Just got visa - where to move to for Software Programmer

mac500 · #1 (**permalink**) 28th July 2008, 07:54 PM

Hi,
This site is great I have enjoyed reading peoples stories.

We have a just been granted a Skilled migration visa. We need to complete a trip to verify it so will take a holiday shortly to do this. We thought we would visit a few cities to try and decide where to live.

We have been to Australia before (my wife many times) and visited Sydney, Melbourne and the Whitsundays. My wife has travelled up the great oceon road as well.

Where would you recommend a young couple late 20's to live? I work as a . net software developer and my wife is a part qualified accountant. We are happy to work for small companies. We want to start a family shortly and are looking for a warmish climate, relexed place probably out of city, not too far from beach but nothing too backward as we still like resturants etc!

We were going to visit Perth and Brisbane to see what these offered?

Thanks,

Mac

Dolly · #2 (**permalink**) 28th July 2008, 09:05 PM

Hi Mac,

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly, congratulations on getting your visas!

For IT, Sydney and Melbourne would be a better choice, but they don't have the climate that Perth or Brisbane have. If you have already visited Melbourne and Sydney it would be a wise choice to see visit Perth and Brisbane so you can do the comparisons and get a feel for each area.

On your validation trip you can now actively look for work as companies will definitely be interested now that you've got PR. Contact some recruitment agencies before you go, also send your resume to companies that you'd like to work for and possibly get some interviews lined up.

Good luck!

Dolly

cmabbo · #3 (**permalink**) 28th July 2008, 09:27 PM

Hi Mac,

My husband is a c#.net developer (project manager) here in the London (he is an Aussie) which is a popular language over here unfortunately there aren't that many companies that use it in Oz they are mainly java based. So you will have to hunt out the jobs which will be Sydney (investment banks) and Melbourne (retail banks) they are the biggest payers too as it will be a pay cut from the UK. My husband has managed to secure a job at Macquarie but not doing .net he will now be a delivery manager and all the developers use java so he is catching up from his uni days when he did java!! :-))
Good luck,
Christina

mac500 · #4 (**permalink**) 28th July 2008, 09:50 PM

Thanks for the replies. Thats interesting about Java being more popular in OZ as I got some extra points for C# being an in demand language. There are plenty of jobs in the UK with it as well. Darn havent done any Java stuff since uni and it would be rubbish compared to about 7 years . net.

I noticed on jobserve a lot of jobs for various banks. They seemed to be paying 75-120k dollars which is probably less than what you can get in the UK when you translate it over.

Which suburbs do people tend to live in Melbourne and Sydney as we only saw the touristy down town bits which I guess are very expensive?

cmabbo · #5 (**permalink**) 28th July 2008, 10:04 PM

I think that there are few select firms that use C# but you will be in competition with others. You are right there are loads of jobs here with C#/++ paying £600+ a day. I know when my husband was looking for jobs in Sydney for either team lead/developer (step back) the max you can get is 150k but the norm is around 120k convert into £ not a lot!! We have been told the bonuses are good at Macquarie a bit like Goldmans so we will be relying on them. We are moving into the upper north shore in August as we need a bit more room for our dogs and expanding family but alot of our Aussie friends (late 20's early 30's) who have relocated back are raving about areas like Neutral Bay, Balmain etc..
In the end it is all about compromise and the lifestyle choice which is why we are moving back.
Sorry can't help about Melbourne but I'm sure Dolly who is the fountain of knowledge can help (great posts on what to do when moving Dolly they are my saviour at the moment!)

Dolly · #6 (**permalink**) 28th July 2008, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac500

Thanks for the replies. Thats interesting about Java being more popular in OZ as I got some extra points for C# being an in demand language. There are plenty of jobs in the UK with it as well. Darn havent done any Java stuff since uni and it would be rubbish compared to about 7 years . net.

I noticed on jobserve a lot of jobs for various banks. They seemed to be paying 75-120k dollars which is probably less than what you can get in the UK when you translate it over.

Which suburbs do people tend to live in Melbourne and Sydney as we only saw the touristy down town bits which I guess are very expensive?

Hi,

Have a look at the Moving to Sydney or Melbourne? Find where to live with Cityhobo - Home website. You can choose areas that are recommended for families, young couples etc. I live along the Peninsula, about 40km from Melbourne, so don't have first-hand knowledge of what Melbourne suburbs are like. Tiffani lives up that way, I'm sure she'll be able to share her pearls of wisdom.

Salary wise, you'll find it a bit lower here. Husband was lucky that he got a job comparable with his salary back in the UK, but that's quite rare.

cmabbo: thanks for your comments. I'm glad the list is useful, TBH it was my bible for ages, I printed off the other to do list for when you arrive, and just kept ticking things off as I went along!

Dolly

fritzie · #7 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 03:10 AM

hi mac500, i'm curious how your assessment went. do you have a CS degree, and/or did you feel it was challenging to get the necessary qualifications for the ACS?

I tried sending you a PM with a bit more detail, but the forum wouldn't let me...

anj1976 · #8 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 03:14 AM

Hey there

Yeah Cityhobo is a great site, has good information and atleast makes things clearer.

As for Brisbane and Perth, from what I have read and heard, Perth has less opportunities than Sydney and Melbourne but Brisbane comes immediately after Melbourne in IT jobs, weather wise it is hot, not very cold in winters and reasonably hot in summers, it is an hour drive from gold cost and is the third in ranking in the list of vibrant cities in OZ.

mac500 · #9 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 07:22 AM

Thanks for replies I will look into that link.

Cmabbo your husband sounds in a more senior position than I am more managerial so am hoping the development side will be a little easier. There still seem quite a few jobs for . net so hopefully should be ok. Our actual move is at least a year away anyway by the time we have tied up loose ends etc.

Fritzie - the assessment took a few months for the ACS to do. I have 1st class degree from an average university in Business Computing. I have probably about 7 years experience in development for small companies specialising in C# with a couple of high profile projects on my cv. I have a couple of the microsoft qualifications MCP so duno if that helped. You need to get references from a couple of people as well.

I didnt have any problems with this part of the application. In fact the whole thing went pretty easy for us so we were lucky.

We are after better standard of living. Currently we live in the South East and housing is very expensive (even on decent salaries) so I dont mind taking a cut to live in a nicer place.

soutersRUs · #10 (**permalink**) 3rd August 2008, 08:08 AM

Hi Mac,

Get your head into doing technical quizzes - they just love that over here. I have a Java/Oracle background and they do like to make you sit tests. I also have a friend who moved to Melbourne and he did 9 hours worth of testing before landing a position.

Get Seek to send you regular emails of positions in the areas you fancy that should give you a feel for what is available. If you can help it avoid January and June/July to move over as they seem to put a freeze on positions are these times.

Pam