Insights · Notes from the desk
Notes from the desk.
What happening in the markets.
See below what we see happening in the market, trends, changes, challenges and what's “next”!
For clientsYour first data contractor will decide the next two years. Choose accordingly.
Most Series A founders hire the wrong shape first — and spend year two unwinding it. A working framework, with current European rates.
For clientsSnowflake vs Databricks in 2026: the contract market has already picked sides
We run searches on both stacks every month across Europe. The rate gap has closed — but the hiring difficulty hasn't.
For clientsInterim directors aren't a recession trade — they're a permanent shift
European scale-ups are buying senior judgement on 6–12 month contracts. When it works, when it doesn't, and what the rates really are.
For clientsSOW or T&M? Stop picking on preference and start picking on scope.
Both models have their moment. Pick the wrong one and you overpay by 20% or ship six months late. Here's how we actually decide.
For clients393,000 short and NIS2 live: European cyber is the tightest contract market of 2026
The workforce gap widened again, DORA is enforceable, and boards have stopped treating cyber as an IT line item. What that means for rates and time-to-hire.
For clientsEuropean AI budgets are still growing. What buyers are actually hiring has changed.
The money hasn't slowed — the roles have shifted. Pure LLM research is out. MLOps, evaluation and AI governance are the scarce hires of 2026.
For clientsThe 2027 SAP cliff is real. The contract market is already pricing the panic.
Mainstream ECC support ends in 2027. Most European enterprises are behind. The buyers moving now are ring-fencing capacity — everyone else pays for it later.
For clientsThe volume-recruitment model is losing the senior contract market. Here's the data.
CV blasts and pyramid teams still work at the junior end. At the senior end of the European contract market, they cost you time, credibility and the shortlist.
For candidatesHow to negotiate a 2026 European rate without leaving money on the table
The market moved 8–12% at the senior end. Most contractors are still anchoring to their last contract. Here's the field guide, with the numbers that are actually landing.
For candidatesFully remote didn't die — but hybrid is quietly paying 20% more
The European contract market split cleanly in 2026. Where the rate premium sits now, and how to price yourself around it.
For candidatesThe contractor CV that actually lands interviews (in 40 seconds or less)
We read 2,400 contractor CVs a quarter. Most are technically fine and get filtered out anyway. Here's what the ones that land share.
For candidatesShould you go contract in 2026? The honest maths most articles skip.
A third of the senior engineers we speak to are considering it. Most shouldn't. The ones who should are often running the numbers wrong.
For candidatesThe 2026 European contractor tax primer: six regimes, one honest map
Not tax advice — a plain-English guide to the six European markets we place into most. Read before you name a rate.
For clientsFinOps became the six-figure specialism nobody was planning to hire
The State of FinOps 2026 report is unambiguous: cloud cost is now an executive conversation. What that means for European contract rates, and who's actually landing them.
For clientsEuropean cloud contract rates in 2026: the premium quietly widened
YunoJuno, IT Jobs Watch and our own pipeline all point the same way — cloud, AI and product skills are pulling further away from the median. The gap map.
For clientsPlatform engineering ate DevOps. The contract market noticed before the buyers did.
The job title changed. The rate changed. The shape of the work changed. What European buyers should actually be hiring in 2026 — and what to stop paying for.
For clients2 August 2026: the EU AI Act deadline European buyers keep underestimating
GPAI obligations enforce this August. Fines reach €35m or 7% of global turnover. Here's what actually needs to be in place — and what the contract market is charging to put it there.
For clientsThe first 30 days of a contractor decide the next twelve. Here's how good clients run it.
CXC's 2026 research is blunt: onboarding decides productivity for the rest of the engagement. What the best European clients do differently in the first four weeks.
For candidatesThe analytics engineer career path in 2026: bigger than most people realised
dbt made it a discipline. Monzo and Octopus made it a career. What analytics engineering actually pays across Europe in 2026 — and where the ceiling is.
For candidatesThe Wet DBA in 2026: what ZZP contractors in the Netherlands actually need to know
The soft-landing moratorium partially extended, but enforcement is live. A plain-English brief on where classification risk really sits — and how to price it.
For candidatesShould you move into FinOps? The career case for cloud engineers in 2026
The State of FinOps 2026 report reframed the discipline. For senior cloud engineers weighing a lateral move, here's the honest career maths.
For candidatesPower BI, Tableau, Looker: which BI contractor market is actually paying in 2026?
The three big names still dominate European contract BI hiring — but the rate delta between them has widened. A field guide for candidates deciding where to invest.
For candidatesYour first 30 days as a contractor: the extension is decided before you notice
Clients are quietly deciding by day 20 whether they'll extend you. Here's the candidate-side playbook for making sure the answer is yes.