IvanM

I was given a presentation on the IT job market.

1 - Right now about 75% of jobs on offer are contract rather than 50%

QLD - Not good for contract or perm
WA - Not good for contract or perm however good prospects due to Gorgon
SA - Going ok
VIC and NSW - Bottomed out contract good perm still quiet
NSW government - hiring freeze across contract and perm

ACT - Good for perms due to Gershon review recommending reducing reliance on contractors.

VIC and NSW have some big banking projects

Anyhow this was a specific view and anecdotal. The presentation was predicting some good contract work on major projects (banking integration and core system upgrade and NBN).

Anything is better than the total freeze post Lehmans.

sasbear

ACT - Good for perms due to Gershon review recommending reducing reliance on contractors.

Not so good for the wages though :-/

As the contractors are pushed out and encouraged to be perm - the $$$ drop. A lot of the contractors are sticking it out in ACT and refusing the perm positions - thus making the Gershon review have less impact than previously expected/anticipated.

Perm roles are not getting filled as quickly as first expected. Giving way to the contractors being in a position to up the $$$$.

However ACT majority of IT jobs stipulate citizenship.

Sas

paulry

That's a bit worrying considering that ACT is encouraging foreign IT professionals to settle in the territory.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

The vast majority of IT work in Canberra is government related in one shape or form and citizenship is a now a must.

They have started tightening up on that as well. We do work for DIAC. I 'm not a citizen so not allowed on the system but we have one guy in the office who's Danish and has worked on DIAC systems for over a decade... but he's not a citizen either and has now been ordered off the system. !

bcworld

That would be a problem for him....from what I understand from a Danish colleague of mine Danes are not allowed to hold dual citizenship?

sasbear

I know - exceptions are made in certain instances due to the nature of IT skills held. Ozzies don't breed their own - they steal (skills) -so if you have what they want - they will always find a way round the 'citizenship' issue.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Correct... which is why he still hasn't, and won't be getting, Australian citizenship. He would much rather keep his Danish citizenship, despite the fact he has lived here for about 20 years.

isgraham

There may be big banking projects but many of them are being carried out in India, I work for one of the banks and have friends working for others and it's the same across the board with the exception of Macquarie which seems to do most of it's development in house.

IvanM

Operational staff will be a long term loser as the systems will be designed to run on less money. PMs and BAs will do well on the banking.