State of the Market

[SussexSeagull]

I am going permie - there is zero future for contracting in my specialist area - there's a twin-pronged attack going on - from the software house who want to control everything and assure their income stream and the effects of the IR35 changes. Add the virus and contracting is a no-hope for me for the foreseeable - especially as I don't see the point in inside IR35 "contracting" - that's not even contracting in my view.

I take the point. I had a break between contracts in the Summer last year (and the same seems to be happening this year) which brought my total earnings towards permanent employee territory. Granted less tax, could charge expenses and had the Summer off - although it was hardly relaxing - but if I have to go Inside IR35 the financial argument is probably lost.

The main problem I am finding is longer gaps between contracts.

[vwdan]

Yes, the COVID situation is just like the IR35 one

Seriously, you need to work on whatever emotional difficulty it is you're going through rather than keep polluting the forums with your dullness.

[DimPrawn]

Yes, the COVID situation is just like the IR35 one

Seriously, you need to work on whatever emotional difficulty it is you're going through rather than keep polluting the forums with your dullness.

Put me on your ignore list. You are the one looking forward to the challenges

Anyway, I'm on paid holiday from tomorrow, won't be visiting here for two weeks. Enjoy the excitement of the forum.



PS I am allowed an opinion. I've been an outside IR35 contractor for about 75% of my working life. I am now an IT Contractor turned permie. I like the security, I like the pay and bonus and conditions. No one else is complaining about me posting except you. Maybe you have a problem?

[vwdan]

Put me on your ignore list. You are the one looking forward to the challenges :rolling:

Indeed, and to some degree it's true - I wasn't struggling in the lead up to IR35 this year, and I was billing 12+ hours a day juggling three projects across two clients until work fell off a cliff during lockdown. Though I have managed to sell some of my software, and I do have little bits of consultancy coming through and a few projects in the pipeline. I'll be waiting to see how the market sorts itself over the next few months.

Anyway, I'm on paid holiday from tomorrow, won't be visiting here for two weeks. Enjoy the excitement of the forum.

Great stuff!

PS I am allowed an opinion. I've been an outside IR35 contractor for about 75% of my working life. I am now an IT Contractor turned permie. I like the security, I like the pay and bonus and conditions. No one else is complaining about me posting except you. Maybe you have a problem?

The problem is you're walking around like the archetypal born again Christian who has now decided everybody needs guiding to the light. You're not sharing advice or wisdom - you've made a decision, and because you're desperate to convince yourself it's the right one you're here clogging up the place.

It's not like people here don't realise what the advantages to being permie are - we don't need you to remind us. Personally, I still couldn't think of much worse and it'll be an absolute last resort before I go back to permie. Tried it, didn't like it.

[NeedTheSunshine]

Where are all these permie jobs? And looking into the future, once your company realises that most jobs can be done from home/remotely, that it doesn't matter if that home is in the UK and could be could be done somewhere else (more cheaply). Thoughts that I have been pondering over the last week.

[GhostofTarbera]

Where are all these permie jobs? And looking into the future, once your company realises that most jobs can be done from home/remotely, that it doesn't matter if that home is in the UK and could be could be done somewhere else (more cheaply). Thoughts that I have been pondering over the last week.

Indeed, already happening, not just in IT all roles are now up for grabs why pay an accountant £100K in uk when you can get 5 in India


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[Katalyst]

Indeed, already happening, not just in IT all roles are now up for grabs why pay an accountant £100K in uk when you can get 5 in India


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

If their accountants are as good as their software devs in India, I say get ready for some serious reaming from HMRC.

[dsc]

I'm less IT more automation engineering and the market at the moment is a cruel joke, absolutely dead, nothing contract-wise. Perm-wise there's some jobs out there, but unless you are a 100% perfect fit you hear nothing back. I was thinking that in these uncertain times there would be more contracts as you can easily drop contractors when things go rough, but clearly that's not the case. I think it might be a good time to wrap up my ltd and use that ER whilst it's still there, then re-think leaving the UK altogether.

[Katalyst]

The market for me is deader than corduroy bell-bottoms. It's a bit frustrating because there seem to be alot of ads out there between Jobserve and Linkedin, but I'm not seeing any responses from my applications except for the occasional "no thanks" automated email.

For me this is unusual .. I've always been able to land a contract within 2 weeks of looking. I'm looking at permie now, of course, but no bites. Part of me blames the market, but another part blames my CV. For one, I'm over 50. during that time, I've developed database engine components for a well-known software vendor, and I also developed an operating system for a satellite communications company. I also developed a compiler for a language used to control pill dispensing robots for pharma. So my expertise is in C, Rust, Golang, SQL, etc.

At this point, I get the feeling that either there are no jobs that require those skills or that they look at my CV and figure I'm going to bail on them the minute something better comes along, which isn't necessarily true. I'm not getting enough feedback to know what the issues are, really so I can only speculate.

[CheeseSlice]

The architecture market perked up a little in late May / early June, but it was more of a dead cat bounce.
Since then, almost total silence on the contract front in terms of calls, though the job boards are listing more frequently both niche and some general roles which are mainly SC.

Perm recruiters have started to pop up on Linkedin again, though not many.

The REC reckon that hiring confidence has now returned to positive territory in July, though obviously its still a long way off anything resembling normal levels.

JobsOutlook: Hiring confidence returns to positive territory but wider outlook remains gloomy :: The REC

Its not as simple as that though, because on one hand some businesses are returning to the market with hiring intentions, whilst others are just initiating layoffs as the furlough scheme comes to an end. The result is that we're still in a very bleak market, and I read somewhere it is the worst job market in a generation.