I've been a tech worker for over 26 years, for most of the past 15 years as a professional IT consultant. I've seen my share of strange things happen in this industry. Sometimes I've benefited from them, other times been hurt by them, and still other times not been affected one way or another.
But today, in a conversation with an IT recruiter I was treated to one of the most disturbing comments I've ever heard over the entirety of my career. In once sense, I supposed I should not be surprised, and in fact I'm not, nevertheless to hear it so matter of factly stated is nonetheless shocking.
To anyone familiar with the industry, it's pretty much common knowledge that there is a pretty severe shortage of trained IT workers, just as there is a shortage of nurses and other healthcare professionals. I'm not going to get into the politics of whys and the wherefores of the reason there is a shortage, just suffice it to say, it's pretty evident to anyone who touches this industry in any way.
Given that, it comes as no surprise that at least from a personal perspective that my phone has been ringing off the hook with IT recruiters offering jobs. Even given all the bad economic news out there and all those massive tech layoffs we have been hearing about. Thousands at several of our flagship industries announced within the last couple of weeks alone.
Right now I'm on contract assignment so generally, I'm either not taking calls or not returning them. But out of curiosity I took a call today anyway.
It was a recruiter with a 3 month contract at a good rate for a qualified database developer. Pretty standard fare these days, and generally right up my alley. But I'm not really in the market right now so, I wasn't really interested, especially in such a short assignment. So I asked her, "Just out of curiosity, how is it out there? With all the news about tech layoffs and the general economic condition, I am a little worried about future prospects."
She said: "Well, we are seeing a lot of layoffs of full time employees, but there has been a real spike in contract work. A lot of companies are laying off their full time employees and hiring contractors to replace them."
I pressed a bit further, "Why would they layoff their FTE's only to replace them with contractors?"
"Well," she said. "They don't have to pay for their benefits or make a long term commitment."
Did you get that? In other words, despite the fact that there is obviously plenty of project work that needs to be done, they are using the current economic climate as an excuse to fire their FTEs.
It's all a sham. Yes the economy is in the tank, and yes there are some industries that have not been hit as hard as others. But unscrupulous bean counters and CEOs are using the current economic conditions as an excuse to clear their books, so they can look like they are taking measures to trim down for their shareholders. It's a shell game, and they are playing it with real peoples lives. This behavior is despicable and it's happening throughout the industry.