Peak Earnings, Rate Deflation

[bobhope]

I'm sure that most, if not all of you here have heard of Peak Oil, i.e. the annual worldwide production of oil is going to peak shortly (or may indeed have done so already) and thereafter go into decline.

It occurred to me (whilst I was out gardening) that we, IT contractors, have experienced our own version of Peak Oil - Peak Earnings.

I was thinking about my current rate (for the sake of argument, call it £500), which has finally reached the same rate that I was on in 2000 during the boom times, and was feeling pretty happy.

But then it struck me, £500 7-8 years ago was a lot of money. It's still good money, but not the same. Even using a conservative (with a small c) estimate of inflation, it's about £750 in today's money. Using the inflation figure that most people actually experience (housing, insurance, everything bar ipods really) it's closer to a grand a day.

Then it finally dawned on me, it's unlikely I'll ever make that (inflation adjusted) rate again. I've had my peak earnings. Which is fine, only most people reach theirs at 65, not 25.

[fzbucks]

I only moved from Permiedom a few years ago and each contract the rte increases, so I've not made my peak earnings yet - I hope....

[thunderlizard]

650 in today's money maybe.
Anyway, 2000 was the most recent sizeable economic and tech boom. If you were only 25 then, don't completely give up hope of living through another one.

[ChimpMaster]

I think peak earnings will depend on you specific area of expertise. If you're in a hot skillset when the demand for it is high, then you'll get your £800 - £1000 per day. If you're in a duff or dying skillset then more than likely your rate will decrease over time.

During the Dot com boom the whole world was raking it in (except me it seems). I wasn't contracting back then but I heard of many in my sector earning £1k a day. I can't ever imagine that happening now.

I'm on a reasonable rate but it's actually gone down over the past 3 years -- 2 of those years it's remained static but the value has decreased due to inflation..

[chubba]

According to http://www.jobstats.co.uk/ we may well be slowly climbing towards the heady heights of 2000 again. Only this time it is a more gradual rise rather than the boom and bust of 2000 when rates grew so dramatically in the IT market.

I know what you mean about inflation and things not costing as much but I do not wholly agree. Hard drives are £0.13 per GB - they were more like £2 per Gb or more maybe in 2000. Same with RAM. Food prices have dropped quite nicely and we have a glut of cheap clothing retailers too.

So apart from houses (and the crash cometh!) what exactly is costing that much more?

[Devlin]

So apart from houses (and the crash cometh!) what exactly is costing that much more?

You have a point with this, however it's not just housing that has sharply increased in cost, energy and food seem to have also, much more so than consumer goods.

[richard-af]

If you have ace, hard-to-come by skills, you are ALWAYS safely in the higher income bracket. Keep learning and be serene.

[bobhope]

If you have ace, hard-to-come by skills, you are ALWAYS safely in the higher income bracket. Keep learning and be serene.

That's a bit too zen like, show me the money :-)

Anyway, I'm sure that IT skills will trade at a premium to the general job market for a good few years yet, it's just difficult to think that in earnings power, I'm well past my peak.

[richard-af]

That's a bit too zen like, show me the money :-)

It's true, though. If you have the skills, you get the juicy assignments.

[Bagpuss]

I'm sure that most, if not all of you here have heard of Peak Oil, i.e. the annual worldwide production of oil is going to peak shortly (or may indeed have done so already) and thereafter go into decline.

It occurred to me (whilst I was out gardening) that we, IT contractors, have experienced our own version of Peak Oil - Peak Earnings.

I was thinking about my current rate (for the sake of argument, call it £500), which has finally reached the same rate that I was on in 2000 during the boom times, and was feeling pretty happy.

But then it struck me, £500 7-8 years ago was a lot of money. It's still good money, but not the same. Even using a conservative (with a small c) estimate of inflation, it's about £750 in today's money. Using the inflation figure that most people actually experience (housing, insurance, everything bar ipods really) it's closer to a grand a day.

Then it finally dawned on me, it's unlikely I'll ever make that (inflation adjusted) rate again. I've had my peak earnings. Which is fine, only most people reach theirs at 65, not 25.

If you think £500 a day is not a lot of money you must have an expensive drug habit. Average earnings are less than £500 a week! Ok you lived through silly money time when millenium bug hype was driving a market, but £500 a day IS a lot of money for something as straigh forward as computer programming.