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Has the turnaround begun?

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by Member 33207995

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IT consultants are often the harbingers of economic change. When consultants can easily find work, conditions are generally improving or already good. When consultants are struggling, the economy is usually beginning a down cycle. Have you begun to see the turnaround, or is there more uncertainty ahead? Join our discussion.
Paul Baldwin
Editor, IT Consultant Republic

26 replies

by liquidsignal

I see more consultants each week working to get fewer projects. I think we'll see the turnaround begin about the middle of January.

by grouchyman

i was laid off in march and didn't get many bites until this past week. now i have three potential contracts, two of which came thru a consulting agency and the other via networking. all this happened in the past several days so it may be a fluke or the beginning of a recovery. who really knows.

by smmurphy

I switched from contract consulting to internal corporate consulting last year due to a lack of contracts. I have not seen a great increase in available contracts yet, and the contract consults are not getting their contracts renewed where I'm working. I do see improvement in limited areas, but over all I do not see anything turning around yet.

by dbiddle

I think consultants would be the first to know a recession is coming and the last to know it is over.

by nkqx57a

I have not seen any indication of an overall turnaround. More looking for less work each day. The only bright spot is the Federal Gov. this area has picked up since 9/11, especially in the classified IT environments.

by hda

In certain mission critical areas, there has been an imprivement. These areas are marketing applications or areas which do not require large investements.

by ron biava

Since Thanksgiving I have seen a modest increase in activity. Most are "no brainer" projects that are relatively small ( <$1M) and have very short payback time. Pricing pressure has also relaxed somewhat.

by elbone

I have been laid off since March of last year. Lived in the Silicon Valley area. Moved to LA. Im beginning to go on more interviews, but nothing yet. Once they find out my past rates, they feel I would leave if something better than what they were willing to pay came along, which is not the case. I just would like to get back to work. I never give up, though, just have to keep on trying.

by flang

Many businesses are continuing to feel the impact of a recession. The events of 9/11 and the war on terrorism have exacerbated the decline in many industries with the exception of security and defense. I don't expect to see a turnaround until late in the 2nd quarter of 2002. Until consumer demand returns, and fear of travel abates, we will continue to see a lower demand for IT resources, particularily consultants.

by donbauer

I am hearing of a lot of projects starting up in January, with 5 offers coming in just this week. Nice change since nothing has come in since July. Rates are lower though than they were before.

by tbrow12

I have been in the Technology business for 28
years, including the heady days of Silicon Valley's growth. There is a fear out in the market of creativity. Creativity was what the
growth of Tech was all about. Until the VC world gets over the fact that they made mistakes in judgement about what they invested in during the dot.com period, and let the real creators back in the game things will stay the same.
Creative people don't follow the pattern of today's job market requirements. Those people will not get work until employers are willing to take risks again. Let the players back in the game. You will see things change rapidly, becuase you will see productivity gains. Which represent value. Good money can be spent on value. That will cause the ball to move again. Stay free in your mind!

Tony

by murfster

Tony,
I totally agree with you on the creative people deal. Before I was laid off a couple of months ago, I spent a stellar year learning XML and all kinds of web and database goodies. All for what?

Now, I'll be lucky to get a VB/COM job, even with lots of experience.

I hate it when someone takes away my toys. Who knows when I'll get'em back again? :(
-Murf

by cyril_kearney

Traditionally the New York City Metropolitan area is a place where consultants have never wanted for work. I know of dozens of talented consultants that have been on the beach for months. Hourly rates are back to where they were in the mid-1980's. (Experienced ASP developers are settling for 40-50 an hour. SQL Server DBA's are getting 50-60.)

No upturn is in sight as far as I can see.

by gerardj5

not yet but certainly the slope of the declining curve is not as negative as it was. but will have to to flatten and then take off....so some more time.

by fdasnevesgomes

At this moment I think it's not one barometer but one accomplice of inestimable economic mistakes and some of the times the first to make or stimulate the wrong move in business. After admit that, I think all of us are the first to climb at this moment, to the good ones have the opportunity to take a look at our real delivery, first proving him self that are not involved with wrong strategies, second proving to the market that they still focus in business success, with no profile that involve your name with stakeholders loose.
To the bad ones have the opportunity to move to other market, probably gambling market.
Obvious I'm talking about global investments consultant, project/business designers with tech support, to the rest of consultants, components consultant, sorry but you/we are in the same boat at this moment, I think it's one consequence of one in house strategy to face the lost of confidence in global market.

Fernando das Neves Gomes
Independent Consultant

by fdasnevesgomes

At this moment I think it's not one barometer but one accomplice of inestimable economic mistakes and some of the times the first to make or stimulate the wrong move in business. After admit that, I think all of us are the first to climb at this moment, to the good ones have the opportunity to take a look at our real delivery, first proving him self that are not involved with wrong strategies, second proving to the market that they still focus in business success, with no profile that involve your name with stakeholders loose.
To the bad ones have the opportunity to move to other market, probably gambling market.
Obvious I'm talking about global investments consultant, project/business designers with tech support, to the rest of consultants, components consultant, sorry but you/we are in the same boat at this moment, I think it's one consequence of one in house strategy to face the lost of confidence in global market.

Fernando das Neves Gomes
Independent Consultant

by dave reneau

Maybe not as much in the larger ticket projects but there is plenty going on in the network design, modification / improvement 10K and below sector. With all the carrier acquisitions and failures, small and midsized company's are being forced to revisit who they are purchasing network infrastructure from.

The events of late are also causing the small and midsized sector to take a closer look at security, an area they gambled with a lot in the past.

These two issues alone, while not highlyprofitable to the consulting world are garnering much attention and are leading to stronger relationships and larger projects.

by patrick fontaine

I work for the Government and with the new budget year starting, the amount of money being diverted and ramped-up for IT, Wireless, Security and Training is just amazing.

by leftyfrizzell

The majority of those jobs require and active security clearance. The contacts that I have made said that I'm pretty much out of luck getting on with the Government. The current cost of an investigation to get a Secret clearance is now around $35,000.

This is getting just a little old.

by howardshona

We are running a conference on Defense Partnering
in ALexandria Mar 18. Contract, dispute resolution, etc. Interest.

by fluxit

Many of the new system approaches drive private industry eventually since people like Bill Gates hawk this stuff. The future is bringing us some awesome systems and you could be on the cutting edge.

by fluxit

Down economies rarely impact every sector. They almost always target specific sectors. If a consultant is focused on manufacturing or travel those are typically volatile industries today. Moreover, after the Y2K scare and resultant growth in IT there was a down side expected. We are seeing this today.

by fluxit

Another concern relating to this is the always changing face of technology. N21, Human centric computing, and Ubiquitous Computing are on the horizon with delivery dates of 2010. Some products are already on the market. The need for consultants willdiminish with the advent of these products. IT concepts will be removed from the enduser and information will arrive to him like one uses a toaster - mindlessly.

by info

Having spent several years in management as well as a team player, I'd like to share my opinion. Increases in budget expenditures for consulting fees, (in my opinion), does not serve as an indicator of "better times". Here's the reasoning: When we were in challenging economic market conditions, it was not cost effective to maintain full time team members. As such the budget points that delt with salary and benefits were reduced. We would then increase the budget points that delt with outsourcing. In the long run that was still cheaper than maintaining salaried or hourly paid individuals.

by operatorx

I definetly don't see a sign of needing more IT support as a upswing in the economy. This is caused by a lack of training which is caused by lack of spending which is proceeded by a lack of upward moblity in the economy. Employer's still need IT people but the lack of money is forcing them to pay lower salaries which in turn brings in a lessor trained employee. OperatorX

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