Plan to look for programmer/developer next year in Tas. Anybody here working as programmer?

Background: Offshore. PR Visa+ 10 yrs of experience (c/c++, sql etc. on windows/embedded systems/Linux)

Target: Any programmer/developer role in Tas, low in salary expectation.

Have applied but only got a few positions advertised at seek

Have got a few interviews for positions from mainland, but telephone/Skype interviews mostly resulted negatively by far. Only managed to secure one job at Melbourne but didn't proceed due to significant salary drop!

Hope I will find more opportunities from local newspaper and be given some interview chances if I am physically there.

Tas isn't really known as a center for the IT industry

Background: Offshore. PR Visa+ 10 yrs of experience (c/c++, sql etc. on windows/embedded systems/Linux)

Target: Any programmer/developer role in Tas, low in salary expectation.

 

Have applied but only got a few positions advertised at seek

Have got a few interviews for positions from mainland, but telephone/Skype interviews mostly resulted negatively by far. Only managed to secure one job at Melbourne but didn't proceed due to significant salary drop!

 

Hope I will find more opportunities from local newspaper and be given some interview chances if I am physically there.

Good luck, it's a tough gig finding a job in Tassie.

I'd suggest trying to find a job where you can work from home remotely. Its what my husband does (though we are not in Tas). The company he works for is based in Sydney, but he works from his home office. His morning commute is from the kitchen to his office with a mug of coffee in his hand.

Background: Offshore. PR Visa+ 10 yrs of experience (c/c++, sql etc. on windows/embedded systems/Linux)

Target: Any programmer/developer role in Tas, low in salary expectation.

 

Have applied but only got a few positions advertised at seek

Have got a few interviews for positions from mainland, but telephone/Skype interviews mostly resulted negatively by far. Only managed to secure one job at Melbourne but didn't proceed due to significant salary drop!

 

Hope I will find more opportunities from local newspaper and be given some interview chances if I am physically there.

I am no longer in Australia and I know the market is tougher now but I would say that the chances of securing a position outside of Australia even with a PR visa are much less than if you are in the country - you may get lucky, I was recruited from the UK, as was my OH BUT we came to Australia and made ourselves available for interviews, I don't think we'd have got the positions if we hadn't.

A significant salary drop is to be expected - I earned around £100k in the UK - my first role in Australia was $76k plus super. Think of it as a stepping stone, a foot in the door - I took it because it was better than 6 months looking for work I was on a salary close to my UK one by the time I left 5 years later.

You'll have more chance of work in Sydney or Melbourne - you may be better off getting to Australia and getting that all important 'local experience' whilst looking for a position in your perfect location.

Even more so than the UK it is who you know not what you know that counts, if you work hard at it you can develop a decent network in a year or two - go to BCS events, special interest groups, Engineers Australia events, speak at conferences, volunteer for committees etc. etc. and even a poorly paid job in Australia opens up those opportunities.

If you want to continue applying from the UK I suggest you approach consultancies directly - Thoughtworks comes to mind for you - they are currently looking for developers in Sydney and Melbourne, although not sure how favourably they'd view c/c++ having been to a couple of their leadership sessions in Perth.

I worked with Ajilon, Fujisu, BT in Perth and I'm sure a google search will point you in the direction of many others.

Also look at State Government websites - they tend not to use agencies and recruit directly. Hopefully you have already been looking here.. http://www.jobs.tas.gov.au/

Depending how much of an all around geek you are could you pull this off?

http://careers.jobs.tas.gov.au/cw/en/job/493369/ict-support-officer-424847

right.

But IT (especially studio type) is supposedly the easier industry for TAS to catch up, compared to manufacturing etc.

Look at NZ which has lots of aspects alike TAS and already leads over Au in its ICT industries.

I am also surprised that I didn't find any concentrated site launched by gov and dedicated for ICT startups/incubators in Hobart/TAS.

Tas isn't really known as a center for the IT industry

Thanks, it's going to be tough.

Good suggestion. Your husband must be valuable and non-replaceable to the company for him to secure home office arrangement.

I have tried a similar route and the dot-line supervisor supports me but the local manager is not serious about my request, unless I guess until the moment when I can show them a solid job offer from Australia.

I'd suggest trying to find a job where you can work from home remotely. Its what my husband does (though we are not in Tas). The company he works for is based in Sydney, but he works from his home office. His morning commute is from the kitchen to his office with a mug of coffee in his hand.

I am also surprised that I didn't find any concentrated site launched by gov and dedicated for ICT startups/incubators in Hobart/TAS.

Have you seen these links?

http://www.tasict.com/

http://www.startuptasmania.com/about

http://www.pollenizer.com/2016/06/21/tasmanian-startup-scene/

http://www.zdnet.com/article/two-innovation-hubs-open-in-tasmania/

Good luck with finding anything in TAS, it is hard enough in AU for IT in certain fields. Your best bet if you want to work remote in TAS is find a multinational company and work for then locally in Australia then toy with the idea of remote working.

Sydney and Melbourne are your best bets, and once you get citizenship Canberra for the government roles, but that would not allow you to work in TAS as would more than likely be office based.

The IT job market is pretty swamped at the moment.

Thankful to your sharing. Yes, on-site and face to face interview is the ultimate weapon for one to obtain any serious job. On the other hand, phone or Skype interviews are nowadays extensively used by employers to pre-screen job candidates, which way however is subject to quite a few flaws. In my experience, I use earphone with mic for phone interview and laptop and its built in mic for Skype interview, and in more than 50% cases, the interviewer complained there were some echo and background noise sometimes, which really affected the two way communication. I also saw a few roles re-posted on seek shortly after I participated such interviews.

I fully agree on the significance of a stepping stone even the salary drop is big, as it eliminates the need to live with no income for uncertain periods, and equally importantly makes one more ready to find next job being local and having local reference check. That's why I also started looking into the state gov job website. I have considered the ICT support officer position, which is not fit for me as it requires starting ASAP and finishing end of Feb 17. I guess my best bet for state gov job will be a fixed term role (6 months+ hopefully).

Unlike most forum participants here who are from UK, I am actually from Singapore and I admit that I am a bit disadvantaged language wise especially when searching jobs off shore.

You seem to be more IT and I am more on developer...My searching results so far actually directed me to Mel and Adelaide, followed by Sydney, Qld, Perth...

I am no longer in Australia and I know the market is tougher now but I would say that the chances of securing a position outside of Australia even with a PR visa are much less than if you are in the country - you may get lucky, I was recruited from the UK, as was my OH BUT we came to Australia and made ourselves available for interviews, I don't think we'd have got the positions if we hadn't.

 

A significant salary drop is to be expected - I earned around £100k in the UK - my first role in Australia was $76k plus super. Think of it as a stepping stone, a foot in the door - I took it because it was better than 6 months looking for work I was on a salary close to my UK one by the time I left 5 years later.

 

You'll have more chance of work in Sydney or Melbourne - you may be better off getting to Australia and getting that all important 'local experience' whilst looking for a position in your perfect location.

 

Even more so than the UK it is who you know not what you know that counts, if you work hard at it you can develop a decent network in a year or two - go to BCS events, special interest groups, Engineers Australia events, speak at conferences, volunteer for committees etc. etc. and even a poorly paid job in Australia opens up those opportunities.

 

If you want to continue applying from the UK I suggest you approach consultancies directly - Thoughtworks comes to mind for you - they are currently looking for developers in Sydney and Melbourne, although not sure how favourably they'd view c/c++ having been to a couple of their leadership sessions in Perth.

 

I worked with Ajilon, Fujisu, BT in Perth and I'm sure a google search will point you in the direction of many others.

 

Also look at State Government websites - they tend not to use agencies and recruit directly. Hopefully you have already been looking here.. http://www.jobs.tas.gov.au/

 

Depending how much of an all around geek you are could you pull this off?

 

http://careers.jobs.tas.gov.au/cw/en/job/493369/ict-support-officer-424847

No, I didn't see such links. My bad to conclude without searching the internet.

It seems there is quite some progress is being made in Tas's startup environment. On top of securing funding, I think the state gov could do more, for example in the news "Tasmanian startup The Yield raised $2.5 million from European tech conglomerate Bosch; ",

I would rather the gov to lure Bosch to transfer a bunch of junior jobs to Tas (lower cost, tax incentives etc.). I know some Europe tech conglomerates are moving some jobs from its Singapore branch to Malaysia to cut cost further.

Have you seen these links?

 

http://www.tasict.com/

 

http://www.startuptasmania.com/about

 

http://www.pollenizer.com/2016/06/21/tasmanian-startup-scene/

 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/two-innovation-hubs-open-in-tasmania/

right.

But IT (especially studio type) is supposedly the easier industry for TAS to catch up, compared to manufacturing etc.

Look at NZ which has lots of aspects alike TAS and already leads over Au in its ICT industries.

I am also surprised that I didn't find any concentrated site launched by gov and dedicated for ICT startups/incubators in Hobart/TAS.

Not surprised at all. Do you understand how small Tasmania is ?

I would rather the gov to lure Bosch to transfer a bunch of junior jobs to Tas (lower cost, tax incentives etc.).

Good luck with that! There's no way Tasmania could compete on wages with lower cost Asian countries such as Malaysia and India....and past experiences with other companies receiving incentives then not upholding their part of the agreement would make it very unpopular.