It's been over a week, and no posts. Did I suddenly get lazy? Nope. Let's see. I went on a cruise, then came back and needed to land a new contract. If anyone says the job market is bad, better update your skills or your resume. I actually landed a new contract before I started looking which was quite a relief.

The downside of all of it was that I was told I needed to look for a new project the day before I left on vacation. Granted, it was like a 2 month notice, and should have been stress free since I was given ample time and a lot of freedom about it, but still when you know it's going to end, you worry about it. Secondly, I am not the type that likes to wait, but there was no point in looking until I could act on it. So, I enjoyed the time off as best I could. Fortunately, an old client of mine had called while I was away, and asked if I wanted to help out with a new project. The pay was very good, and the project sounded nice.

Now, that's not the point of this writing. Before I knew about this offer, I started looking as I had internet access. Being an independent contractor for years, I called in all my cards, afraid the election might make everyone nervous. Lo and behold, and much to the opposite of what the media was saying about the economy, the interest came in. If I received less than 8 serious calls per day this week, I would be surprised.

OK, serious is a slight exaggeration. Why? It's hard to keep a straight face when a recruiter calls, requests a VERY senior developer position, and then says the pay is $35 / hour. One recruiter even called two days in a row, becuase she ran when I quoted my standard rate the first time. The second day she called back, she couldn't remember why she didn't list me as a possible candidate, until I pointed out there was a very large discrepancy in what I consider a Sr. Developer rate and what she was offering.

All that behind me, there were still some promising leads. So I am not buying this whole “tech death” market. If you have skills and experience, and can market yourself, then there are good contracts still available.