In the UK contractors tend to get hired as temporary stop gaps at a much higher rate than perms (like double).
Either to cover a need for a project that won't last long term or to fill the demand for more fingers on keyboards right now.
Is that not how the US uses them? Then again UK programmers seem to earn much less than US programmers. Outside London it's like £50k for a senior dev ($70k?).
Not these days, I'm constantly getting emails offering £45-50k for East Midlands jobs, up from £40-45k the year or two before. 4 years ago I got offered 3 jobs in the East Midlands at or close enough to £40k, with one having bonuses too.
You can go check on any job site, indeed, cwjobs, whatever. CWJobs claim the average is up to £62k for London now, and that's of all dev jobs, not just senior ones:
Either to cover a need for a project that won't last long term or to fill the demand for more fingers on keyboards right now.
Is that not how the US uses them? Then again UK programmers seem to earn much less than US programmers. Outside London it's like £50k for a senior dev ($70k?).