ectomorph

I'm in IT, software/web developer. Possibly thinking about starting own business if work hard to come by.

rocket01

Not much work in Cairns doing anything atm, I did read it has one of the highest amount of people unemployed in Australia atm.

rocket01

Someone did say to me that there is a high amount of construction and redevelopment going on in Darwin.

Bix

Check out the Computer & Internet tab here mate.....
http://cairns.yalwa.com.au/

Impression I get is that there are no large IT firms here.
Several small firms and "one man and his van" operators.

My small office uses a one man band and he is flat out with work.

IMO there is a market.
Of course the difficulty is growing the customer base from scratch but you will know that I'm sure.

ectomorph

Many thanks for that Bix mate. I'm only too aware that these days every man and his dog can do 'IT', it so yesterday but what you say is encouraging.

Cheers

ectomorph

May I ask you Bix, what services the company provides you with and for roughly what charges.

Cheers
Ectomorph

ossigeno

Interested to know why you are considering Darwin/Cairns. Your background seems very similar to my own.

I've thought about Cairns a few times but consider I would need to be earning an income from another location not locally, e.g. a software revenue stream from UK/US.

ectomorph

Basically because in comparison to Cairns, Darwin is too expensive property wise because it is so remote the costs of doing anything increases. Cairns, although FNQLD it is still within easy reach of other major metro areas. Why these areas in the first place? Because I want to live somewhere different from what I've been used to, somewhere with 'weather', within easy reach of the outback that I love, somewhere that still feels on the edge. The difficulty being striking a balance between this and job opportunities, good schooling for my children and keeping my wife happy.

ossigeno

With regard to keeping the wife happy, why you not leverage your wife's background, e.g importing stuff. I'm doing this at present as a side project, all profits reinvested so it compounds up. Presents the occasional trip to China to meet suppliers.

ectomorph

Possibly, its a good suggestion. Do we know each other ?

Bix

We're a small office of 8 people with basic shared server etc.
He comes and fixes any problems we have whether it's network, software or hardware related.
Charges $110 / hour which we think is one of the cheapest in Cairns.

ectomorph

Thanks Bix

ossigeno

We have many similarities in background.