Reply to: Stupid Low Rates :(

[AlfredJPruffock]

I am now commanding a net increase of 10 per cent from my previous rate - so my hourly rate is now a princely Fiver Fifty ie 5.50.

Eat your hearts out !

[Bright Spark]

I tend to use this salary survey to justify to agents my rate if they
quote below, if above then obviously don't mention it.

http://www.robertwalters.com/resourc...tedKingdom.pdf

[Euro-commuter]

I think my skills are starting to become less valuable.

For the last few years I've demanded (and got) very high daily rates, but over the last 6 months most of the jobs that I see are now £150/200ish a day less than they were last year.

Who can I blame for this?

Contractors who assess the market rate by listening to what agents tell them they can get.

Maybe there's a place for us to list our actual current rates, possibly anonymously? That is real data.

[Captain Dispensable]

Yeah, buy a 3 year old Bentley and save a packet

[Cowboy Bob]

Not in the office normally wins :-)

Unfortunately in our case, the toys normally win out - though it's never more than a few hundred quid. We don't go over the top. There needs to be a balance between saving all your wonga and living like a student, and blowing all your cash on a new Bentley IMO. Life is there to live after all...

[bobhope]

I'm on a good rate too, but the technology is dated and possibly dying.

However I don't give a damn - because I haven't got "accustomed" to having a £100k+ annual paycheque and I'm still living below my means. I'm realistic in that I know I may not be able to ride this gravy train for long so I try to save/invest until I'm at a comfortable level. I never saw contracting as a long term option and would be happy to get just 5 years out of it at this rate. After that I wouldn't give much of a tulipe.

There is a danger that contractors can get used to bringing in great earnings and then blowing it all away month after month. Having said that though, most on this board don't seem to be that type and seem to understand the need to restrain themselves.

That's pretty much my anthem:

Give me 5 more years and then I'm home free.

I don't know if the current market has legs on it or not though.

I've never really blown lots of cash anyway, but recently, whenever I've been tempted to buy anything (e.g. toys) I think:
what would I rather have: the toy or the equivalent time not in the office.

Not in the office normally wins :-)

[Troll]

Foreigners – by ourselves – is not a complete option. It should state – “Foreigners/Government/”Employers taking advantage of cheaper labor” .

I'm so peeved off with correcting the work of the cheaper labour imports. It seems to be the norm now to fill positions with imports but have a UK national heading up the team.
Do I stop doing it and insist I will only be responsible for those people I personally recruit... likely to get shown the door very quickly

...or what?

[2uk]

Foreigners – by ourselves – is not a complete option. It should state – “Foreigners/Government/”Employers taking advantage of cheaper labor” .

[ChimpMaster]

I'm on a good rate too, but the technology is dated and possibly dying.

However I don't give a damn - because I haven't got "accustomed" to having a £100k+ annual paycheque and I'm still living below my means. I'm realistic in that I know I may not be able to ride this gravy train for long so I try to save/invest until I'm at a comfortable level. I never saw contracting as a long term option and would be happy to get just 5 years out of it at this rate. After that I wouldn't give much of a tulipe.

There is a danger that contractors can get used to bringing in great earnings and then blowing it all away month after month. Having said that though, most on this board don't seem to be that type and seem to understand the need to restrain themselves.

[milanbenes]

'I'm currently on the highest rate I've ever been on. But then I do make a point of trying to keep up with the latest technology in my spare time to make sure I don't lose my competetive edge. It's time consuming to do this - as Mrs Bob will attest - but worth it in the long run.',


well done Bob.

Good job everyone else is too lazy to do this otherwise we'd have a lot of competition

Milan.

[Captain Dispensable]

What you see isn't necessarily what you can get.

The cynic in me says the jobs advertised with rates that are very low are simply the scumbag agents trying to portray the market at that level, when in fact they'll be creaming off a bigger cut if they can convince contractors that poor rates is all they can expect.

All you have to do is keep in touch with other contractors you've worked on recent projects with and ask them what kind of rates their getting in their new roles. If it's substantially different from what's being advertised or told by agents, guess which one's most likely to be lying!

If others you know are on low rates then I guess you're right, you're screwed, and hopefully it's just a low ebb in the normal cycle of things. Otherwise time to get some different skills/specialities.

[Kyajae]

I thought it'd been a while since you had any attention

I was trying to keep a low profile until you came back

[The Lone Gunman]

Where is the all of the above option?

[SallyAnne]

It's cuz your fat and ginger! (That's for putting my name in your poll )

I thought it'd been a while since you had any attention

[Kyajae]

I think my skills are starting to become less valuable.

For the last few years I've demanded (and got) very high daily rates, but over the last 6 months most of the jobs that I see are now £150/200ish a day less than they were last year.

Who can I blame for this?

It's cuz your fat and ginger! (That's for putting my name in your poll )