The lucrative area in I.T. contracting these days?

DublinWriter

So, with clients cutting budgets all over the I.T. shop, which areas of I.T. contracting do those in the business see as still being the most lucrative?

mickman

mixture of everything. network + storage + virtualisation

Wompa1

Virtualization

robd

Downturn in IT is news to me.

Software development. Shortage of engineers. Rates took a hit a couple of years ago but have been creeping up again.

srsly78

Rates took a hit so we all work in London now :pac:

starlit

IT is still a big area, it get bigger though but there are areas that might fall down a bit if there are a lot of jobs already filled in a certain area of IT but for the most part there are loads of IT contract work out there, contract work is more feasible than say permanent work but you get more varied work and more work experience in contracting than you would in a permanent job but there are times that a permanent job in IT is best depending on you and your situation and education/work history/qualifications background.

fret_wimp2

Im sure that there is some downturn in IT, but relative to almost every other industry its neglegable.

I was made redundant a few months ago and as i got my a55 in gear quickly, I had 4 job offers before my notice period was served.

Of my group of friends two have moved jobs ( both in IT in Dublin) to larger companies in the last 6 months, and one has given up a full time job to go contracting, and he is finding no shortage of contracts out there, paying very very well.

Its not easy, you need to spend a LOT of time on your CV. Rewrite it, read it, have all your friends read it, accept criticizm, rewrite it based on the criticizm, wash rinse, repeat. 3-4 cycles should have your CV in a good state.

If you worked in a niche area, try to show how your experience is relivant to an area in demand.

OP, redundancy is tough, but look at it this way, if you get in gear and get another job fairly quickly, then its like you won a few quid on the lotto! Holiday, new car, savings, education, whatever, but its money you would not otherwise have.

Dont get dishartened, the IT Industry is doing just fine in ireland for the moment, just get your CV up to scratch and start applying.

Good Luck.

RATM

Not sure where people are getting a sense of IT being in decline. Latest stats I've seen said the industry in Ireland grew 6% last year and 5.7% the year before. There's currently 3,500 unfilled IT jobs in Ireland and I've frequently got to go abroad to find candidates to fill positions.

I'm seeing a huge demand for contractors in networking & java, also anything in data warehousing shows strong demand too.

DublinWriter

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

OP...Dont get dishartened, the IT Industry is doing just fine in ireland for the moment, just get your CV up to scratch and start applying. Good Luck.

I wasn't asking in relation to myself, thank Dawkins, but just in general.

Back in the day, SAP R/3 used to be the area to be in, with some guys commanding nearly four-figure daily rates.

I have seen a marked increase in 'spoofers' recently, especially in the more non-tech areas of I.T., guys who describe themselves as BAs and Architects. I guess this is a pretty good indicator of things in general as the amount of numpties who blagged their way into contracts and perm roles during the boom years pre Y2K was indicative of a healthy demand.

I think like Java, Cloud, etc demand for virtualisation will eventually even off and it'll become a fairly commonplace skill.

From all I've seen, Peoplesoft skills and Data Warehousing have commanded the highest sustained premiums over the years as other skills have come and gone out of fashion.

mickman

DublinWriter wrote: »

I wasn't asking in relation to myself, thank Dawkins, but just in general.

Back in the day, SAP R/3 used to be the area to be in, with some guys commanding nearly four-figure daily rates.

I have seen a marked increase in 'spoofers' recently, especially in the more non-tech areas of I.T., guys who describe themselves as BAs and Architects. I guess this is a pretty good indicator of things in general as the amount of numpties who blagged their way into contracts and perm roles during the boom years pre Y2K was indicative of a healthy demand.

I think like Java, Cloud, etc demand for virtualisation will eventually even off and it'll become a fairly commonplace skill.

From all I've seen, Peoplesoft skills and Data Warehousing have commanded the highest sustained premiums over the years as other skills have come and gone out of fashion.

cloud etc will become a normal skill like everything else but at the moment and for the next few yrs is the best place to be. Then move on to the next hot skill, thats what an IT career is all about, have to keep moving and changing

lots of contractors that install pcs call themselves architects :-) - its easy to find them in interviews though