Reply to: How's the bench these days?

[MarillionFan]

Minestrone your link now makes perfect sense.

There is a mis-apprehension in life and on this site that all those who post here are contractors.

This is not the case. We have contractors, entrepeneurs, permies who used to be contractors, permies who want to be contractors and benchers who were once contractors or permies and think that they are in fact contractors. They are not. They are unemployed or those who need to get a grip and find a nice safe permanent role.

If you've had to apply to 600 odd positions before getting a contract only to find yourself benched less than a year later then there is a reason. The reason is you're not cut out for it. Move away from IT or take a safe job. Dressing gowns are for those on the dole.

Make a lifestyle change and stop flogging a dead horse.

[RichardCranium]

I'm just off to my new contract this morning

Congratulations! Don't work too hard - you'll set expectations.

Do be sure to report back on the standard of ClientCo food, the amount of tottage etc.

[RichardCranium]

I thought the market was quite good. Im just off to my new contract this morning, having taken one email and one interview to get it.

Must be my winning personality or niche market.

It'll be the niche market.

[MarillionFan]

I thought the market was quite good. Im just off to my new contract this morning, having taken one email and one interview to get it.

Must be my winning personality or niche market.

[RichardCranium]

How's the market? Do I need to worry the public sector is laying off thousands? And that the private sector is laying off thousands? And that records are being broken in unemployment? And that even JobStats seems to have died a death? Is it as doomy and gloomy out there as my empty jobs inbox appears?

Having done two weeks research, I can see the answer for myself.

Updated and uploaded my CV to everywhere to make the 'phone ring...

Re-activated all the automated 'ideal jobs' emails ...

Spoken to all my previous agents (those still in recruitment, anyway): ...

Contacted people via LinkedIn to see what is going on at previous ClientCos (those that still exist, anyway): ...

Checked my various sources for getting public sector gigs: ...

I see Jobserve has half the jobs it had a year ago. No wonder Jobstats has given up.

Oh tulip.

[Mich the Tester]

It is legacy IT system permmies, integration contractors, integration Bobs.

Can't happen until legacy systems are no longer required (i.e. post integration).

Papers and news made it sound as if they started shovelling people out the door yesterday. Not true.

Q3 next year I tells ya............

I know of at least one bank that's never got rid of any legacy systems; they can't because the legacy systems operate as interfaces for all sorts of other systems and they've sacked the people who now anything about them; once you get in and start learning a bit about some 'empty' 20 year old system that's kept running for fear of what happens if they switch it off, you can stay pretty much as long as you like. Trouble is, in my case, as long as I liked isn't very long at a bank.

Oh, and this applies to approximately half of their nearly 2500 systems.

Easy money.

[TestMangler]

Yesterday's Bristol Evening Post front page headline:

LLOYDS Bank is to make 120 Bristol workers redundant in cuts in its IT department.

Admittedly no cull date is mentioned.

It is legacy IT system permmies, integration contractors, integration Bobs.

Can't happen until legacy systems are no longer required (i.e. post integration).

Papers and news made it sound as if they started shovelling people out the door yesterday. Not true.

Q3 next year I tells ya............

[TimberWolf]

There isn't a Lloyds cull, despite what you've been reading.

Any cull at Lloyds won't happen until Q3 next year.

They're currently trying their best to get important contractors tied up well in to next year.

The cull will come at the END of integration, not in the middle of it.

Yesterday's Bristol Evening Post front page headline:

LLOYDS Bank is to make 120 Bristol workers redundant in cuts in its IT department.

Admittedly no cull date is mentioned.

[Mich the Tester]

Or for government regulators to decide that the bank they've created is too big and needs dis-integrated and sold off.

Isn't confusion just great

Yep, bwilliant stuff. ABN Amro and Fortis were merged and bought by the Dutch state; now monopoly regulators are saying the bank's too big and needs to be split somehow (prob insurance split from banking), so those who've done well out of the integration projects will soon do well out of the split.

ING got about 30 billion in income support from the state in 2008 to keep it afloat and has now been forced to split off the insurance part (nationale nederlanden), so plenty of contracts in the splitting; however, rates are so tulipe at ING that good people aren't taking up the jobs, so now programme managers are getting uppity and hiring testers and coders in with weird job titles like 'Interim Integration Manager' to avoid the fixed rates in the preferred suppliler agreements.

And along comes Basel 3 and lots of new regulation from individual EU countries.

Now I don't really want to do banking again, but this is all good news as banks tend to swallow up a huge chunk of the market which cuts supply to other clientcos and ultimately raises rates.

[TestMangler]

That gives the board nine months in which to decide they'll buy some other bank, sell of some other bit, 'integrate' with someone else and set up some compliancy projects for new banking regulations. Might all turn out fine for contractors.

Or for government regulators to decide that the bank they've created is too big and needs dis-integrated and sold off.

Isn't confusion just great

[norrahe]

Morning stranger!

[d000hg]

Hey RC. Is this the same gig you've been on since you finally quit the bench, that was quite a few months' work at least?

[Mich the Tester]

There isn't a Lloyds cull, despite what you've been reading.

Any cull at Lloyds won't happen until Q3 next year.

They're currently trying their best to get important contractors tied up well in to next year.

The cull will come at the END of integration, not in the middle of it.

That gives the board nine months in which to decide they'll buy some other bank, sell of some other bit, 'integrate' with someone else and set up some compliancy projects for new banking regulations. Might all turn out fine for contractors.

[TestMangler]

I was wondering if you were part of the Lloyds cull. That's going to add a few to the jobs market. And many more to come no doubt once Bob get his free pass.

There isn't a Lloyds cull, despite what you've been reading.

Any cull at Lloyds won't happen until Q3 next year.

They're currently trying their best to get important contractors tied up well in to next year.

The cull will come at the END of integration, not in the middle of it.

[Mich the Tester]

Morning RC ; market's not so bad here on the continent. Depends what you do though?