Middleware skills still in demand ?

[bornfree]

Just returned back to UK from USA , got kicked after H1B expired and no extension.

Hunting for middleware permie/contract jobs(willing to relocate) but no luck for last 1 month.

Have 8 years developer experience in total with 4 years in Middleware(Websphere & tibco) and another 4 in J2ee(inital years).understand that my j2ee skills(No spring/hibernate/RIA in CV) will not take me further .

Getting used to the IT agencies way of doing of business here.
usually get 2/3 calls from agencies every day but none is getting converted into interviews.
Recently a agency suggested that i should retrain in c# or SAP or try infrastructure support roles.

serious suggestion required for
1)still keep trying in middleware and basic j2ee jobs.Are middleware jobs completely outsourced out of UK or its just the recession.please advice on the demand supply ratio for middleware jobs in UK.

2)learn c# or SAP. any pointers to getting trained in SAP in UK ?

Thanks
Mat

[nomadd]

Just returned back to UK from USA , got kicked after H1B expired and no extension.

Hunting for middleware permie/contract jobs(willing to relocate) but no luck for last 1 month.

Have 8 years developer experience in total with 4 years in Middleware(Websphere & tibco) and another 4 in J2ee(inital years).understand that my j2ee skills(No spring/hibernate/RIA in CV) will not take me further .

Getting used to the IT agencies way of doing of business here.
usually get 2/3 calls from agencies every day but none is getting converted into interviews.
Recently a agency suggested that i should retrain in c# or SAP or try infrastructure support roles.

serious suggestion required for
1)still keep trying in middleware and basic j2ee jobs.Are middleware jobs completely outsourced out of UK or its just the recession.please advice on the demand supply ratio for middleware jobs in UK.

2)learn c# or SAP. any pointers to getting trained in SAP in UK ?

Thanks
Mat

Well, I do similar work to yourself, so I think I can comment, FWIW.

I've been doing the WebSphere stuff (Architect, Install, Admin, Develop.) for the last 10+ years. That market has almost collapsed. Rates are very poor - Jobserve has a couple that have gone as low as £150 / day. There are other's that are advertised at £400-450, but agents get 200+ applications for each role advertised, so just plump for those who will accept the lowest rate - usually about £300/350 per day. Experience seems to count for nothing, these days.

Example: I applied for a WebSphere/WebSphere Portal role on Friday advertised at £500-600 per day (Banking, and they want a Senior guy.) Agent called back first thing, said he was happy to forward cv. Would send an email to confirm. He hasn't done so, as other people are prepared to do the role for much less - even though the client is willing to pay the rate (i.e. the agent can cream off more for himself.) He now ignores all emails I send to him, even though we had jointly agreed a rate and he was sending off the cv "immediately" to the client on Friday morning. That's the way the market is: agents acting like complete tw*ts.

I've also extensive Spring, Hibernate, RIA - used on my last project (massive Banking web site) - but that also doesn't seem to be helping. I've also WebSphere MQ and Portal.

In short, unless you are prepared to work for peanuts (whilst the agent creams off a very healthy margin) then you are going to be stuck for quite some time. I've got a largish "war chest" from my previous contract left over, so I'm looking to sit it out until I find something decent. Your situation may be different. If you have a LOT of RECENT Investment Banking, that would help.

C# is something I've thought about, but the feedback from the forum seems to suggest even worse rates for it than the J2EE stuff so I'm not bothering!

Nomadd

[BarbarianAtTheDoor]

Just returned back to UK from USA , got kicked after H1B expired and no extension.

Hunting for middleware permie/contract jobs(willing to relocate) but no luck for last 1 month.

I've done about 5 years of middleware, but I generally found that IBs are not very fond of the technology, and (more broadly) the UK is not exactly the SOA capital of the world. Been putting front-ends on databases ever since I came here.

[ddilling]

Just returned back to UK from USA , got kicked after H1B expired and no extension.

Hunting for middleware permie/contract jobs(willing to relocate) but no luck for last 1 month.

The IT job market is just simply sh*te.

How did you find it in the USA?

I'm seeing much more activity in Europe, e.g. Netherlands, Belgium, than here.

UK, unsurprisingly has gone way off the rails I think...

[bornfree]

The USA market is better than UK if you are willing to relocate.
But looks like its going to be a very long wait ....