Hi, Colin here using my wife's Frances account.

We are about to lodge our visa application after recieving my IELTS and skills assesment from the Australian Computer Society. We are hoping to move out at the start of 2013.

I wanted to check if anybody knows what the job prospects are for senior java software developers in Brisbane at the moment? I see that 'Developer Programmer' has been removed from the Brisbane and Melbourne state lists but is still on the national SOL list, so I've been a bit concerned that this means I might struggle to find work in Brisbane.

It would be great to hear from any general software developers, how you are getting on with jobs etc.

Thanks, Colin.

 

have you tried looking on "Seek" to see what jobs are available in your line of work.

http://www.seek.com.au/

That may help you see what is available.

 

Yes, I have looked at Seek, but that doesn't tell me anything other than there are jobs - it doesnt tell me how many people are applying for each job or how long I'd spend looking for a job. My wife is a pharmacist and while ther are plenty of jobs advertised on Seek, it's apparently going to be very difficult for her to find employment. It's this difficulty I'm trying to gauge in my own profession.

 

Hi Colin ....
I think 'slow' is the general word at the moment! But I don't want you to be too disheartened as it is definitely slow, rather than non-existent. Hubby does exactly the same role as you and has been contracting here since we arrived last July. He found that contract fairly quickly and has been renewed regularly since then. His contract ended just over two weeks ago and he has found the market to be very slow at the moment. He generally applies via a few known and trusted agents - recommended to him by Australian friends in the same area of expertise as himself. He has applied for a few roles on Seek but is still at the stage of waiting to hear and he does tend to prefer the agents he deals with, as he - and colleagues - have had more success with them in the past. When we arrived, we were aware that Brisbane was positioned third in the list of IT work availability, behind Sydney and Melbourne - due to the smaller size of the market. Agents have already discussed more availability for him, if he was to head to these areas. I wish you well in your search for info, shout out if I can help further. :smile:

 

The IT industry in Australia seems to be very much about who you know, not what you know. Once you are known, and have experience it's much easier to find work, but at first it can be hard. It's just a case of not becoming too disheartened at the knock backs.

Good luck!

Love

Rudi
x

 

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate your comments.

myrtle1 - thats exactly what I was afraid of, I had suspected that Sydney would be where the IT jobs would be with the big companies etc after seeing that the state list still had 'developer programmer' listed unlike Brisbane and Melbourne. I've never done any contract work before either, so it's definetly something I'll need to think about.

Rudi - does this mean you think there is plenty of experienced people already, so it's down to 'who you know' because of that? I was hoping to have my experience do all the work for me with applying for jobs as is the case in the UK, so that sounds like bad news!

Thanks again.

 

Colin .... My hubby has had a few calls re. Permanent Java work but this is something he's not considering at the moment. There does seem to be more call for permies though. Having said that, he has had calls recently for a few contract positions. Going back to what Rudi said - we have also experienced just how small the IT brissy market is. OH worked with an Australian while in London and during interviews in Brissy, this person's name kept cropping up. The same when hubby contacted agents and they saw that the two had worked for the same company. They all seem to know each other! Even when hubby had his first interview, his (British) boss knew people who worked in his old company .... Just as well he had nothing to hide :laugh: The only thing I would say is that this can be a good thing once you have already had that first position, as your contacts will count for a lot. I have to say though, I have lost count of the number of times the OH has been told "you would just walk into a job in Melbourne ......"