160 a day for extensive Excel VBA experience in central London.
I know the financial meltdown has left a few Excel/VBA devs spare but 160 a day won’t cover a travel pass and butties. And its only 3 weeks.
And there is another on 200, both claiming they want decent skill and experience.
Wow!
Apart from these two aberrations though the market seems to be picking up, more jobs are getting posted and rates are recovering a little, although skillset requirements are still a bit silly.
What’s the market like where you are?
(not that London is where I am, but try searching Cumbria and Excel jobs and you’ll see why I keep an eye on London!)
cheers
Simon
Smurf on Spreadsheets 
Friday, 26th June, 2009 at 3:41 pm |
I just had a Major Multi-National client ask me to hunt down a series of Access apps on their network, find the source code and create documentation for them so they can Off-Shore them all to the biggest Indian Off-Shore provider. When I asked who was going to pay for my time they glazed over and it became apparent that neither the company nor the out-sourcer had the money to pay me (or at best at Indian rates)….. So the deal is off.
I think they really thought I’d do it as a favour.
Dick
Tuesday, 30th June, 2009 at 7:43 am |
Hi Simon,
I have 3 observations. First that the market does appear to be stabilising and even picking up a little. I’m getting more regular unsolicited calls from agents than 6 months ago.
Secondly though, is that the number of opportunities for strict Excel/VBA are on the decline. Complementary skills – typically in .Net/C# – are usually required. As is the importance of domain knowledge.
And finally, while the rates in London aren’t what they used to be, they appear to have stabilised and – in some instances – are increasing marginally.
Note though that these observations are viewed through London IB eyes.
Cheers – Marcus
Tuesday, 30th June, 2009 at 9:00 am |
Dick
yeah I get a few of those charity requets, seems the bigger the org the more they expect us small guys to do charity work for them. I guess thats how they get so big.
Marcus,
I havent seen many pure Excel/VBA jobs for a long time, and I agree the list of requirements is getting longer. Although I have done a few jobs that claimed a need for .net, only to find that I spent all my time doing VBA. In fact I have left a couple early because the tech was less interesting and diverse than I was led to believe.
I’m relieved you are seeing things pick up too, I may be looking in that market in a few months.
cheers
Simon
Tuesday, 7th July, 2009 at 10:24 am |
Here’s another perspective:
Hays sees no end to ‘brutal job market’
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/91e941fc-6a60-11de-ad04-00144feabdc0.html