Reply to: Trumped to a PHP contract by cheapskate who accepted £80 per day!

[Bright Spark]

many reasons why rates in PHP are low

1) recently there have been
a lot of new frameworks that have improved and speeded up development.
ie codeigniter,cakephp

2)proliferation of CMS's like joomla and drupal, clients just need to install these and they got a complex website in a few minutes + loads of plugins.

3) sites like elance.com
and getafreelancer.com, people from india etc bidding for php projects or
smart people in uk getting gigs and using the above sites to outsource the
work and earning comission .

4) credit crunch, demand / supply.

I only use PHP for my plan B, a few years ago I was thinking of doing PHP
contracting then looked at the rates and said sod it.

[Mich the Tester]

Keywords are POS and SAP. That combination always attracts decent rates I'd have thought.

Yep, but for testing it isn't really so important; if you know how to test you can test pretty much anything. Don't tell the clients though, it's quite useful having some SAP on my CV.

[expat]

Why all the hostility and disbelief? There is allowed to be such a thing as an entry-level position in IT.

Of course: but to me, an entry-level position would be "trainee". No experience or knowledge expected.

[Board Game Geek]

In a way, aren't these low rates just symptomatic of the reputation of IT. We're just data entry clerks after all?

As an old boss of mine was want to saying,

"IT ? It's not exactly rocket science is it ?",

before continuing to struggle with turning on his mobile phone...

[bobhope]

In a way, aren't these low rates just symptomatic of the reputation of IT. We're just data entry clerks after all?

[thunderlizard]

Why all the hostility and disbelief? There is allowed to be such a thing as an entry-level position in IT.

[jim2406]

it may be contract-to-perm and they havent put it in the advert (NHS technical jobs pay poorly due to how the bandings work, if you dont have 'manager' in your job title youre lucky to get 30k apparently)

i know contract-to-perm is quite popular within the NHS.

[zara_backdog]

So we can't really believe anything the pimps say?

I've just go a role at my going rate with no problem - are they just trying it o with these low rates?

[oracleslave]

Just saw this in CUK Urgent Contracts. It seems that if the job's really important Clients will still pay good money to get the job done properly. Either that, or they're fishing.



Location: Chertsey, Surrey
Salary: £500 per day
Company: LEXSTRA
Job type: Contract
Date posted: 08/12/2008 11:39:31

Test Manager required by international Blue Chip. Ideal person will have managed a multi party, multi system environment with POS devices in stores linking into SAP as the ERP, in a consumer retail based environment. You will be comfortable with test script planning, UAT, and dealing with the business users, you will know how the test stream fits into an overall programme delivery plan, and have extensive hands on testing skills, being willing to work hard, produce your own output and be prepared to get ?hands on?. Urgent role, immediate start offered.

Ref: CWJobs/AF/TM/CTCT/SUR/v1
Contact: Alexandra Fredjohn

Keywords are POS and SAP. That combination always attracts decent rates I'd have thought.

[jim2406]

i am doing NHS stuff with the same skillset in the same region for 3x that rate

hmmm....

[Mich the Tester]

Just saw this in CUK Urgent Contracts. It seems that if the job's really important Clients will still pay good money to get the job done properly. Either that, or they're fishing.



Location: Chertsey, Surrey
Salary: £500 per day
Company: LEXSTRA
Job type: Contract
Date posted: 08/12/2008 11:39:31

Test Manager required by international Blue Chip. Ideal person will have managed a multi party, multi system environment with POS devices in stores linking into SAP as the ERP, in a consumer retail based environment. You will be comfortable with test script planning, UAT, and dealing with the business users, you will know how the test stream fits into an overall programme delivery plan, and have extensive hands on testing skills, being willing to work hard, produce your own output and be prepared to get ?hands on?. Urgent role, immediate start offered.

Ref: CWJobs/AF/TM/CTCT/SUR/v1
Contact: Alexandra Fredjohn

[zara_backdog]

Hum..Any takers?

Just received this email:-

I am looking for a .NET Developer to join my Staffordshire based client on a 4 month contract.

Key skills: -
C#
ASP.NET
SQL SERVER

Rate = £12 p/h

This would ideally suit a developer with NHS experience and looking to gain progress further in an industry which will be recruiting heavily in 2009!

Please do not apply if the rate is insufficient for you.

Regards


Stuart Stanton

[KentPhilip]

IF you are currently on the bench (so have nothing better to do with your time), then offer the client some free "expert consultancy" time. A couple of days perhaps.

That will give you an "in" and allow you to observe the huge errors made by the newbie, and give the client the impression that you are the "natural" person to clean up the mess (at £300/day of course).

[expat]

I think £80 is below minimum wage taking into account sickness, holidays, insurance and employers contributions. If he is going thru an umbrella Co it will be illegal at that rate. Please name and shame the agent and client.

And the website, so we can be sure not to use it!

At that rate, wouldn't you get Working Tax Credit, Income Support; then since on benefits, not have to pay council tax or even TV licence; and then be able to get a mortgage holiday for 2 years and then get bailed out?

Fools and horses.....

[SirSickboy]

I don't flipping believe it! I was a shoe-in for a PHP contract paying £240 per day, which is pretty derisory in itself.

But today the agent rang to say the client had taken someone else, from another agency, who had accepted a daily rate of £80! FFS - That's almost the minimum wage!

Just up your rate to £300 a day when they need someone to unravel 4000 lines of spaghetti and fix all the security holes