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Ever eager to keep my readers happy I’ve tried my best to fulfil their requests. This week the request has been for stats on thin-client contracts. I must admit that I know very little about thin-client work. I’ve heard of Citrix but that’s almost as far as it goes. So please ignore my ignorance if I don’t cover all the areas that this could cover. If you’re not into thin client, ignore the next six paragraphs and read the generic report that follows. So – Demand for Citrix has been growing impressively from 6 contracts in September last year to 160 last month – Nice. CCA skills (whatever they are) leapt from zero in September and October last year to 100 in February 2004. However they dipped down to 60 in March. CCEA skills requirements have hardly appeared at all, with a peak in February of 22 postings, then dropping to 14 last month. So far this month there’ve been no postings at all. DO NOT put “thin client” in your search criteria unless it’s after “OR”. The most postings requesting this skill were in January this year and that was 10. As for rates it’s a little difficult to give accurate readings due to the low number of contracts posted. For example, in October last year there was a contract that offered £92/hr! Whether that was just a phenomenal contract or someone who can’t type, I don’t know. But ignoring that hiccup, Citrix is the clear winner with rates picking up from a low of £20/hr in October to £31/hr in April. If you consider J2EE to be a thin client architecture, then things become a little different. Rates there have barely dropped below £40/hr and are now climbing back to their peak of £49/hr that was set in September last year. It’s also a popular skill, requirements having more than doubled from 212 in September to 590 in March. April looks like it’s going to be a good month too. For a laugh, I added the word “nude” to thin client and amongst the 13,800 results I got from Google, this was third. This was their search criteria: EPICdb.com - summer jobdetail jobinternet jobapply for job And this is what I got when I clicked on it: ... Potting some thin blood maladjustive. Across un til you thin nude peaking toward. ... Is thin client technology ought amid. Addable dog man thin must adscititious. ... Anthony Burgess – Eat your heart out. I’m sure that EPICdb are thrilled by that link. If you want to go to them directly (they seem to have quite a good site and, no, I have no affiliation with them whatsoever). Go to http://www.epicdb.com/w-thin-epicdbcom-www.html and it’s very informative. I also had to look up what adscititious meant. Apparently it means not inherent or essential; derived from something outside. Thanks to www.dictionary.com for that (no – I’m not getting any backhanders from them either). You are now clear of the thin-client zone. Any protective clothing donned previously may now be removed. So – what are rates looking like in the real world? Anyone want to take a bet on the highest average rate for the following skills: (choices are: C++, Java, Visual Basic, SQL, SQL Server, j2ee, Sybase and Cobol)? I bet you’re wrong. The highest rate goes to a good Sybase contractor who can demand a rate of around £52/hr – and that’s an average rate. Look at the maximum that’s been posted and Sybase skills can get you £88/hr! While we’re on maximum rates, even COBOL can get £50/hr, and strangely, J2EE is the lowest of the more modern languages at £63/hr. VB offers £69/hr while C++, Java and SQL all offer £75/hr while SQL Server offers £81/hr. As I said – don’t forget these are maximum rates. So let’s let the pendulum swing in the other direction. What are rates like at the low end? Sybase is still the best paid skill at £38/hr, miles ahead of COBOL – yes COBOL – at £30/hr. C++ comes in close at £29/hr and then it plummets to £24/hr for Java and J2EE, £22 for SQL skills, and £21/hr for VB skills. How about demand? Contracts requiring SQL skills stand out as being ahead of all others. Over 1,200 SQL jobs have been posted in the last month, although putting SQL server or Sybase in your search criteria will not help you at all. There were no contracts specifying SQL Server posted over the last month. Sybase did a little better at 275 postings in March. Java is the next most wanted skill with almost 900 postings over the last month. This stands out against the postings for C++, VB, and J2EE all off which were around the 500 mark. Sybase really seems to be the thing. I apologise that this article is shorter than usual. I was blessed with BT’s Broadband glitches. Regards, Alan Alan.potter@webalertz.com www.webalertz.com Apr 15, 2004 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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