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At what point do I consider... Perm?

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    #11
    Originally posted by JoJoGabor View Post
    Smething about the way you are selling yourself is not working obviously,
    As a contractor, I spent a lot of years making sure I could do SQL + Middle C# + ASP.Net. Which once was looked upon favourably so you could "hit the ground running". Now more and more agencies and clients are mandating IKM testing, which is so specific my front to back experience doesn't bode well to the multiple choice, syntax approach.

    With the proliferation of new tech and frameworks in the .Net space the last 2 years, I think it's time to move out of a hands on role and the commodification of multiple choice, syntax recruiting which are driving the rates down. What depressing state of affairs, RBS made it worse by not even giving you a fixed desk or personalised workspace.....

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      #12
      Originally posted by sbakoola View Post
      New IT contracts in IBs are seasonal, you should know this after 10 years !
      WHS. Q4 was never a great time to land a gig in banking. This year


      Should ease up in January - or so we keep hoping...

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        #13
        Originally posted by jonathanOnshore2010 View Post
        As a contractor, I spent a lot of years making sure I could do SQL + Middle C# + ASP.Net. Which once was looked upon favourably so you could "hit the ground running". Now more and more agencies and clients are mandating IKM testing, which is so specific my front to back experience doesn't bode well to the multiple choice, syntax approach.

        With the proliferation of new tech and frameworks in the .Net space the last 2 years, I think it's time to move out of a hands on role and the commodification of multiple choice, syntax recruiting which are driving the rates down. What depressing state of affairs, RBS made it worse by not even giving you a fixed desk or personalised workspace.....
        Are you being overly negative or do you genuinely see a decline in rate becomming a long term trend, across all skill sets?

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          #14
          I tend to move between industries and have never had a problem in 14 years.

          My problem is I've got bugger all technical skills anymore.
          What happens in General, stays in General.
          You know what they say about assumptions!

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            #15
            Originally posted by doesNotCompute View Post
            Are you being overly negative or do you genuinely see a decline in rate becomming a long term trend, across all skill sets?
            I guess everyone has a different view, but in this case I don't feel I'm being overly negative. for the last 5 years I've watched things like Credit Suisse and RBS offshoring initiatives gather pace, helped setup their offshore teams, and the recent spate of IKM multiple choice syntax based interviewing just because I have C# mentioned on the CV (regardless of Agile, design patterns, unit testing, TeamCity etc) is making developers compete as code monkeys.

            My rate has climbed as my skillset grew, but I can't honestly say that C# dev rates have grown for the last 7 years due to underlying demand (apart from temporarily for the first 6 months this year). The career counsellor noted that I need some Unique Selling Points to differentiate my skills from other devs/engineers in the market, instead of competing as a commodity. I tend to agree, and feel the contracting tech skills are becoming less and less valuable, even if there is an overall large demand for c# techies. That is my considered view, (the websphere thread rings alarming bells which I can resonate with), but I'd be interested to hear otherwise.

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              #16
              Originally posted by jonathanOnshore2010 View Post
              The career counsellor noted that I need some Unique Selling Points to differentiate my skills from other devs/engineers in the market, instead of competing as a commodity. I tend to agree, and feel the contracting tech skills are becoming less and less valuable, even if there is an overall large demand for c# techies. That is my considered view, (the websphere thread rings alarming bells which I can resonate with), but I'd be interested to hear otherwise.
              That's the rub. If you want good contracts these days with decent rates you need very specific technical skills. Basic Java, C#, etc. is just putting you up against 1 million code-monkeys from India. The other enterprise stuff has mostly gone offshore for install/support (Oracle, WebSphere, etc.)

              I'm a Techie at heart, so I'm never going to be able to compete much on business skills. And in the techie market you got to get some very technical and probably niche skills these days to make your cv leap out. The easy-days/contracting-gravy-train are over, for sure, but there is still good money to be made if you approach the market correctly, IMHO.

              Look on Jobserve for the highest paying contracts for ideas. Sounds stupid, but that's what I've done over the last 3-4 years whilst I've been re-skilling. Seems to be working out OK so far.
              nomadd liked this post

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