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| CURRENT SECTION :: Market Reports | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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First of all – if you know anybody who’s a virus writer, will you give them a good kicking from me? I’ve not been infected because I practice safe email (I always put on a condom before I open attachments) but I’m now getting at least two emails with viruses attached every day. By the way – for those of you who don’t have a virus checker, or who don’t keep it up to date, be very careful when you receive what looks like a reject message saying something like “Your message was rejected because it appears to contain a virus”. These messages usually include an attachment which purports to be your original message. It is very tempting to click on that attachment to see what message you sent was rejected. Don’t. Guess what’s in there… Anyway, I was told off by one reader last week because I didn’t appear to cover testing in my reports. So, let’s look at testing. Testers generally have seen rates gradually go up by just over 15% in the last 6 months to about £32/hr, while test managers have had a more bouncy ride, varying from £32/hr in October last year to £47/hr now. These are average rates and cover the whole country. Interestingly enough, in the past, people with Rational skills in testing could have demanded £20/hr more than their unRational colleagues; but now that gap has closed. For test managers, things are looking good, with postings rising steeply from 400 contracts at the end of last year to 1,100 contracts posted last month. So – what difference does having a particular skill make to your appeal and your rate – or adding it to your search criteria? Let’s start with Java. Does J2EE add much? What about UNIX Vs Windows? I have to say that I’m surprised with the results. The most contracts placed have been for Java and Windows skills, and the fewest have been for Java and UNIX or LINUX. What’s more, this trend has been the case for the last 6 months. There are currently over a thousand Windows and Java contracts posted, compared to less than 250 where it’s UNIX/LINUX and Java. Another interesting fact is that double the number of contracts have been posted where J2EE has not been a requirement compared to those where it is. What about rates? Strangely enough, they’ve all converged around the £36/hr mark. J2EE skills have taken the biggest battering, plunging from £48/hr in September last year to around £37/hr this February. Maybe people have realised that J2EE is just a few more classes… Now onto VB. Having SQL in your CV can add six quid to your hourly rate. Having C++ there too can add another fiver. Well worth investigating. .NET on the other hand really doesn’t add much to your income if you’re a VB person. Having said that, there were only 100 contracts posted in February where C++ and VB were wanted, compared with over 400 postings for VB generally. SQL is still a useful skill to have as over 300 postings with VB and SQL went out in Feb. As for C++, don’t bother putting .NET or SQL in your search criteria. The number of contracts posted last month that wanted those skills associated with C++ barely reaches the hundred mark, whereas standard C++ is now around 700 postings per month. But what about rates? Well, there’s not much to pick from. Once again, .NET is probably the loser where C++ and .NET don’t even reach the £40/hr mark. However, C++ and SQL will get you a couple of quid more per hour than C++ on its own would. For project managers, having Prince or Rational experience doesn’t appear to affect your rate much. In October last year, Rational expertise would have got you a rate of over £60/hr whereas now it’s under £40. Whether you have Prince or Rational experience or neither, ironically the rate stands around the £40/hr mark. So those courses and manuals were well worth what you spent on them, weren’t they? Having said that, contract postings generally for Prince or Rational are on an upward curve at the moment. But just don’t bother adding them to your search criteria if you also put “Project Manager”. So – why “Letter from America”? Well, for those heathens among you who don’t listen to Radio 4 or The BBC World Service, Alistair Cooke has resigned from Radio 4 after 58 years of giving us his “Letter from America” – the longest running speech radio programme ever. So, in tribute to him, I thought I’d look at postings for American contracts. The graph looks like an upside-down version of Jordan lying on her back. And you can tell she’s left-handed. As for rates, it’s gone from £20/hr in September to over £50/hr last month! Of course, because of the low number of contracts posted (last month we had 14) the figures will be a little skewed. So there we go. As I’ve said before, if there’s a particular market sector you would like me to do stats for, let me know. You can contact me at alan.potter@webalertz.com. As regular readers know, I like to finish with something a little off-beat. Well today I even surprise myself. On eBay today, with 39 minutes before the end of trading, there is the offer of “a Fart in a jar”. It has had ten bids so far and the current price is £102. It is described as: “a jar containing a potent fart brewed after a heavy night out on the beer, it will knock the socks off whom ever purchases. BEWARE!!! Perfect for a joke present.” I could make a fortune. If anyone has other alternative money-making ventures (i.e. not IT) please send them to me. If you’re looking for a new contract, you can download JobAlertz for free at www.webalertz.com and it’ll give you 5 minute notification of new contracts being posted. If you don’t have an always-on connection, then go to www.servalertz.com and set up your searches there. Until next week, bye for now. Alan alan.potter@webalertz.com www.webalertz.com Mar 4, 2004 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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