Devil's Refugee

Would appreciate some worldly opinions from long term Cons and Agency bods, especially in the Scottish areas.

Relatively new (2 years) to contracting (BA/BPR by trade) and so far managed to stay alive with a couple of long term contracts and extensions, but I've heard horror stories from agencies saying that most contractors have been twiddling their thumbs for a good 6-12 months
Everyone says it will pick up, but will it or is this decline expected to continue ?

I don't want to go perm again if I can help it, and jumping around from perm to contract and back and forth again doesn't look too good.

ozzy

Although I'm a permy, our company deals soley with contractors. I did try contracting about 1.5yrs ago, but it was completely dead so after 3 months, I said **** this, I'm getting a proper job.

It's been pretty quiet here since then and we've just had to let a few people go purely because our clients (huge multi-nationals) are holding back on projects - they say it's due to the economy slow down

It's a vicious circle. Everyone gets told it's a slowdown, so they do just that, which then causes it to slow down even further. It's not like our clients don't have the finances our needs for projects. Large companies don't seem to realise (or want to take the risk) that they have the power to decide if it's a slow-down or not.

Stefan

Jodster

Recently went perm after being a 'tractor for 12 years. There are contracts out there but rates are low due to the surplus of "on the bench" contractors.

It's a tough time, 2002 had the lowest growth in the IT industry ever with Security being the only big seller. Not sure what will kick off any big projects now that most business have their systems in and running. I predict it will be maintenance and upgrades from now on. Unless of course another alien craft crashes and they get a load of new ideas

Try to be positive. The industry has never seen a downturn like this so it's hard to predict. One thing worth noting is that some of the original dotcoms that survived are now starting to turn some profit so investment in tech should pick up and then growth should follow.

Chris@Excal

Been working in IT recruitment for 10 years, never known it as bad as now. 10 years ago it was similar, and interestingly rates are only just above the rates then (£25 per hour in 93, £30 now). Having said that, I have had two cons turn down the same role as they have got something else, so that says something!
We are also finding that clients are able to ask for and get people with the right skills, x amount of expereince, but also with exactly the application experience that they are looking for.
Think it is getting better, even the last 2 weeks have been busy, makes a really nice change!!

DavidLewis

I was a contractor for 12 years then went permie after IR35 and the end of the millenium burst the bubble.
Was made redundant last May and have just secured a new contract.
Money isn't anywhere near was I was used to, but its a job.
There are signs that things are improving and I was sent a report the other week that stated the fact that directors of recruitment agencies were starting to buy up their own stock.

Not dead, just resting!

Devil's Refugee

Oh well, some positive signs at least.
Here's hoping a few big budgets get signed off fairly soon in March

workshy_fopp

We're just doing stage 2 of the design for a 2000 server XP rollout for 6000 users and 400+ servers in Edinburgh/Scotland. Should need another 10 bodies around March time. I'll post on here if there are contacts up for grabs, you will need security clearance i.e. no convictions

MarkO

It's definitely quiet out there. I've not had a sniff for a while yet. However, luckily for me having no mortgage or debts means that it's not a real issue at the moment - I'm just treating it as extended holiday.

I'd definitely be interested if there's any work going in Edinburgh, so if anyone's interested in hiring a top-flight C++/NT developer, give me a shout. CV here, if you're interested.

DavidLewis

Mr O, you're unemployed??
Not so long ago I seem to remember you saying something along the lines off "If you're good enough, there's loads of work"

Happens to the best of us in the end eh??

Devil's Refugee

workshy_fopp,

Not sure if I could fit into your contract mate. Mostly financial services (Retail Banking, Life & Pensions) IT business analysis work I've done, coupled with business process re-engineering. Did 1yr Cobol stint a while back.
Administered Lotus Notes for 6 months too, high level stuff (resetting servers, user admin etc)
Will get my CV on the web one of these days !

MarkO

YYY. Okay, so it is worse that I'd expected....

Having said that, my contract only finished on the 31st of Dec, and having moved up to Scotland I'm not exactly desperate to find work - if something comes along then that's fine, but if not then I'm happy to have a couple of months' sabbatical (I'll only really start to worry if I've not found a contract by June/July). I've probably spent less than 2 hours so far this year actively job-hunting...

I've also got a couple of projects on the go at the moment which are keeping me more than occupied.