helloGSM

Hey friends,

I am an Indian software professional working in USA. I am planning to migrate to UK or Australia as I dont have the permit to work in US beyond this year end. I am trying to evaluate which place is better for an Indian who is a software professional. I have 8 yrs experience in Java/J2EE technology. Please share your views on the below criterias

1) IT jobs availibility?
2) Racism?
3) Salaries?
4) Good Living Standards?
5) Cost of Living?

Please help me guys to choose one of the above countries which will be best for me and my spouse.

Thanks....

BadgeIsBack

Come over and work - will be pleased to have you! I hope your English is perfect as we have some employees from Asia - not India infact - who cannot communicate fullstop(!)

helloGSM

Hi,

Why this sarcasm?
Anyways, I have excellent English. By the way the fact is that most software engineers from India normally have good to excellent english.

:-)

gedge

i think you mistook Badge's response as being sarcastic (at least i hope so)
in my experience there is shall we say a prejudice against non native English speakers - this is unfortunate and something that you will have to deal with
it is possible to find this in both the Uk and Australia though
if an opportunity exists where this prejudice occurs then the company is not worthy of your time

anyway to your other questions, and this is just my personal thoughts:
1) IT jobs availibility? unlikely to be as high in Australia, you'll certainly be restricted on either Melbourne or Sydney
2) Racism? answered previously
3) Salaries? this might give you an idea from the Aus side http://it.seek.com.au/career-resources/salary-centre/
personally i was able to match my UK salary, but then i would have expected to having moved to an expensive city like Sydney
4) Good Living Standards? this has been debated at length in many different guises, it really depends on your expectations but both countries are reasonably good for different reasons
5) Cost of Living? again a regular topic in the forum, here's a few links, there are so many factors that will determine your costs
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=410327
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=416850
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=379484
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=450625

i hope some of this helps

BadgeIsBack

No scarcasm. As I said, happy to have you.

There is no bias at all. All of my co-workers are non-Australian in origin and English is a second language for them all.

Some - a minority - cannot communicate.

TheSubMainMan

I would say London would be the best place for you.

Good money, loads of work, chance of furthering your career.
Massive Indian community here,
Living standards, depends, you earn loads and you can spend loads!

How old are you?
Do you have a family with kids? Then may be Australia...

helloGSM

I am 29 years of age. Nopes I dont have any kids would soon be planning in a couple of years.

helloGSM

I apologise Badge if I misunderstood you :-)

Thanks others for the responses.....

TheSubMainMan

Come to England then. You can always try Australia after you have earned a bit of money here. I'm assuming your materialistic! because thats what London has to offer....

I came to london when I was 29 and my Career took off, But now I'm 42 with two kids, it's about the right time for me to leave.

hoofie2002

Ok since I've worked in IT in both countries....

1) UK - I'm not sure of the market at the moment but I would have thought the sheer difference in the size of the market is in the UK favour, especially the J2EE side. Australia - nowhere near as large.

2) UK - the UK's indian population is very large and has been for a long time. There is a lot of people of Indian origin working in IT in south east england anyway and the working environment will be much more multi-cultural, which to be honest is something I miss here [I means the sheer mix of people in the UK; European, African, Carribean, Sub-continent, Asian etc]. Australia - can't comment on the racism bit as I'm caucasian but I feel it may be more obvious.

3) UK - can be very high if you know the right systems. If you are prepared to work long hours you can make some serious money in the city and contracting can be VERY lucrative - but it means london/south east. Australia - nowhere near as high as a rule !

4) UK - you may earn a lot, but you will be living in a SMALL house [by US standards] and paying out buckets of money for everything. Australia - depends on what city, but in some of the cities hopefully your money would allow you a large house etc. In Oz of course the weather is better ! If you have small childen, I'd have to say Australia winds hands-down.

5) UK cost of living is extortionate, especially in the South East where all the IT jobs are. However Australia is getting more and more expensive, especially housing and I can guarantee you 100% you will have to work in one of the cities.

So on balance if you want to chase the money, career etc I think the UK is your best bet. That also probably applies for jobs. However if you have small children etc then Australia may well be a better bet. Funnily, I have a friend on Indian Origin who has come here from Austin, TX where he has spent a while and he prefers it here purely because he's married and has a young child - he's happier about raising his family here.

Me, I came here to step off the rat-race in the UK and to give my family a better QUALITY of life. We have less money, but life I feel is better.

TheSubMainMan

Thats Music to my ears....



Cheers,

DerekM

3) Salaries? this might give you an idea from the Aus side http://it.seek.com.au/career-resources/salary-centre/
personally i was able to match my UK salary, but then i would have expected to having moved to an expensive city like Sydney
******************************************
******************************************
Thanks for that link Gedge, my youngest sons coming out shortly for interviews so that gives him an idea of how much he could drop!! Or try not too!

snowbunny

I live in Austin and I have to say it's nowhere near the rat race that living in London would be.... apart from the larger amount of holiday entitlement. Austin's fairly laid back and the cost of housing is comparable to that in Australia.

I do agree that if you want to make the most money, the UK is the place to be, more than the US. In fact if I could, I'd go tomorrow. (Kids here, can't move.)

hello, would you stay in the US if you could? I'm simply curious. My take on things is that the racism is less here than in the UK for someone from an Indian background, though it does exist.

gedge

no worries.. where's he going and what does he do? someone on here might be able to offer some advice/contacts etc.

DerekM

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thanks for the help, he's a Siebel specialist from the UK, he's done a lot of project management type work in the field. Currently working in NY but over here for a couple of weeks to validate. Hopes to move out to Sydney before the end of July once he's sorted out his NY commitments.