Asp.Net / Sharepoint Server market

[newblood]

What is the situation like with the following market :

not-very-hardcore Asp.Net related to Sharepoint /master pages / some CSS and XML/ Sharepoint Branding with Designer, for example creating master pages or displaying data using web parts /Infopath/ basic Java Script ,

I am now 13 months off work due to apparent inability for me to secure a contract in Microsoft Infrastructure servers - Windows , Sharepoint etc. My only option seems to be create a Sharepoint Frontend developer skill set with the technologies above , in the 250 - 350- gbp range.

According to jobserve there is definitely demand in this area but may somebody ,please , who is in this market , please , share some insights about how hard it really is to get such a contract , please.

[jmo21]

I think it'd be pretty difficult to change from infrastructure work to development of any sort in the current market, while trying to stay contracting.

It can be done of course, many have done it well, many more have done it, but are not very good, and many will have tried and failed.

If you really want to move into development, you may be more successful trying to do it via a permie job and some training, as I fear it would be very difficult to get a contract in this market via that route.

And don't get me wrong, it's not developer snobbery, it would be the exact same advice switching the other way.

[lightng]

Jmo21 is right. It would not be easy in the current market to make a switch like this.

It's a buyer's market out there and they're always going to choose an experienced developer with a solid record of delivering on projects over a new one. If you have exceptional self-marketing / bullsh**ing skills, mindless persistence and an incredibly thick skin then forget everything I've said, you'll get something. Come to think of it, if you have these skills, why not become a pimp instead.