Salaries and cost of living
 

We are contemplating making the move down under. My boyfriend works as an IT systems manager. Does anyone know what the average wage is, it appears to be around $50000 could we live comfotably on this. What kind of price would we be looking at for an apartment in the Sydney area (rental and sales) I work for the government in the UK and not sure what type of job I could apply for so at the moment its all based on his salary.

Any info would be appreciated

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

Look at the sticky threads near the top of the page (the ones in green).;)

Welcome to BE btw :thumbsup:

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

What actually is a systems manager? A network/server administrator in Melbourne could expect to earn $100,000 + and in Sydney I suspect it would be more.

Buzzy

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

That sounds very low for a Sydney IT salary so you might be in for a pleasant surprise. We found salaries to be roughly 1/3 less than London (City) for senior roles, but quite a few people we know are on the same salary as they were in the UK outside of London. Housing is comparable to SE England (which is a bit of a bummer of the lower salary!) but train fares/petrol/food costs less. Quality of life in Sydney (in my opinion) is vastly superior :D

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

IT grads fresh out of uni would be looking for $50k these days so there's no way an 'IT systems manager' would be on that - not in any capital city. I'd expect $100k to be closer to the mark.

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

You may have already done so, but worth check out some employment sites to get an idea:

www.seek.com.au
www.careerone.com.au
www.mycareer.com.au

My OH is in IT (Bris) and he reckons about $100k in Sydney, depends on the company.

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

$50k definitely sounds to low. Check out the latest Hayes salary survey at http://www.hays.com.au/salary/pdfs07...Technology.pdf for IT jobs

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

As suggested, the Hay's survey does seem on the ball.

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

Many thanks for all your responses. I thought 50K was quite low. The problem with the agencies in OZ is that they do not reply when you email them regarding jobs. Is it best to wait till you arrive to start looking for work. BTW applying for a skilled 175 visa

cheers:):)

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

For apartments have a look at domain.com.au which has quite extensive listings for rentals and property to buy.

Welcome to BE!

Thérèse :rofl:

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

You might be easier to get a job and ask them to sponser you then go through the 457 visa

Re: Salaries and cost of living
 

Don't email them. Ring them. Or email them and follow up within 24 hours with a phone call.

Buzzy