dgarry

Hi all,
Myself and my girlfriend are currently looking at moving to Australia and I was wondering does anyone know what the IT job market is like at the moment???
I'd preferably not do contracting and would rather go permanent...
My main skills are in C++,MFC,.NET (Windows development)...
We're looking at moving back to either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane...
Can anyone give me any feedback on what it's like at the moment...
Thanks,
David

karawara88

IT market is as bad as UK if not worse, Sydney will be your best bet, followed by Melbourne then Brisbane.

Salary will be a lot worse than you get now.

Nix

Check out a few agencies, they'll have jobs listed and it'll give you an idea of what's on offer.

I can only think of 2 at the moment - careerone & seek (both .com.au)

karawara88

List of agencies at

www.movingdownunder.co.uk/files/employment.php

megawho

Thats about right. Its tough tough tough over here, hard to say exactly how it compares to UK now, because I'm sure IT in UK is going through a soft patch as well, but I suspect It situation in UK is a bit better...salaries certainly will be substantially better....

etlniwd

Beware. 'seek' is not an agency. It is a database through which agencies advertise. Of the jobs they 'advertise' the majority do not exist.

If you are an experienced IT worker I would strongly advise against coming to Brisbane. If you can afford the high housing costs then Sydney is your best bet. Brisbane lives in the Stone Age when it comes to IT. Believe me, I've been looking for an IT job for four months without any success. If you are used to working at the forefront of technology you will scare the pants off most Brisbane employers and they will avoid you like the plague. They are terrified that you make make them move up into second gear.

I've had one interview. They turned up late and were ill-prepared. They just asked me questions from a pre-prepared list. Then they told me that they couldn't understand why I had applied for this job. When I told them what my skills were they looked a bit shocked and said ...'errr ... well, we don't do that here .... we haven't got to that stage ..... errrrr.... I don't think we are ready for that yet ...' I the got rushed out of the door because my 45 minutes (yes, just 45 minutes!) were up. They didn't even have the decency to get back to me after the interview. I won't name names but that was one of the biggest companies in Queensland (probably THE biggest).

Megalania

One word: shithouse.

megawho

And there's the crunch....I've thought of moving to Sydney (i'm in bris) partly because of the reasons you've just said, but the idea of the housing costs there is a touch scary. Haven't yet seen a realistic job for which I could apply and which would pay me enough to consider move there.

megawho

well I wasn't going to be as blunt as you....

Jacqui

Well it's not all negative, the company my husband works for in Perth advertised three posts in February and despite having over 100 applicants my husband was the only one with the skills asked for - the other two posts are still vacant. (He works in C++ and .Net amongst others, can't remember the rest). It took him only 3 months to find work here, and his salary is higher than what he earnt in the UK, which was an unexpected bonus!
And apart from the interview itself my husband never moved from his study at home whilst looking; he just used seek.com and read the West Australian job pages. On the downside his working week is 40 hours, plus overtime, plus two hours driving a day.

jah4reds

Brisbane market is pretty weak at the moment - it's mostly a government town so the future is develop using .NET or Java/EJB. Do you have any of these skill?. Not much Windows C++/MFC in Brisbane CBD. However, there does seem to be a small amount of work down on the Gold Coast - if you're lucky you could be surfing and programming all in the same day!

Can't speak for Sydney or Melboune - bigger markets but same IT recession - but the market here with just having s/w development skills in Brisbane is pretty poor. Need to have more to offer employers - management, client facing skills, team leader, etc.

The contract market is very depressed - it' a better option to go permanent anyway - there are more jobs.

Be prepared to wait along time before getting work.

I was lucky and arranged a contract job before I came - been out of work only once for 3 months. Now been in Aus for 4 yrs 5 months - so all-in-all not too bad an employement record.

AndyH

Nisha007

Hello,
This is all discouraging for all IT workers because me and my hubby are also from IT field .
If IT jobs are not there then what?
Can u people guide me that if we are unable to find proper IT jobs then is it easy to find someunder-employment i mean desktop jobs in the office etc.
If u have any knowledge pl let me know about it
Thanks
Nisha

Megalania

You'll need pointier elbows than the Aussies to get to the feeding trough.

Bluey

I would also be interested to know what prospects are like for IT support jobs (not programming or development). Although I'm not limiting myself purely to looking for IT jobs when we arrive (I'd happily stack shelves if it paid the bills!) my first choice would be something akin to my current job (IT field engineer - Hardware and software support).

If anyone in Adelaide is reading this, that is where we're headed and so would be doubly interested in any reply.

Thanks

Megalania

Three words: shithouse without walls.