Moving Back

[slimbucket]

Ive been gone from the UK for 8 years to sunny Perth Western Australia where the development life cycle is very relaxed. Been contracting for 12 years in UK and Perth. Fact is, I am so bored, bored beyond belief in fact. Not much to do unless you enjoy blue skies, sun, sand, sea, surf etc...which I did but now am tiring of the endless isolation.

Been thinking about a return to the UK, so started browsing the job sites, reading the articles full of the usual scare stories...immigrants, offshoring, ir35 (which is new to me). Whats it really like? Is the contract market booming, I was on 50 GBP when I left 8 years ago then for VB, SQL, Sybase, currently Im on $50 Aus for .NET and SQL. Norwich is looking very attractive, but no contract market? Any advice?
SB

[Bitbucket]

Hi

Hi Bucket friend.

Market is OK but not like 8 years ago , 50 per hour is now very rare and getting 40 is a strugggle.

Average rates in UK about 35 pwr hour and costs of everything have gone up. I dont live there but from this BB you may have gathered that Blair is on his way out and fuel is getting near the price of liquid oxygen or whatever they use in the Apollo spacerockets.

You will meet all sorts of nice people here including Daleks , Desparte old women , Gays , Vicars , treckies and a some military types who will tell you more about the UK and if you stick with it ,as an added bonus in visiting this site, your spelling will also get better without you even noticing.

[Gold Dalek]

8 years eh?

You've missed most of the fun from living under Labours attempts to redistribute the cuntries(sic) wealth.

Cool Britannia wtf was that all about

I think you will find a lot of changes.... more ethnics about, higher crime,(whether the two are linked is a moot point) less tolerance, officialdom whose only purpose is to collect revenue / fine you for minor misdemeanours...most on this board are planning their exit strategy

[wendigo100]

How about we all move down there instead to keep you company?

[BlasterBates]

Well I haven't lived in the UK for years but when I go back it always looks as though it hasn't changed.

The main differences are that there is an unsightly big wheel in London, and the trains are all different colours. The important things haven't changed, Marks and Sparks still sell mince pies and undies and the pubs are overcrowded, with teenagers having sex in the corner and serving "warm" beer.

[Shimano105]

Low inflation is the thing that we are taught to believe.

Thing is, house prices have more than doubled, hourly rates have gone down to a point where they are now around half of what they were (allowing for inflation over that period).

So we are 4 times poorer.

I'll swap you!

[DimPrawn]

Before you come back, consider this.



Yes, makes you think doesn't it.

[snaw]

I can relate to that - I spent 12 years away and came back a couple of years ago (8 in aus and I left for similair reasons, the isolation get's to you after a while).

You can only go by what you experience yourself and I personally don't find it anything like as bad as the doom and gloom mongers on here would have you believe - if anything lot's of things are better than I remember (And no I'm not an NL voter). The ones planning their exit strategies I guess would whinge about anywhere they lived, and be very surprised at how similair things are all over the world ;-)

Rates wise the average rate in London is now back at pre dot com boom levels, not sure about the rest of the country, lot's of contracts around in London at the moment (I started looking for a new one start of last week - got two offers already). House prices aren't anything like as nuts as they were in Sydney when I left, but they're still up there. If isolation is what got you, you'll love the abundance of cheap flights all over the place on offer here, europe is very much on your doorstop now. The weather is still as tulipe as I remember though ...

[DimPrawn]

if anything lot's of things are better than I remember

Care to share these things that have gotten better over the last 9 years and how these improvements have made life better for you?

[wendigo100]

About inflation being low - does the figure include some of the most significant chunks of people's annual bills:

* Energy costs - gas, petrol, electricity

* Council services - i.e. council taxes

* Property prices - which someone mentioned above

Probably not, so before you look at the headline inflation figure, remember that each of these are skyrocketing.