Jondar

Hello there, I arrived in Melbourne at the beginning of this year, and I'm an analyst developer. I'm certain you would stand a good chance in Melbourne, as your skills are relevant (Java, .NET) and you have a decent amount of experience. I can't speak for Sydney though. I willing to share my experience, but I don't have as much experience as you do and not with the same tech stack. I used to work for a big bank back home, and at the start had some troubles catching up. Back home companies adopted technologies slowly, while here they have moved to modern methodologies and technologies (think CI/CD, onion/ hexagonal architecture). After arriving here, I applied for at least 5 positions per week and didn't hear back a lot. This was tough, but I persevered and whenever I noticed a technology I didn't yet understand I spent my free time learning up. People expect customized cover letters to the position, but I don't know if it actually makes a difference. Also think about making your resume a bit more Australian (add an Australian address if you have one, format your phone number correctly, watch out with pictures, don't assume they know the companies). After an arduous interview process, I ended up with a nice position with a technology forward company, although it was a step down it allows me to gain that 'local experience' and to master the new tech. I had no luck applying for jobs from over-seas, which makes sense as things are a lot more face-to-face here and there is a lot of competition. If you get the opportunity, go to a MeetUp (.NET user group or Java community). There are always people around looking for employees, or willing to suggest you to their firm. Otherwise it's an excellent opportunity to network. Because we have to, not because we want to. ;-)

Thanks MetalToby. I'm not in the UK, but have applied for a couple of jobs at Robert Walters. I've heard about joining meetups before. What are those like? And how would one find meetups in the area? Thank you kevsan. I'm already keeping a close eye on NAB. I'll go back to ANZ, but their site is a bit tedious... I'll be sure to look into IBM at southbank and RMIT.

It's not so antiquated. Midframe systems evolve constantly, as do the technologies running on them. On top of that, these systems have amazing processing possibilities and a reliability who will easily outperform any server or cloud service. If you keep them updated. The big issue in my opinion, is that everything is backward compatible. This allows people to still program and design like they did in the '80s, and doesn't force them to update their systems, toolset or skillset. When I arrived this was the reality, colleagues with outdated skillset and no intention of stepping up. We convinced management to say 'No more', and evolved the team and system towards the future. It's an amazing place to work now. But I'm not naive, I know falling popularity, systems that aren't upgraded, and difficulties with finding new programmers are leading to the end of those systems. But that's life in IT, things evolve. I plan to evolve with them, or to switch fields. There is so much more to IT than just the languages or technologies you use. As for your second question, I love big companies (like finance, big industry, government...). They offer opportunities and challenges you don't get elsewhere.

Hello everyone, I'm a young analyst programmer (5 years of experience) who's planning on moving to Melbourne at the end of this year. I'm in a bit of a niche market, since I'm currently working in the AS400 / IBM i domain. I'm actively looking for a job on multiple job sites, and applying to jobs both in my field and just low level analyst jobs. But I'm not seeing a lot of feedback. Is it normal for agents not to respond when you're still abroad? I must admit that going through this forum is not improving my confidence. We have enough savings for a prolonged job search / vacation, but that's not something I particularly enjoy. As a silly side-question: is there any specific Australian IT lingo I should be aware of? Thanks in advance,