daisydaydream

Hi Coffebean,

I'm a telecoms engineer project manager working for Ericsson in the UK, I was hoping to transfer internally but not having much luck so I'm applying for a skilled 138/1 visa. We are hopefully heading to Victoria.

http://www.seek.com.au
http://www.telstra.com.au/careers/general.htm
http://www.diversiti.com.au
http://career.huawei.com/career
http://internationalcareers.hudson.com/

Ericsson also have presence in Melbourne Sydney, I found it really hard to find out which visa cat I fell into because my job is so specialised, I write software or MML that enables Mobile and fixed networks to operate.

daisydaydream

Hi Melissa,

Any advice for the skills assessment would be appreciated, I have to do RPL.??

hawk2005

Try Alcatel - Telstra outsource a lot of work to them - I heard Alcatel were recruiting 500 odd people to build Telstra's NGN, largely based in Melbourne & to a lesser extent Sydney.

Apart from Telstra, IInet & Amcom are the major players in WA

Vicky88

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but don't go thinking the streets of Australia are paved with want ads for Telecoms Engineer.

My husband is one, and signed up to one of the search engines and get notified of jobs. He gets suitable ones from time to time, but his experience has been when you call the agencies they really aren't that interested. He has 20+ years experience and is an Australian citizen so that is not what is putting them off. Last job he called about in Brisbane last year, they were offering a $70k package, which was inclusive of super, which we thought was a spectacularly pathetic amount, taking into taxes, super etc.

Hmm be careful with Alcatel as my husband used to work for them in Sydney some years ago. They didn't pay very well, product was not competitive and I believe they shut down in Sydney with very little notice.

Annie get your gun

Hi ,

My Hubby is a mobile telecoms engineer and it seems there is plenty of work in Sydney at the moment. Vodafone are quite a big employer with contractors and Nokia has a pretty big presence in Sydney..As someone said earlier in this thread its who you know..!!!

Glotel provide contract engineers and Robert Walters provide admin staff.

Annie

Mel n Daz

Hi there,

I'm not really sure what a RPL is, my hubby dealt with the skills assessment as it was on his trade. One thing i would suggest is send lots of info on the tools you use. Even down to plugs, crimps etc! :scared: We sent huge amounts, as we were told the more info they get the better.

It takes a lot of time, but well worth it.

Good luck

Melissa

the ozbyrnes

Hi,

In my experience (only going on what I’ve been told in various interviews), Telstra and Optus contract most of their work out, and the companies below, who for QLD anyway, have most of the contracts, then sub contract that work out. They seem to be national companies and have bases all over. In the 8 months I’ve been here, I haven’t seen many full time positions for telecoms engineers advertised, most of the work seems to be for sub contractors

www.bsa.com.au
www.servicestream.com.au/fieldservices.html
www.tcgcareers.com
www.downeredi.com

If you are a linesman like myself, and plan to work on cabling within buildings, you’ll need an ACA license, to qualify for this you’ll need a Cert II in telecommunications and be a senior first aider, I didn’t bring either with me (in someone’s loft somewhere in the UK) and it’s taken me nearly 3 months of completing 10 on line exams, and hands on assessments, and 2 whole days of first aid training, so if you have them, bring them with you, if you don’t, I’d do the first aid before you come, the online course I did is below.

www.howtodoit.org

If you plan to work on the copper network, hole, poles and exchanges, you’ll need accreditations (BT cert) to prove you’re competent in this field, a reference from a previous employed just doesn’t cut it, believe me I tried it. If you don’t have certificates and need to be assessed the link below might be of use, the have training courses and recognition of prior learning (RPL)

www.milcom.com.au

Other good links are www.seek.com.au , IT&T/Telecommunications, this will give you an idea of what’s out there in the region where you going to, and what sort of wage you can expect, also www.centrelink.gov.au , Individuals section has stuff about getting you skills assessed, it also has a good job search on it.

Hope this helps someone somewhere, also happy to try and help with any questions….

Mel n Daz

Thanks very much for this, will get hubby to take a look.

Melissa

caleb2003

I'm an Avaya engineer (not working for Avaya) , and I sent my CV off through seek for some recent Avaya jobs in Brisbane and got sent an email saying there were over 600 applicants .. yikes!!! I'm used to a job being down to me and maybe 1 or 2 others so it will be a shock if I need to get employment with them or in that role.

The_Pom_From_Aus

you will need a licence to so any telecoms work its the BLC basic cabling license.
i would say telco is potting most techs and there is lots of company who are private. there is lots of work for decent techs on the phone systems.

most technicians also have a data license for cat5/cat6 if you dont have the BLC & data you may struggle to get work its as simple as that thats the Law you must be registered, if you do work without a license the fines can be massive some people have been done $20,000 per point.

and of course the Blc cost money as does the bloody data license but i think its only every 3 years to re register you may have to check that, then if you want to work on Fibre cables guess what another $1,000 for a frigging fibre license.

Its all money mate i can tell you that, then you can work for your self or work for a company.

regards

Arthur

coffeebean

Thankyou any idea where to start to get licence????
cheers - do you work in telecoms now??

The_Pom_From_Aus

There are plenty of places you can go to get the required licenses, most Taffe's run a course but ask for a short course that will give you the BLC & then the Data license.

without them you will be lucky to get a job in this field.

I work for the education dept now, we do our own phone (voice) data, fibre, & electrical work. As i say you must have the relevant licenses to perform any work if not and a company employs you they are fined heavy, so all you need is the basic cabling license & data and if you want to get into fibre optic then you will also need the bloody fibre license.

costings for the BLC about $1,000. for a 3 days or 4 day course.

Fibre costing about $1,000 for 3 day course.

Data course costing again about $1,000. "But" if you can prove you have worked in telecoms for a period more than 12 months and you can produce a letter stating this you will be exempt and there is no reason why you wont get the license immediately.

if you shop around and talk to the training people then you may also get a reduction if you do all courses, i when i did mine all i paid for was the Basic cabling license i told them i had 10 years experience in data both co-ax and cat5.


regards

Arthur

JOE2369

I have all my BT paperwork for :jointing , cal omi :ug :d/w errection ,platform operation, now a TO/c3 working on cisco kit done some sdh/pdh/network management on national scale am I pi**ing in the wind ? what do the Aussy telco guys think ? was dreaming of back in van with shorts on clearing cable breakdowns/overhead/provision i am just a dreamer arnt I

I have only started to look into this and I am having thoughts of were do I start /what visa /

Watty'n'Arls

Hi Mate - BT enginner hee - also in Manchester,

JOE2369

Ye ill with it eldest lad out there , sh*T here got the wink from missis fancy a change I have just had it with Manchester if this goes Belly up going for Exeter or somwere in southwest not to remote though loved it on the tools bored inside anyway will stop moaning sent you a pm I am in Dial house.7 till 3 build you an activity eh Watty'n'Arls