of projects here in London. Most interesting work I've done in years; almost feels like doing a hobby. Rates are getting manic down here too, as it's quite a hot skill to have at the moment. An IB down here will pay up to £700-800+ / day at the moment. Hard to walk away from that for £300-350 a day in Manchester on a job that is dull as ditch water. Absolutely nothing in this line of work in the NW.

If only some of the damn IB's would relocate their IT R&D centres to the NW. Been dreaming of that one for 20-odd years now...

[dang65]

It's not just the rate that's the problem with local jobs, it's also the sheer dreariness a lot of the time. Every job I've done down in London, or in Europe has been for big name clients on interesting, fast-moving and high-profile projects which other clients recognise on your CV, and which end up in public view on the web, so you can actually show your work to people.

I've done three local contracts around Manchester, and they've all been corporate intranet, half-launched, bland projects with vague, moveable deadlines. And they're always based on dull industrial estates which you have to drive to in a car and where you die of boredom if you try going for a lunchtime stroll. And I'm starting another of those roles in the New Year after finishing my current one in London.

Yes, I'm looking forward to less travel and being at home by teatime, but I'm also bracing myself for a bleak and uninspiring few months at work.

[Fred Bloggs]

I'm not in IT but for my skillset (process engineering) in the NW I have never seen a job paying more than £45 and that is very rare. There seems a real problem with getting over the £40/hour mark. My last job (finished in April this year) in the NW was paying £42.50. For the last 18 months there has been virtually no work really to speak of at any rate. Recently, similar process engineering jobs have been paying about £37/hour. There has been a flurry of jobs recently, far more than any time over the last 18 months, so hopefully rates will pick up a bit in 2011. I'll be back in the NW market aboout May 2011 I think.

[nomadd]

I would take 275 and it's still awful. Have rates always been this bad?

Nope, was on £525 / day as recently as a couple of years ago in the NW.

In 2009, I was getting calls for the same job at under £200. A nice Indian gentleman from TechMahindra. I just kept laughing. He kept on phoning. At one stage he was advertising the role on Jobserve for £160-180.

Rates seem to have climbed back up since then, but they've climbed back up in London too. An average rate I see in the NW is about £350. Can near double that in London, so might as well stay here for a couple more years...

EDIT: An average of £350 for my line of work, I should have said.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

£300 is my expectation for the NW. It's still been dire.

I would take 275 and it's still awful. Have rates always been this bad?

[Mephisto]

I feel very speshul to be only just the wrong side of £300 p/day in the NW!

Would take a bit less to stick around too but more than prepared to shift elsewhere if/when the bigger rates come calling from Londinium or the M4 corridor... or Surrey/Hampshire/Kent/<insert generic county from the Sarf here>

[BolshieBastard]

£300 is my expectation for the NW. It's still been dire.

300 a day is near the top end of the current market for the NW. I know the role in MC with the NHS was over 300. Other roles with CIS were 275ish.

Point is for 25 quid a day and being local, why do people insist on 300 a day or better?

Im on 300 a day with an international bank in the NW. I commute an hour and a half each way daily. By the time my contract ends, I'll have been there for a year. Im in my 3rd spell with them so tbh, chasing an extra 50 to 75 quid a day but living 200 miles away doesnt appeal.