We can agree to disagree on this one. I was in the industry for almost 25 years. Both doing the hiring and getting hired.I do know that one contract i did for a couple of years they made almost nothing from me as they needed my knowledge specifically and I was coming back after taking a break for health issues. There are several agencies who cover the industry in this area and for a couple of years now it has been a bidding war with contracts. Who can go the cheapest or outsource the most. I have been out of the industry now for about 3 years so it is possible that things have changed in that time. I do know, since I have a ton of contacts across multiple corporations as well as still watch tech news, layoffs continue to happen, some agencies are losing both cred and people for being too greedy and instead of outsourcing to India, there is a push to outsource to mexico.
I would much rather take my chances getting a full time gig with a small to mid size company than try to strike it rich with a large corp. However, as I mentioned, I decided to leave the industry to return back to school. My wife is still in the industry though and a bunch of my close friends are as well. (All FTE) LOL one was an FTE, got laid off, and has been travelling around the world for the last couple of years.