Graemsay

I've never worked the banking sector in London, largely because it requires prior experience in it before you can get a contract within it, but the rates there tend to be £100 to £200 per day more than a comparable non-finance job. So it's a bit of a special case in itself.

But I'd agree with Squarepusher that rates in Sydney's IT sector do look lower, whilst housing is a similar price, possibly more expensive, than London.

Melbourne might be a better bet, as pay is broadly similar to Sydney, but property is a bit cheaper, and Brisbane too, though I don't know how big the job market is there. But overall I don't think you're going to be better off in Oz if you're used to contracting in London.

I had a call off Jumar Solutions a few days ago about a possible team lead job in Sydney. I lost out because they found someone who already lived there.

I followed things up today, and had a chat to one of their recruiters. It sounds as though the market is mixed, with quiet periods interspersed with bursts of activity. I don't think that it's great, but it's probably better than the UK.

There's a piece at The Australian today. (Not behind their pay wall.)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/it-jobs/job-uncertainty-hits-it-sector/story-fna12gpc-1226456277556

It sounds like things aren't great.

Hi Graemsay,

 

Sorry, I'm not having a go, just trying to ascertain the facts. You say that Sydney seems to be doing ok for IT roles, whereas a little later you say that things are bad in the east, where Sydney is, obviously. Do you know for sure if things are bad or good, or do you mean they are good, but may turn bad? I'm probably translating your posts incorrectly, hence I need the clarification

Hey, I'm nothing if not inconsistent. :biggrin:

The impression I get is that things are slowing in the East, but that they're not as bad as in the UK by a long way. There's still work there, and in some cases the money is decent. But it's not a boom time by any stretch.

And, yeah, I'm hearing mixed messages.

I'm seeing similar in the UK. There are a lot of Android contract roles offering a contract rate for a very short (typically six week) engagement at a rate that's broadly similar to a graduate developer.

I've got a friend over in Adelaide, and he reckons that the economy is slowing, as did another who left Melbourne for China a few months back.

I get the impression that things are bad in the east and booming in the west, which might affect IT roles, since these tend to be concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne.

Contracts aren't bad, as they tend to pay more. At least, they do in the UK. Unfortunately rates are down, and the gaps between them are wider, which makes it a tougher business to be in.

It might be worth having a chat to a few agents or locals. An IT contractor in Sydney was telling me that things are good down there, whereas the UK jobs market has been poor all year.

Looks like not all is rosy Down Under in the IT sector.

http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/relocation-the-only-option-for-it-contractors-20120703-21ene.html

It sounds like the east coast is slowing, whilst things are booming in the resource states. Anyone noticed this on the ground?

Jules, I'd argue that it would be difficult for Oz recruitment agents to be worse than their UK counterparts. :biggrin:

The contract market in London is pretty dead right now. It seems to be very sensitive to recession, and whenever there's a downturn recruitment shuts down. That said, I had a call from an agent about a banking job which could be the best opportunity in the last few years if it comes off...

I don't know what's going to happen with the economy. My suspicion is that the UK is going to be down for the next few years, which would seem to be supported by predictions of interest rates remaining at 0.5% until 2017. There still needs to be a correction in house prices here, and that will bring about more pain.

Since you're an IT guy, you've probably seen this piece on the RBS at the Register. There's a telling comment that the only reason we're not seeing a financial crisis from the major failure of their systems is that we've already had it a few years back.

With Australia I get the impression that it's in the same place that the UK was in 2007. House prices have started falling, but no real problems have kicked in. One possibility is that they'll have a bit of a slow down, then things will pick up again. The feeling on property investing boards is pretty good at present, which might be an indicator. But then again, if something goes wrong, such as a withdrawal of foreign funding to the banks, then there could be a nasty housing market crash, and we've seen what they can do to places like Ireland and Spain.

I'm considering heading to Oz in the autumn, unless I find something decent here first, and maybe spend a stint down there on a contract. If things look good then I can always make a more permanent move down. If not, my possessions can cope with six months in a self-store facility.

I'm currently in London, and mainly do Java / Android.

The UK jobs scene is pretty bad at present. I'm a contractor, and have seen rates fall over the last three or four years, with long periods out of work. I'd certainly not recommend it as an option if someone's looking at coming back.

Having canvassed a few people, I believe that Oz is better. Most of the work is in Sydney, followed closely by Melbourne. There are a few things up in Brisbane, and whilst the salaries tend to be slightly down on Sydney, that's more than made up by lower living costs.

There's an article on the Age's website today about encouraging people into IT.

http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/innovation/blogs/smoke--mirrors/software-engineering-starts-at-home-20120621-20qbe.html

Some of the comments are interesting. I'm at the point where I'm starting to get the urge to move out of programming.

From what I've seen (and I'm in the UK), salaries and contract rates are broadly similar to London outside of the banking sector in Sydney and Melbourne at the current exchange rate.

Something I heard was that start-ups tend to pay better than established companies in Australia because they want to attract talent. This is the opposite of my experience in the UK, where they tend to offer lower salaries. Funnily enough, there seem to be more new companies coming out of Sydney than London.