Originally Posted by Amazulu

Aus is a fantastic place to live, great place to work IMHO

Originally Posted by rockynfudge

Hi there,

Been looking at this thread with great interest, as we are in the position of considering a move to Aus from the UK. At moment either Darwin or Brisbane area.

We would be coming with about Au$ 100k. Initially I would be the sole earner on Au$ 80k a year base, + super, and company car provided.

Would be nice to use our 100k as a deposit and not have to use it to live on.

Houses we have looked at on the net are about Au$ 420k - 450k.

With 3 kids a 4 bedroom house is a must, in an area with good schools etc.

In the UK a rough guide is 3 x salary in relation to an affordable mortgage, is this the same in Australia?

We are not leaving UK to chase any sort of "dream", we just want to live in a country that awards those who get of their arse and work, unlike the UK.

I know there are so many factors, but a general opinion as to whether we can afford to live in Australia would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter

Whilst my current place is a great place to work, my experience overall is Aus has shite working practices and Aus management is not that smart, in fact mediocre management is less of a threat and normally par for the course. Aussie businesses need to learn to manage their human resources better and work smarter. IMHO

Originally Posted by isgraham

My experience of working in IT in Australia was that the management are far more interested in your ability to follow a procedure even if it leads to failure rather than allow people to use their intelligence to solve problems that come up. It's part of why I'm still turning down opportunities to return to Sydney and work in banking. Funnily enough my team in London are mostly Australian and they are very good so it leads me to believe the best Australia has move to other countries to work and the dross are left at home.

Originally Posted by DeadVim

Yeh, but the bonus is that even dodgy shysters like me can find work in amongst the 'dross'

Banking, procedures, arse-covering matrix, endless meetings, stakeholders <shudder>.

I swear I will move to Nimbin and live in a yurt.

Originally Posted by isgraham

My ex employers were even in the Australian IT section yesterday for how bad their systems and IT moral are. It made me laugh my ex colleagues still email me weekly complaining about the place.

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter

Whilst my current place is a great place to work, my experience overall is Aus has shite working practices and Aus management is not that smart, in fact mediocre management is less of a threat and normally par for the course. Aussie businesses need to learn to manage their human resources better and work smarter. IMHO

Originally Posted by DeadVim

Having experienced the red tape of the financial sector I can only imagine the hassles if I took a job in the public service ... best avoided I think.

<Off to browse Seek.com and have a bit of a cry>

Originally Posted by Amazulu

Then don't even bother looking at the mining industry. The amount of self-imposed red tape is insane. I often wonder how they ever manage to make money.

Originally Posted by DeadVim

Having experienced the red tape of the financial sector I can only imagine the hassles if I took a job in the public service ... best avoided I think.

<Off to browse Seek.com and have a bit of a cry>

Originally Posted by isgraham

I did 9 months public sector prior to moving to Australia and there was less red tape than in a typical Aussie bank.

Originally Posted by DeadVim

Hmmm, interesting, I actually enjoyed my first year or so at Suncorp but then the bottom fell out of the stock market and things got a bit dicey.

I wasn't in the IT section, I was doing some dodgy 'off network' stuff for our department, it was great fun not being bound to the procedures and standards ... the server was in the photocopier room and the one thing to grab during a fire drill was the external back-up drive ... it was madness ...

All of this happened because the IT section wanted more money to quote for the system then it cost us to build it from scratch

Originally Posted by isgraham

You should see the risk system I'm working on replacing. It's the worst I've ever seen. At least I've got the budget and team approved to kill it and rational procedures to follow.

Originally Posted by Amazulu

I agree, especially about where I am working at the moment, but I don't think it's much better in other countries. In my field it's certainly no better in the UK (Network Rail - if only the UK public knew how much they are subsidising the sheer incompetence and waste of that shower of shit......).

There are very few good managers about. The modern way is good education=good management, and it's fundamentally wrong. A good manager actually has to do very little to manage effectively, a bad manger has to try too hard - and it shows.

Originally Posted by isgraham

My experience of working in IT in Australia was that the management are far more interested in your ability to follow a procedure