There is a shortage of I.T. skills in Perth, has been for a long time. You people keep moving to Sydney or Brisbane! My husband has several job vacancies at the moment, the company is rapidly expanding and they can't find decent developers fast enough. His friend is a recruitment consultant and the most sought-after skill in Perth right now is Data Analysts; apparently good contractors at the moment are earning in excess of $350,000 a year!

Data Analysts don't really require specialist skills compared to many other tech roles. I find it VERY hard to believe your claim that even some are making $350k a year. Got any links, etc. to back this up?

Jacqui, can I PM/email you?

I'm a developer with 10+ years exp in programming/development etc. and will be back in Perth in March looking for a job.

Keen to hit the ground running.

I'm a C++ Software Developer/Engineer focusing on Systems Programming in the financial sector (stock feeds mainly) and I'll be looking for the same role in the same sector in Perth. Am I likely to find a well-paid job there?

What salary am I looking at for a C++ Systems Developer?

What rates do investment banks/hedge funds and Google pay? I'm aware that
Google's only office that does software development is in Sydney.

Yeah, me too - $350k equates to about $1,600 pd, I've never seen an IT role advertised at more than $1000 pd (and that wasn't for a developer), I'm sure they exist but would be for extremely specialised roles, maybe for someone who analyses data and finds oil or gold deposits.

Quick search on seek for 'developer' contracts, number of matches:

Sydney - 711
Melbourne - 321
Brisbane - 161
Perth - 62

They'll all include double counting etc but more than 10x more hits in Syd than Perth.

Ha ha all the developers are going to want to get hold of you now.

Frrebo is right. Thats $1600 a day. I've never heard of a Developer/Analyst on that. More like half that. Well done to them if they are though!!

I'm an IT developer with 20 years experience in everything from C/C++ upwards, I've been out of work since September and I'm considering shelf-stacking at the local IGA.

Some things just run their course and I can't take another IT project.

and you seem so happy! I'm thinking, just a couple more years (after the 25 I've done already) in IT, then I can look forward to some shelf stacking or similar "you've gotta have a dream"

Sydney - 711 with 720 applicants
Melbourne - 321 with 330 applicants
Brisbane - 161 with 170 applicants
Perth - 62 with 40 applicants

Perth wins!!!!

I was talking to my agent the other day, I've known her for years and she got me the contract here in Sydney before I landed. They do indeed get heaps of applicants but, according to her, the vast majority have insufficient experience.

I am, the prospect of not sitting through another IT meeting is a very Good Thing. Bollocks to the money.

Since when did "Jobs in IT sector" be about house prices?

There may be more job ads in Sydney but there are twice as many agencies and twice as many job applicants. (approximations only for the anally retentive)

So as a Melbourne based agent are you saying one has better chance of success in Perth, as suggested by one of the posts above, or do you think all the state capitals have a roughly equal balance of applicants/vacancies?

I ask because I'd like to get away from Sydney at some stage too, and not to Melbourne either, but in the high end infrastructure projects I work on they seem to be way ahead of the rest!

If those figures are correct then yes. There's always going to be more chance of getting a job and a job with a higher salary IF there is less supply(competition). Simple economics.