How bad is it?

[Jason]

In my world (C#, WPF, Banking) the market is pretty much dead and anything that gets advertised is raped by hundreds of applicants. I can't believe it will continue this way. Surely the new financial year must bring some opportunities. It better had!

Try widening your net a little. Go outside of pure Banking, try for instance Visa Europe, or Insurance or such.

One thing everyone should remember The Olympics, most organisations have a freeze during that time, and with the security status in London in the run up to the Olympics, many organisations are ready to freeze before that in case of an incident.

[oliverson]

In my world (C#, WPF, Banking) the market is pretty much dead and anything that gets advertised is raped by hundreds of applicants. I can't believe it will continue this way. Surely the new financial year must bring some opportunities. It better had!

[russell]

Well inevitably, I work in banking. .Net, C#, SQL Server skills.

Why is it inevitable, can't a C# developer not work in banking.

[SimonMac]

Looking at the sites I think just before the start of the new financial year is not a good view of the market in general, hold tight for a month or so and enjoy your time off, its what I am doing.

[nomadd]

Well inevitably, I work in banking. .Net, C#, SQL Server skills.

Are you Indian..? Do you have terrible English skills..? Do you take one bath a week..?

Going off the .Net/C# guys around this IB, that's the profile you need to be employed. Oh, and plenty cheapness.

Might be time for you to re-skill.

EDIT: I meant one bath a week or less.

[walshy]

Thanks for the responses

Well inevitably, I work in banking. .Net, C#, SQL Server skills.

[Vandalay]

Seems to be quite a few Business Intelligence / MI roles around over the last few months.

[nomadd]

As a past contractor who went perm but now is being forced out of his job, how bad is it out there?

Reading through a lot of the posts there looks like theres a fair few skilled people out there struggling to find the roles?

As a side question, whats the typical interview process for a role now-a-days? 1 interview, 2? Competency based/pure techinical etc?

Been out of the game for 10 years so looking for an insight. Cheers.

Booming!

(But then I hate both Microsoft & .Net. )

[Scrag Meister]

[JamJarST]

Like others have said it really does depend on what your skill set is. You can't really expect us to be able to answer the question do you? I can tell you that their seems to be a decent amount of contracts for SAP FI/CO consultants, rates are down a little but still doable.

[AndrewK]

I would say .NET banking sector in London is almost dead.

[BolshieBastard]

As a past contractor who went perm but now is being forced out of his job, how bad is it out there?

Reading through a lot of the posts there looks like theres a fair few skilled people out there struggling to find the roles?

As a side question, whats the typical interview process for a role now-a-days? 1 interview, 2? Competency based/pure techinical etc?

Been out of the game for 10 years so looking for an insight. Cheers.

Depends what your specialism is, where you are, how far you are prepared to travel, what rate you are after.

I think the market is 'difficult' all year round now and you have to be flexible in both rate and location. I know one contractor who has been out since May last year, Myself I've only been on the bench for a total of 4 months in 4 and a bit years but I consider myself fortunate.

[walshy]

As a past contractor who went perm but now is being forced out of his job, how bad is it out there?

Reading through a lot of the posts there looks like theres a fair few skilled people out there struggling to find the roles?

As a side question, whats the typical interview process for a role now-a-days? 1 interview, 2? Competency based/pure techinical etc?

Been out of the game for 10 years so looking for an insight. Cheers.