Reply to: Current state of the market

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

i'm sure marrillionfan was recently boasting about he could get that type of work anytime he wanted. Are you just not as good as him ?

luckily I am still in contract. I was however trying to make the switch, but will now be staying put.

Maybe I am not as good at MF, though maybe we are also in different areas...

[mrdonuts]

I have not seen it as bad as this since I first started looking in late 2009. It's really bad at the moment. I am looking for BI/data warehousing roles and they are almost non-existent - last year I was constantly getting calls about them, it seems things have finally started to bite in terms of the economy and jobs...

i'm sure marrillionfan was recently boasting about he could get that type of work anytime he wanted. Are you just not as good as him ?

[Notascooby]

Is not it a bit of a mammoth task learn both Java and .net?

Would have thought you'd end up being the jack of all trades, master of none, if you went down that line.

Not really they're pretty similar, I know guys that hop from one to the other. Depends on how deep or niche within each you want to go. Rent-a-coder should be able to handle both.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

If your skills are not niche I would say the market at the moment is the toughest for years. Very few companies are actually spending on IT at the moment.

I have not seen it as bad as this since I first started looking in late 2009. It's really bad at the moment. I am looking for BI/data warehousing roles and they are almost non-existent - last year I was constantly getting calls about them, it seems things have finally started to bite in terms of the economy and jobs...

[rd409]

So the question is what skills keep you in contracts. There is such a vast range of contractors, from PMs to Java devs to support roles, that when someone says its easy/hard it doesn't help anyone much unless they say what line of work they are in.


I'm a Java dev and read the advice on here about researching your market, but the only thing I can find is the market rates and the amount of job adverts there are. It's not enough for me to know if contracting is a good move for me.

PM me your email address, and your location. I might be able to help.

[rd409]

Nope, don't agree; it's a sweeping generalisation - almost verging on arrogance.

You can have all the skills and attitude you want, but that doesn't mean you'll get a role.

1) To get a role, firstly they need to exist.
2) Secondly, you have to get past the gatekeepers, who, as we know, take their top 3 and ditch the rest. There could of course be a few agencies who are putting 3 candidates forward, so the competition increases.
3) Then you've got to get through the interview & hope you've done enough to get the role. Naturally there will be some disappointed people, who then return to the job boards.

My perception of the market currently is that it is light on roles, and heavy with candidates. Depends what area you are in of course. There might be an abundance of IT roles, but that doesn't mean the remainder of the market is buoyant. Competiton currently is fierce.

I disagree with you. I am on my contract no. 6 since 2009 not including a couple of renewals. Being a contractor, you need to stay focused all the time. You need to adapt according to the market. If the market is light on the roles, then you need to adapt accordingly. May be lower the rates, up the skills, differentiate yourself from the rest of the competition. And again, you cannot expect to be in contract all the time for skill A alone. You need to develop a broad range of skills that you can swap according to needs. If you are just an ASP.Net developer, then tough luck, but if you think you are a .net developer, who can write test scripts, do a bit of documentation, run story boards, can be a SCRUM Master, run workshops etc. then I doubt you stay on bench for long, unless you try really hard for it.

[Robinho]

I'd recommend you look at adding C# to your belt - being able to do both, as long as you're felxible on location, you should be laughing. But there's a lot of people with these skills.

Is not it a bit of a mammoth task learn both Java and .net?

Would have thought you'd end up being the jack of all trades, master of none, if you went down that line.

[Notascooby]

You'll find that even media want people with media experience - it makes no real difference but like banks - they feel if you've worked in that environment that somehow it makes a difference to the code you produce!

So that's you niche.

Unless you get some @rse doing a stupidly tricky technical interview you'll be fine picking something up, if there's roles available. Whether you hold on to it, well that depends on whether your skillset is deemed too weak or not.

Get your CV out there, make sure you list the areas that you feel happy in, no point getting a gig doing back-end Java if you're more of a JSF / JSP type.

[Wils]

Notascooby, Thanks for your reply. Still a little confused as I don't have any of things that would mark me out as niche.

I have several years experience with 'blue chip' media company but I would have to be honest (modest?) and say that I am of average ability - seen many a lot worse but seen many better than myself too. But then again I am only looking for a couple of years work at £350 - £400 pd and I would be moving on to something different (non IT). That feasible or dream world for someone like me?

[Notascooby]

So the question is what skills keep you in contracts. There is such a vast range of contractors, from PMs to Java devs to support roles, that when someone says its easy/hard it doesn't help anyone much unless they say what line of work they are in.


I'm a Java dev and read the advice on here about researching your market, but the only thing I can find is the market rates and the amount of job adverts there are. It's not enough for me to know if contracting is a good move for me.

I'd recommend you look at adding C# to your belt - being able to do both, as long as you're felxible on location, you should be laughing. But there's a lot of people with these skills.

Niche is king - within IB - CharlesRiver / Thinkfolio all command rates of £700 for developers, that's double your average C# role - just for having a little experience on the product.

But then you're less likely to have a detailed design and a team around you, so you're expected to have client facing skills and be able to do more than churn out code.

Infrastrucutre architecture seems good, as does Infrastrucutre PM. Finance PM there's loads of roles as with finance BAs.

Security is a good ticket, bit of self-study and you can have a CISSP if you've got the experience within the sector.

Peoplesoft / SAP / Oracle financials - try and get someithng specific that you can sell, rather than being a generic developer, BA, Architect etc.

Notascooby - generic architect (finance)

[Wils]

So the question is what skills keep you in contracts. There is such a vast range of contractors, from PMs to Java devs to support roles, that when someone says its easy/hard it doesn't help anyone much unless they say what line of work they are in.


I'm a Java dev and read the advice on here about researching your market, but the only thing I can find is the market rates and the amount of job adverts there are. It's not enough for me to know if contracting is a good move for me.

[fullyautomatix]

If your skills are not niche I would say the market at the moment is the toughest for years. Very few companies are actually spending on IT at the moment.

[MyUserName]

I can only talk about my experience but my first contract is ending this month, they offered an extension but another company offered me a 6-12 monther with almost as much money over an hour closer to my house. I did not actually enter the market as such as I got head hunted but it can be done.

[SteelyDan]

Personally never taken any notice of this 'tough' going lark. Contracted since 1997. Never had a problem getting a contract.

If you have the skills & more importantly attitude you'll always get a contract.

Nope, don't agree; it's a sweeping generalisation - almost verging on arrogance.

You can have all the skills and attitude you want, but that doesn't mean you'll get a role.

1) To get a role, firstly they need to exist.
2) Secondly, you have to get past the gatekeepers, who, as we know, take their top 3 and ditch the rest. There could of course be a few agencies who are putting 3 candidates forward, so the competition increases.
3) Then you've got to get through the interview & hope you've done enough to get the role. Naturally there will be some disappointed people, who then return to the job boards.

My perception of the market currently is that it is light on roles, and heavy with candidates. Depends what area you are in of course. There might be an abundance of IT roles, but that doesn't mean the remainder of the market is buoyant. Competiton currently is fierce.

[MarillionFan]

Hello everyone - this is my first ever post on this forum
I have been contracting since Oct 2010 in a mixture of Opps Management and Project roles prior to that I was permanent for 7 years for a blue chip -
My last contract expired in Dec 2011 and have been off since, I have only recently started looking for a new contract seriously and have found it quite tough going was wondering how other are finding the market and if you have any tips - I have been told that it should pick up around feb and then around April when budgets etc get approved however I think i will go crazy i do not find anything before then !!!

14 months does not make you a contractor. 1/2/3 contracts?

The first contract is easy. The second the hardest. 3/4/5/6th then yes consider yourself contracting.

Personally never taken any notice of this 'tough' going lark. Contracted since 1997. Never had a problem getting a contract. Now on 35 different contracts in the last 15 years, longest on the bench was 6 weeks and I was lazy getting into the market. If you have the skills & more importantly attitude you'll always get a contract.