Programmer Jobs around london

New year message from the MD is development dept is closing down, will
consult dr jobserve later...
Does anyone know of any decent permanent c++/c# jobs in the london area?
Oh and is it a good time to see if contracting is worth delving into?
(or just not worth the hassle considering the lowish pay these days)

 

If you're a decent C# developer I'd be surprised if you had any difficulty
getting a job. The ones I had in for interview recently were average at
best, and seemed to be after silly money.

 

cancel this post, change your CV to read "Java" instead of C++, and
email it to SimonK - he'll never know any better...

 

Oh, shit (

area?

If I did, I wouldn't be telling you )

Well, I'm trying to get out of contracting, but that's not been
particularly fruitful either. I have the impression that most
places would take a permie applicant over a contractor, probably
due to the fact that they think the contractor will move on
as soon as the market picks up (if it ever does).

As you say, unless you're EKS already, it's probably not be worth
the hassle as rates are low and with IR35 you're not getting the
NI savings that you could a few years back.

Good luck.

 

Any good C++/C# developer should be able to pick up Java within a
couple of weeks. Then it's just a case of learning the APIs.

 

Any good C++/C# contractor shoule be able to adjust their CV within a
couple of minutes. Then it's just a case of blagging the interview.

 

that was kinda my point. Over the last year, I've been learning both
J2EE and C#.net in my copious free time. They're remarkably similar. I
know (SAS) C from years ago, and even that makes these new ones dead
easy to pick up. I'm going on some formal J2EE training this month,
actually, which should be interesting (to see well I've successfully
managed to self-train).

 

Exactly. Try getting a recruitment agent to see that point, though.

<fx: starts to 'massage' the latest CV>

 

Fair point

Have heard about that aspect of EKS before but i didn't pay it any real
attention as i thought it was rubbish, but now that you mention it in
the flesh ... hmmm

Cheers, and you too.

 

*ahem* *cough* did i say C++/C# i meant to say Java/C#

wouldn't consider myself as a "decent" C# developer as i've now finished
projects to show for it and haven't had to delve into the libraries too
much (except some xml stuff and strings collections etc)

 

Says Mr. "they're all just curly bracket languages" ...

 

When I switched from EKS to Permie, some of the companies I went to had this
attitude - some in fact wouldn't even accept a CV from a contractor.

But to be honest it wasn't a hinderence for me, and most of the companies
who I would actually have wanted to work at were more interested in ability
then previous 'history'.

I'm actually enjoying being a permie, mainly because of paid leave ;-) Job
security doesn't seem to exist anywhere - permie or contract.

 

oh come on...programming's programming, innit ;-)

 

Yeah, I've had that.

Which is exactly the way that it should be. Kick EKSism out now!

Paid leave would be nice. One of my main reasons is a few years back
rates
were at a level where taking leave or even taking extended time off
between
contracts was possibly without a problem.
Nowadays, with rates as they are you really need to be in work
constantly.

For example, my last contract lasted 17 months but that consisted
of 3 months, extended by 3 months 4 times, plus 2 single month
extensions.
At no point in contract did I feel financially stable enough to take a
holiday
as there was always a possiblility I'd be out of work after the three
months.
If I'd known up front that it was going to last that long, my outlook
would have
been considerably different.

Now I'm coming to the end of another short contract and don't know where
I'll
be or what I'll be doing after the end of Jan.

Obviously, I could change my lifestyle to be less expensive, but where's
the
fun in that?

 

I still can't believe how much I was earning in 99/00, and I equally can't
believe the crap I spent it on.

 

Hah, I wisely invested mine in the stock market, particually American tech
shares.

<fx checks portfolio>

oh dear.

 

I'll bet you wish you'd bought cheap property now, eh?

 

Aye, C++, Java, Smalltalk, who gives a shit? It's all much of a muchness.

I meant to start looking for work yesterday, but actually only started today
(ooops!)... I'm hoping to get away with not entering the "CV massaging
zone".

ZK

 

But c# and Java are so similar that I am surprised Microsoft hasn't
been sued for ... oh, wait ...

 

yeah, but XSLT isn't a *programming* language, is it?