MetalToby

Thanks!

Hi all, I've been in Australia now on a partner visa for just over a year. My wife is Australian so I am a permanent resident. We are planning a trip back to the UK in October. Do I need to do anything with my visa for a 3 week trip to the UK? Or can I just come and go? Thanks!

If you get the chance to work for a consultancy then take it. My first job on Oz has been a consuiltancy. With that I've worked in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. This has been useful in making new contacts and seeing more of Australia. You may get crappy work but its worth it if you are new to Australia.

This place has amazing stuff if you are able to go and look: http://bungendorewoodworks.com.au/

We just did this for my son. As already mentioned just follow the guidance on the website. You complete an online form then print it and post the photos and old passport if required. Its really easy and the turn around was fast. We had to get new photos signed as his old passport was only baby pics.

We did this last year. First Direct said they would give permission to do it for one year. After that we would need to get a buy to let mortgage. They also provided this in writing.

Join https://www.meetup.com This is where you will find meetups in Melbourne. They generally consist of presentations and networking. Go along to any software engineering meetups even if they are not exactly related to your skillset. Talk to people there and you may meet some recruiters. Meetup sponsors are often looking for people so speak to them. Everyone is always friendly and happy to talk so dont be shy.

You are best to target the banks as they are most likely to be using those technologies. It is quite narrow so it may take longer than usual to find work. Dont expect much joy when applying remotley. I think they get so many speculative applications that they dont bother responding unless you are in the country. If you are in the UK, I spoke to James Ballard at Robert Walters (look him up on linkedin) he was able to give me some advice and pass my details to their offices in Aus. Again, they didnt want to speak to me until I got here but the agent was good helpful once I arrived. There is nothing specific about the Australian IT world to worry about, writing software is the same everywhere. You will obviously need to learn the specific domain you move into, but that is the same when moving jobs anywhere so dont worry about that. Once you arrive make sure you join some meetups, recruiters often attend these looking for people. Hope that helps

Hi Newstart, Take a look at Elabor8. They have offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. They are an awsome company who specialise in agile coaching of all sorts. I think they would be happy to talk to your husband before you arrive in Oz.

Hi all, a few thoughts from my job hunt.... We moved to Sydney in June and it took me about 4 weeks to find a job. I have a mainly Java dev and design background. I just applied via the usual sites, Seek, LinkedIn and Indeed. I had a lot of rejections and also many companies never replied. Agents would often contact me sounding very keen, but then never rang back with anything concrete. One difference to the UK is that agents wanted me to interview in person with them before putting me in front of their clients. In the UK I found that all I needed was a chat with an agent over the phone rather than face to face with them. I think that you often get rejected/ignored if the recruiter doesn't recognise the companies you worked for in the UK. There also seems to be a lot of jobs filled via networking and contacts. I would say join some meetups and try to make some contacts when you attend. There are often recruiters at meetups looking for potential employees. Dont give up, there are many companies who are not obsessed with Australian experience.

If you are a techie you can set up your own free VPN service.... AWS (Amazon Web Services) allows you to set up your own VPN server in London. You can then connect to it from Oz and services like iPlayer will think you are in the UK. iPlayer is able to block some VPN services because they count the number of connection from the same IP address. Using your own VPN server means that they will only see 1 or 2 connections from your VPN server IP address and therefore be less likely to block you. Doing this is quite involved so you would need to be able to us things like SSH to set this up. Detailed instruction here: https://docs.openvpn.net/how-to-tutorialsguides/virtual-platforms/amazon-ec2-appliance-ami-quick-start-guide/ Then you install the OpenVPN client on your devices to access your personal VPN server. If you use a t2.micro instance then your server will be free for 1 year of registering with AWS and stay within the free tier limits. If you are really clever you can set up a wifi router to broadcast a wifi network that is using your VPN, this allows things like a Firestick to think its in the UK. Its all quite complex to set up unless you are familiar with AWS things like SSH, but costs nothing except for your time.

We need access to our belongings and so not sure if the shippers storage will work for us. Does anyone know if it is possible to properly insure a 3 bedroom household worth of stuff if it is stored in a garage rented from someone else? Thanks

Thanks for the quick replies. We do get some storage time from our shipping company, but will need more. I'll check what their rates are for more time. Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Hi All, We are now in Sydney living with my mother-in-law. We have a 20" container on its way due to arrive in late July/August. We are likely to need some storage when our stuff arrives as we dont plan on buying/renting for a while. The big self storage companies seem quite expensive, so I was wondering if there are other cheaper options people have used. Any advice welcome! Thanks

Thanks everyone. Mine is also a PURE DAB radio. There seems to be an update for DAB+ on their website, so I'll try that out once I get there.

Hi, We are beginning to pack up our house ready for the big move in June. A couple questions for you.... Do UK DAB radios work in Australia? I have seen the there, but not sure if I can take mine from the UK. Also, do radio controlled clocks work? The kind that set themselves via a radio signal we have in the UK. Thanks! Alan