IT Contracting - few small questions about interviews/contracts

mrcheez

Yet another contracting thread, but I'll keep the questions short here

I'm considering getting into IT contracting, mainly to earn extra cash and also for the variety of working environments/projects. Another plus for me is that you don't get bogged down in office politics.
Have been full time for several years. I'm registered as a sole trader but will investigate the ltd company thing later once I'm assured of getting the contract.

- Interview process: are the interviews for contracting positions generally easier than permanent placements? What sort of questions would I be expected to answer? Mainly regarding skillset I imagine?

- If asked "why do you want to get into contracting?", how would you generally answer this one? "Freedom" or "variety of projects" sounds like I might just up and leave if I get bored.

- Most of the positions I've seen have day rates. Does this constitute a set number of hours per day, or can I be asked to work a 12-hour day and it's still regarded as "one day"?

- Can a contract be ended without notice (from either the employer or the contractor), or is there generally a 2-4 week notice as with full time?

Gone West

Day rate is 8 hours, bill overtime at +30% or 50% over this if required and approved. Make sure you have it in your contract.
Interviews are fine, you won't really have to deal with HR. Just the tech people. Can you do the job? if you can and you seem like you will fit in the culture, they will hire you if your daily is acceptable.
Make sure you are genuinely an expert at what you do and can hit the ground running.
People have no time for contractors who aren't masters of their craft.
generally you have a month's notice to either party, but I've never had a contract not get extended.

mrcheez

Fuzzy wrote: »

Make sure you are genuinely an expert at what you do and can hit the ground running.

Thanks. Yep I've been holding off on doing contracting until I got several years under my belt.

After 9+ years I feel I can tackle any task thrown at me (or can quickly research and apply it).

Would it be ok starting the contract as a sole trader and then change to a ltd (plus register for + charge VAT) after 2 months or so?
The contracts I'm looking at probably start before I could get these organised.

Gone West

use an umbrella company to bridge the gap. Most serious places are not interested in you unless you are under a Ltd.

mrcheez

Fuzzy wrote: »

use an umbrella company to bridge the gap. Most serious places are not interested in you unless you are under a Ltd.

Well I mean assuming they take me on as a sole trader, will it be ok to do the other things later?

I'd like to register the ltd company as I intend on starting a proper web dev company later on with my own employees.

Gone West

mrcheez wrote: »

Well I mean assuming they take me on as a sole trader, will it be ok to do the other things later?

I'd like to register the ltd company as I intend on starting a proper web dev company later on with my own employees.

I'm saying that most places will not hire a sole trader as a contractor any more. Not for an hour or a month.
Use an umbrella company to work via their Ltd structure instead of being a sole trader while you get your own company started.

jimmycrackcorm

Fuzzy wrote:

Day rate is 8 hours, bill overtime at +30% or 50% over this if required and approved. Make sure you have it in your contract.

Contractors are normally expected to work the same day hours as full-time staff. Any contractor who wanted overtime at 30 or 50% probably won't be the one getting hired. We give our contractors time off in lieu.

Beware that being hired through an agency means the agency will always take a cut even when you finish the contract and the employer wants to hire you longer or permanently.

Gone West

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Contractors are normally expected to work the same day hours as full-time staff. Any contractor who wanted overtime at 30 or 50% probably won't be the one getting hired. We give our contractors time off in lieu.

Beware that being hired through an agency means the agency will always take a cut even when you finish the contract and the employer wants to hire you longer or permanently.

Depends on the area of IT, yes. Some areas like Security and Dev, a skilled and experienced person can dictate the terms and that is that. If the project needs to be done, and the client has the money they will pay. I often just take time in lieu myself, but really, working over 40 hours per week is eating into quality of life and needs to be compensated for with more than 1:1. Let the wage slaves do unpaid overtime, but a skilled contractor doesn't have to put up with that.

I've been contracting forever, and I've never been out of work, not for a single day in Ireland.

DamoKen

Fuzzy wrote: »

I'm saying that most places will not hire a sole trader as a contractor any more. Not for an hour or a month.
Use an umbrella company to work via their Ltd structure instead of being a sole trader while you get your own company started.

Agree with the above. My first big contract interview came down to 2 candidates out of an original ten, me and one other guy. Equal experience, more or less same skill set and both got on with interviewers.

Couple of months after I got it the guy who interviewed me said that the deciding factor was I was going through an umbrella company at the time and the other guy was a sole trader. Most companies will choose ltd over sole trader anytime.

Umbrella company is a handy stop gap until you decide if it's for you. Would definitely recommend setting up a ltd company if you do decide to stick at it although with revenue changes over the last couple of years it's not as lucrative as it used to be, i.e. no subsistence/home office expenses anymore.

Still prefer it to permanent any day though.

As to interview questions asking why you decided to go contracting? To be honest don't think I've ever been asked this. Maybe I was asked the first role after I switched, can't remember at this stage. Would be more concerned with brushing up knowledge on the skill set required. The roles you'll be interviewing for are contract roles, they expect interviewees to be contractors.

mrcheez

Fuzzy wrote: »

I'm saying that most places will not hire a sole trader as a contractor any more. Not for an hour or a month.

DamoKen wrote: »

Most companies will choose ltd over sole trader anytime.

I understand that, and will certainly look into it if none of the contract applications are successful, but my question is related to what happens in the event that I'm successful in getting the contract as a sole trader.

Can I start issuing invoices as:
- Sole trader
- No VAT

then subsequent months once I've sorted the accountant/ltd/vat:
- Company
- Adding VAT

? Or would it involve changing the original terms of the contract?

My sole trader name will be the ltd company name (albeit without the "Ltd" appended to the end), so wouldn't require a rewriting of the contract per se.

I could also mention at the interviews that I would be going down the umbrella (or ltd) route if that would help matters.

mrcheez

Also on a side note, any recommendations for an umbrella company?

Google search mentions a few including Icon Accounting ... Contracting Plus etc

DamoKen

mrcheez wrote: »

Also on a side note, any recommendations for an umbrella company?

Google search mentions a few including Icon Accounting ... Contracting Plus etc

I went with Prima for the first 4 or 5 months before I set up a ltd. No hassle, does what it says on the tin type of deal. Cheap enough per month (at least 6 years back they were) so if asked at an interview what your setup is to say you'll be going with an umbrella company if you've no ltd set up. I have been asked in interviews if I'm sole trader or ltd, normally a clue that the company doesn't deal with sole traders so chances are your answer could talk you out of an offer.

No set up involved on your part other than provide your P45 etc if I remember right so would be in place well before your start date.

mrcheez

Thanks.

Just out of curiosity, say you earn €100K/year on a contract, but only take out €40K as salary through an umbrella company, what happens to the other 60K? Goes into a pension or similar?

Would you have access to it if you wanted to put a down-payment on a house?

DamoKen

mrcheez wrote: »

Thanks.

Just out of curiosity, say you earn €100K/year on a contract, but only take out €40K as salary through an umbrella company, what happens to the other 60K? Goes into a pension or similar?

Would you have access to it if you wanted to put a down-payment on a house?

No idea to be honest. For the brief period I was with the Umbrella company I was drawing down everything as salary & expenses after tax.

With a ltd company if you've a large cash reserve in your company account a directors pension is a very tax efficient way of building up a decent pension.

You would not however be able to access the cash other than as salary/allowable expenses.

If you want to access the cash for a down payment, you'd withdraw as salary and pay tax accordingly. I would imagine it would be much the same if you went through an umbrella company.

mrcheez

DamoKen wrote: »

If you want to access the cash for a down payment, you'd withdraw as salary and pay tax accordingly. I would imagine it would be much the same if you went through an umbrella company.

Sounds like a bank in a way

So in theory you could "increase your salary" by 60K for one month if you needed access to the balance, then drop it back to the usual 2K/month or whatever?

jimmycrackcorm

DamoKen wrote:

You would not however be able to access the cash other than as salary/allowable expenses.

Company profit is taxable at the corporation tax rate. Much better than paying 41% plus USC etc.

mrcheez

A few more follow-on questions about contracting if that's ok...

Q1: Would you recommend putting your daily rate (or a range +/- €25) somewhere on the CV? It would be rather annoying going for an interview with someone that is suddenly offering €100 less than you typically charge.

Q2: Is there any benefit in selecting an umbrella company over a ltd company? From what I read it only takes 24 hours for an accounting company to setup the ltd company. Does it cost more to go ltd vs umbrella if, say, I wanted to go back to PAYE work and leave the business dormant for a while?


Q3: In the contract interview, as it's likely meeting a techie, should I be expected to answer questions like "explain SOLID architecture principles", or will it just be along the lines of "what languages were you using in your last project"? i.e. do I need to make sure I'm up to speed on jargon etc? For example I would commonly work in that sort of architecture but I wouldn't necessarily have to "explain" it to someone.


Q4: Cover letters when dealing with agencies. When applying for a contract posted by an agency do I just say "I'm interested in this, here's my CV" or do I need to write a proper cover letter as when applying to a company?

Incidentally how else are contracts found if not through agencies?

Q5: Do *I* write the contract when starting with a company or do they provide it? Do I need to ensure that limited liability is included?


cheers.

td2008

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Company profit is taxable at the corporation tax rate. Much better than paying 41% plus USC etc.

You will also have to pay 15% company surcharge. So 12% then 15% and even then when you want to take out the money eventually you will have to pay tax as normal. Does not make much sense usually to leave the money in the company (unless you weren't working for the next year is one example)

DamoKen

td2008 wrote: »

You will also have to pay 15% company surcharge. So 12% then 15% and even then when you want to take out the money eventually you will have to pay tax as normal. Does not make much sense usually to leave the money in the company (unless you weren't working for the next year is one example)

Agree with the above. As a one man show last thing I want to do is make a company profit. All that means is I pay tax on money in my company account before it moves anywhere. I'll then also have to pay tax on it when it moves but in the meantime money is sitting there earning me nothing and getting taxed as a result.

Most tax efficient way to use it that I know of is through investing it in a directors pension. To make immediate use of it however you still generally need to pay out as salary with all relevant taxes. Which is why I would pay out as salary/pension/expenses etc rather than leave it in the account and in effect have a double tax, once as profit and second time when I pay it out as salary.

Maybe I'm missing something?

DamoKen

mrcheez wrote: »

A few more follow-on questions about contracting if that's ok...

Q1: Would you recommend putting your daily rate (or a range +/- €25) somewhere on the CV? It would be rather annoying going for an interview with someone that is suddenly offering €100 less than you typically charge.

I never do an interview without knowing the rate offered. If it's below what I charge I don't do the interview. If the agency is reticent in providing the rate just don't interview. Although never experienced this, rates are always provided up front. Why would you interview without knowing this?

mrcheez wrote: »

Q2: Is there any benefit in selecting an umbrella company over a ltd company? From what I read it only takes 24 hours for an accounting company to setup the ltd company. Does it cost more to go ltd vs umbrella if, say, I wanted to go back to PAYE work and leave the business dormant for a while?

An umbrella company requires no start-up cost from you, hence the advice given was go with an umbrella until you decide if you're staying in contracting. To register a ltd cost in and around 400 or so, can't remember to be exact but this information is freely available if you look it up. It's also advisable to get a decent accountant, again not necessary with umbrella company.

mrcheez wrote: »

Q3: In the contract interview, as it's likely meeting a techie, should I be expected to answer questions like "explain SOLID architecture principles", or will it just be along the lines of "what languages were you using in your last project"? i.e. do I need to make sure I'm up to speed on jargon etc? For example I would commonly work in that sort of architecture but I wouldn't necessarily have to "explain" it to someone.

Interview questions and answers are much the same as any interview apart from the fact you generally don't have to meet HR which is nice. Just prepare as you normally would, i.e. know the skillset.

mrcheez wrote: »

Q4: Cover letters when dealing with agencies. When applying for a contract posted by an agency do I just say "I'm interested in this, here's my CV" or do I need to write a proper cover letter as when applying to a company?
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Cover letter is up to you. I can't remember the last one I wrote, long time ago and would have been for a permanent position. For contracts don't think it's really necessary unless say you were applying directly to a company, i.e. they were advertising a contract themselves rather than through an agency.

mrcheez wrote: »

Q5: Do *I* write the contract when starting with a company or do they provide it? Do I need to ensure that limited liability is included?

Contract is generally an agreement between the agency and company where you as the contractor agree to provide services for a set period at a set rate. As such it's normally the agency that provides the contract, or the company if they are hiring direct. Never come across a contractor writing the contract?

If you're with an umbrella company shouldn't be a factor, if ltd you have limited liability, if sole trader you don't. Again all this information is freely available so would be advisable for you to look it up before making any decisions.

mrcheez

All clear, thanks again

DamoKen

No worries, just one more thing on your first question. Never put your "rate" on your cv. Your rate is fluid in an upward direction. For any contract it's what they are prepared to offer and what you're happy to accept. Rates can vary to quite a degree, but there is an average depending on role type and experience. By putting what you're willing to work for on your cv you're underselling yourself and removing any bargaining power.

Just remember the agency take a percentage of what you earn for the lifetime of the contract so it's in their best interests to get you for less. The client is charged the same but the agency will earn more off your labour. Some of them are quite shameless in this with behaviour nothing short of exploitation toward contractors.

I've two list of agencies, one I am happy enough working with and one I would not touch with a barge pool. Unfortunately due to the nature of the game the "untouchables" is a much bigger list.

Best of luck, any more questions re decent agencies, good accountants etc pm me.

mrcheez

Incidentally, are there penalties for quitting a contract (through an agency) early, apart from looking bad on the CV?

I have seen a few people mention that they "aren't happy and wish they could get out of the contract". Do you need to pay the agency compensation if the contract you take on isn't what you thought it would be?

DamoKen

mrcheez wrote: »

Incidentally, are there penalties for quitting a contract (through an agency) early, apart from looking bad on the CV?

I have seen a few people mention that they "aren't happy and wish they could get out of the contract". Do you need to pay the agency compensation if the contract you take on isn't what you thought it would be?

Comes down to terms of the contract. I've rolled off contracts earlier than stated in the contract but never been an issue as long as I gave notice period agreed in the contract.

Only issue I can think of is if you started a role in a place and weren't happy with the agency but were with the role. If you try and switch agencies but stay in the role the agency might have a case for compensation if you signed exclusivity agreements with them.

mrcheez

When they ask you for your daily rate, do you give them a range or a solid figure? e.g. +/- €25

My thinking is if I give them a range, they'll choose the lower value...although a higher value might price myself out of the market.

deepsilent

i always tell them how much i want, if they are ok with that perfect, otherwise i let them know that i'm not interested in what they offer, there are many other agencies willing to cut their part a bit more to get you.
dont be afraid to ask what you are worth. your work is in high demand, and they have to pay its value.

mrcheez

Incidentally here's a tip for those looking for work through agencies:

- Buy a temporary SIM card with €5 credit (in Tesco for example) and use this in a 2nd phone
- Set up a temp Gmail account

Put both of these on your CV instead of your main number/email.

I had the "misfortune" to apply for a position advertised on monster.ie, not realising it would lead to pretty much every I.T. agency in Dublin calling me (literally) every 5 minutes as my CV was shared. As soon as one call ended, another one started.

Thankfully my main phone was left untouched, but my 2nd phone is now practically unusable. I have to turn it off and pre-agree a time with someone via email for them to call me (for follow-up chats).

So, eh, on the plus side the IT market does still seem good

DamoKen

mrcheez wrote: »

Incidentally here's a tip for those looking for work through agencies:

- Buy a temporary SIM card with €5 credit (in Tesco for example) and use this in a 2nd phone
- Set up a temp Gmail account

Put both of these on your CV instead of your main number/email.

I had the "misfortune" to apply for a position advertised on monster.ie, not realising it would lead to pretty much every I.T. agency in Dublin calling me (literally) every 5 minutes as my CV was shared. As soon as one call ended, another one started.

Thankfully my main phone was left untouched, but my 2nd phone is now practically unusable. I have to turn it off and pre-agree a time with someone via email for them to call me (for follow-up chats).

So, eh, on the plus side the IT market does still seem good

Forgot about that, it can get a tad ridiculous especially if you're "fresh meat" on the market . Would update my cv some night, from 7am the following day would spend the entire day fielding calls with missed calls between every call, eventually I was switching my phone off and taking my cv down!

At this stage I don't bother putting my cv up, last 4 years I either had other contractors I've worked with contact me if there was a good role going where they were or I've contacted them if I'm looking to see if they're doing anything interesting. Much less hassle.

mrcheez

It's almost a turn-off against dealing with agencies, but thankfully my "2nd phone" idea allows me to turn them off while still remaining contactable with the normal world.

bren2002

Are these all developer roles?
Has anyone any experience as BA/Reqs Engineeer or similar?

mrcheez

bren2002 wrote: »

Are these all developer roles?

Developer roles in my case, probably same for the others.

If what you are looking for is listed on irishjobs.ie then you'll probably be in the same boat, or you can always put the CV on monster.ie as it seems to have great exposure there.

mrcheez

Fuzzy wrote: »

you won't really have to deal with HR. Just the tech people.

DamoKen wrote: »

you generally don't have to meet HR which is nice.

What's all this about no HR??? :pac: 2 interviews down and HR is included in a 2nd stage interview... one of them actually has 4 rounds of interviews, 2 of which are HR.

Maybe it's a 'murican company thing.

Stheno

mrcheez wrote: »

What's all this about no HR??? :pac: 2 interviews down and HR is included in a 2nd stage interview... one of them actually has 4 rounds of interviews, 2 of which are HR.

Maybe it's a 'murican company thing.

After you get hired you tend not to have to deal with the HR mob. Just send in your timesheets to the agency and they bill the company

Gone West

"Usually" when contracting, the HR interviews are just a formality that you have to go through.
The manager or director who is hiring you normally shoe horns you in, and just let's HR have an interview with you as that is their normal process and it's easier than arguing with them.

Stheno

Fuzzy wrote: »

"Usually" when contracting, the HR interviews are just a formality that you have to go through.
The manager or director who is hiring you normally shoe horns you in, and just let's HR have an interview with you as that is their normal process and it's easier than arguing with them.

Exactly, after that their involvement is generally non - existent

mrcheez

mrcheez wrote: »

- Interview process: are the interviews for contracting positions generally easier than permanent placements? What sort of questions would I be expected to answer? Mainly regarding skillset I imagine?

So after having had 3 contracting interviews, I can categorically say contracting interviews are definitely HARDER than permanent (based on my experience when I was last interviewing approx 6 years ago).

I am more than qualified for all 3 roles, but stumbling on one tech question (for something as minor as "difference between these 2 versions of SQL Server") seems to be an automatic fail.
Unbelievable.

The line of questions don't appear to reflect on your ability to adapt to a role, they are more about how many facts you can pull out of your head at any given moment. For example with some questions, I was well familiar with the area/concept, but perhaps hadn't dealt with it for a year. In normal working conditions I might consult Stack Overflow for 30 seconds for a quick refresher.

So my question now is: are permanent IT interviews these days more about your general abilities and adaptability rather than knowing every random topic under the sun?

Stheno

mrcheez wrote: »

So after having had 3 contracting interviews, I can categorically say contracting interviews are definitely HARDER than permanent (based on my experience when I was last interviewing approx 6 years ago).

I am more than qualified for all 3 roles, but stumbling on one tech question (for something as minor as "difference between these 2 versions of SQL Server") seems to be an automatic fail.
Unbelievable.

The line of questions don't appear to reflect on your ability to adapt to a role, they are more about how many facts you can pull out of your head at any given moment. For example with some questions, I was well familiar with the area/concept, but perhaps hadn't dealt with it for a year. In normal working conditions I might consult Stack Overflow for 30 seconds for a quick refresher.

So my question now is: are permanent IT interviews these days more about your general abilities and adaptability rather than knowing every random topic under the sun?

The difference is due to the fact that as a contractor you are expected to hit the ground running, permanent staff aren't under that same pressure.

If you are struggling to answers questions in an interview that will raise doubts as to how quickly you'll get up to speed in the company

mrcheez

Stheno wrote: »

The difference is due to the fact that as a contractor you are expected to hit the ground running, permanent staff aren't under that same pressure.

If you are struggling to answers questions in an interview that will raise doubts as to how quickly you'll get up to speed in the company

Yep it does seem to be the general feeling I get.

Rather annoying as I would have no problem hitting the ground running on any of these jobs, just that they seem to be more willing to fail you on the most minor questions that wouldn't have any bearing on my ability to do the job.

Anyway, if that's what I can expect to face every 6 months, I'm out and I tip my hat to those of you with eidetic memory :pac:

beauf

When I last did interviews those interviews for a large contracting agencies, were lot of questions straight from the MS Certification curriculum. Whereas interviews for specific roles, projects in companies, (also contracting) were about coding and problem solving, in the specific project, business area. Probably has changed these days.

mrcheez

The agency I was talking to was saying it's quite bad for contractors at the moment, aren't as many positions, so more people applying for every role.

Possibly the reason why employers can be picky as hell.

Permanent roles seem to be booming and, on reflection, seem to be in more interesting cutting-edge areas rather than working on legacy applications (contracting is mainly in Finance / Insurance / Consulting in large corporations that can afford contractors)

This has been my experience anyway, I wouldn't have gone permanent for any of the roles I interviewed for as I'd get bored fairly quickly, at least with contracting I know I could up and leave without too many problems.

beauf

Maybe thats true. But I wouldn't trust an Agency not to use that as a tactic either.

DamoKen

beauf wrote: »

Maybe thats true. But I wouldn't trust an Agency not to use that as a tactic either.

I'd agree with this. Wouldn't be the first time an agency painted an over supply to get your rates down. Having said that it has been a few years since I interviewed so not sure what the market is currently like. I do still get the usual suspects mailing me most days but not necessarily indicative of the demand.

Re interview questions. Think it's the luck of the draw. I've had interviews, both permanent and contracting where I was expected to know the entire Java api off the top of my head, as well as that of every framework that ever graced my cv google be damned. I've had others where they were more interested in how I go about solving problems, general tech knowledge and attitude.

Personally I've found the jobs where I do get the offers are mainly ones where I had a good rapport with the interviewer. If I like them and they get my interest I do a much better interview.

Interviews like you're describing put me right off as they sound like a pain in the hole to work for, think that becomes fairly obvious as the interview progresses. These tend to be short interviews although at this stage I normally manage to filter them out well before dusting the suit off

mrcheez

DamoKen wrote: »

I'd agree with this. Wouldn't be the first time an agency painted an over supply to get your rates down.

I've never had an agency ask me to lower my rates. In fact I'd tend to ask them what sort of level the company is willing to pay and then I'd say if I was interested.

The agency wouldn't have an interest in discouraging me from contracting as I wasn't interested in their permanent roles, so if anything they would be saying "Oh there are LOADS of contracting jobs out there".

I'm a good judge of character and can tell the bull****ters and this guy was telling the truth: lots of contractors, few contracts. The time of year is possibly a factor as well as summer can be slow.

DamoKen wrote: »

Personally I've found the jobs where I do get the offers are mainly ones where I had a good rapport with the interviewer. If I like them and they get my interest I do a much better interview.

That's what annoyed me about the last one I interviewed for. Rapport was fantastic, everyone was smiling and noone said anything about me not knowing enough (perhaps I asked for clarification on one or two points). Only once did I say I hadn't used a particular technology but I had used a newer version of it, and could easily pick up the old version.

I was well over-qualified for the role, some of the tech questions were for post-grads!

So sure of getting the job was I that I said if I don't get this, then I'm not doing another contracting interview.

Anytime I've felt like that about a permanent interview I've always got the job, so I'm taking it as a sign.

Stheno

mrcheez wrote: »

That's what annoyed me about the last one I interviewed for. Rapport was fantastic, everyone was smiling and noone said anything about me not knowing enough (perhaps I asked for clarification on one or two points). Only once did I say I hadn't used a particular technology but I had used a newer version of it, and could easily pick up the old version.

Right I think I might know what may be happening here. I work in IT but specialise in service/project Management, so I get to manage the likes of migrations that tech people like yourself work on.

Now out of necessity, over the years I've learned the rather extreme differences that can happen over changes to e.g. Exchange 2003 versus 2007

As a tech once said to me, they've two similiarities, they are both called Exchange, and they both send and receive email

If I were interviewing you and asked you about how familiar you were with the differences in them and you gave me an answer that you could become familiar with it, I'd freeze. I've done a couple of migrations as a pm of that particular technology, and usually permanent staff assume they know enough to do it. Each time it's been a disaster due to lack of tech knowledge either of the legacy or future environment.

If that's the context in which you are falling down I can see why you are not getting the roles.

mrcheez

Stheno wrote: »

If I were interviewing you and asked you about how familiar you were with the differences in them and you gave me an answer that you could become familiar with it, I'd freeze. I've done a couple of migrations as a pm of that particular technology, and usually permanent staff assume they know enough to do it. Each time it's been a disaster due to lack of tech knowledge either of the legacy or future environment.

If that's the context in which you are falling down I can see why you are not getting the roles.

It's odd why they would offer to interview me then, as I don't have the particular technology they were talking about listed on my CV.

In this case it's WCF (pretty common for .net jobs). I've used Web API (HTTP-only), created/consumed SOAP web services, created my own miniature web services for AJAX, but clearly don't have WCF on the list of skills.

If it was a permanent role, they would see that I understand web services and could easily adapt to WCF rather quickly.

Regardless, some of the other interview issues didn't involve my knowledge of a particular technology, but rather they didn't like that my description of something didn't match word-for-word with the Wikipedia entry etc

Stheno

mrcheez wrote: »

It's odd why they would offer to interview me then, as I don't have the particular technology they were talking about listed on my CV.

I'd be putting that down to interviewer assuming you do know about it tbh, which is annoying.

ON a technical level I'm familiar with O/S/Database/Email/Monitoring technologies, but start talking to me about specific web stuff and I'm sunk

People assume though that just because I've managed a VM environment that I can go in and build it.

beauf

I think the time frame for a developer and an exchange expert aren't entirely comparable. I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. When I was doing interviews, they were, especially with agencies and contracts, very illogical. People are often interviewed, when they are not an ideal match, for a variety of reasons.

Stheno

beauf wrote: »

I think the time frame for a developer and an exchange expert aren't entirely comparable. I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. When I was doing interviews, they were, especially with agencies and contracts, very illogical. People are often interviewed, when they are not an ideal match, for a variety of reasons.

Same with what I do tbh, I regularly get beaten with the " we cant implement change management due to one of our teams resisting"

When I ask if that's the infrastructure guys, they are amazed

And true timeframes are different but contractors are brought in for specific skills and if you don't have them forget it

Elessar

You mentioned you were a developer? I would be surprised to hear that work is slow for contractors in that area tbh. If anything, people I know are leaving permanent positions to get into contracting as there is a good amount of work around. Mainly in java/Oracle and a few others though.

Anyway keep the chin up and try for a few other positions, if at first you don't succeed and all that

beauf

You've also got to get through a layer of hr and agency people who are working off a spec with no understanding of the spec or development in general.

reallyrose

I recruit for dev contractors.

Currently the state of play (for say, the last month)
.NET - few contracts, few (good) contractors. I had/have a role that's been open for a month, which is ages in contract-world.
Java - Busy. We have roles open with new ones coming in all the times. Rates are ok but seem to be coming down a little (maybe because new contractors are coming into the market?)
Web - Ticking over. We always have a UI/UX/Web roles or two open.
Software Testing - Busy, especially automation.

Outside of the main areas, Python seems to have gone mad. Everyone wants Python now. DevOps is the new funky kid on the block so everyone wants one of those too.