I want to emigrate to Australia
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I want to emigrate to Australia, but it looks like they aren't letting anyone in, especially folks like me in their late 40s. My CFO is from the Brisbane area and a friend of my wife now lives in Melbourne with her New Zealand born husband. I keep hoping either will come up with a solution.
A friend from Toronto just escapedmoved to Melbourne - she had very little trouble getting a work permit for 18 months.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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Any tips? I'm fed up with England - it's cold, overcrowded and expensive. I crave a warm climate, the outdoor life and great beaches. Is Australia all it's cracked up to be? I have a wife and a small baby and I'd like to make the break in the next year or two, has anyone here made the move? What's the software development industry like out there?
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate. You should go, it's awesome, don't know about the software industry but if you move to Sydney (and don't live out west) you'll love it. That said it's not so cheap living near the coast but that depends how fussy you are about where you live. Sydney has everything and the only reason I came back was because it was too far from friends and family, if that's not an issue for you it really does have everything. Email me if you want any specific info, I've helped a couple of friends move out there and neither of them regret it.
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Any tips? I'm fed up with England - it's cold, overcrowded and expensive. I crave a warm climate, the outdoor life and great beaches. Is Australia all it's cracked up to be? I have a wife and a small baby and I'd like to make the break in the next year or two, has anyone here made the move? What's the software development industry like out there?
I am a 4th generation Aussie. We moved up from Sydney to Brisbane 7 years ago. I would say the best place to get a feel for the IT industry here, in relation to your skillset, is seek.com.au, or careerone.com.au. However it is a few years since I have had to look for a job - they have come looking for me, which has been a nice change. I think there are more jobs in Brisbane than Sydney, but the rates are lower. There are not many IT jobs outside of the capital cities, even in big provincial cities like Townsville or Toowoomba - although there is always a chance to pick up something with a university, research outfit or something similar. The Gold Coast does have some software development, but I am not sure you would want to live there - it is very touristy, crowded and either sleazy or expensive, depending on where you are. The Sunshine Coast is more laid-back, but there is still a chance of picking up work there. Also you might find Queensland a bit too warm in Summer. I telecommute these days, so it does not really matter too much where I live (except the kids are all in senior school/uni here). If you do want to go to the country, or even live a bit outside a major city, make sure you check out the broadband and mobile phone access first. Broadband is rather expensive here compared to a lot of other countries - I am not sure about the UK. But it is a great country, and you are welcome here if you are not a terrorist. Visas are often not easy to come by, but there are ways around that. (The Government likes it if you bring lots and lots of money with you).
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Any tips? I'm fed up with England - it's cold, overcrowded and expensive. I crave a warm climate, the outdoor life and great beaches. Is Australia all it's cracked up to be? I have a wife and a small baby and I'd like to make the break in the next year or two, has anyone here made the move? What's the software development industry like out there?
I'm a kiwi that has spent the last 11 years in London, accumulated a wife, a house and two kids - we are in the process of making a decision on whether to make a move back to New Zealand. First tip I'd give you is to think long and hard as to whether you want to bring up your kid(s if there are more to come) without grandparents, cousins etc. For men this is generally easy, but I think most women miss family more, and my kids talk about family a lot (4 & 6). Also whilst it is normally easy enough to find a babysitter so you can go out, family offer the ability to get rid of the kids for a night or two, or during the day when you want to go and buy tiles at homebase etc - 4 year olds and hardware stores do not go well together. In 6 years my wife and I have had 2 nights away from the kids. Don't forget it is expensive for family to get to Australia, and against income, even more expensive for you to get back to England - on a normal salary it is not something you will be doing once a year (and as your child approaches school age the school holidays are the most expensive time to travel, and the only long one is Christmas / January - not the best time to have to visit England). So my number one tip would be to really explore that your family is willing to make that jump. From what I have looked at, the software development industry in Australia and New Zealand is different to the UK. There are not as many large firms that have dedicated IT departments and development teams. There are a lot more small businesses. Saying that, looking at your profile, you've come from hardware and have broad experience with loads of different development languages. Small quiet places (never been to Gold Coast but has a sleepy reputation) tend to need people that are flexible with what they can do, there are probably more opportunities for someone that can come in and be a bit of a jack of all trades, than for someone that would only describe themselves as a hardcore XYZ hacker. If you are flexible and really want to move you'll find a way to feed that family without too many problems. These countries are still lands of opportunity. Last tip is to really research what you are getting into, if you haven't been out there definitely do that before you up sticks. Houses are much cheaper than in the UK, but then incomes are much less, and at the moment the exchange rate sucks, so any pounds you can take wont go far (wait a year or two I think). If you live in a three bed terrace here I probably wouldn't expect to be moving to a five be
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We wanted you guys in the 50s. Blame your parents for not coming out then. The industry where I live is dead, but I am in the country. It's still the best bloody country to live in on the earth.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Christian Graus wrote:
It's still the best bloody country to live in on the earth.
Oh I quite agree! After South Africa it is the best. ;P ;P
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Yeah, and they are all crap. Ice cold and fizzy. Fosters, Castlemain, KB, Tooheys, Swan...All suck. You can't beat a nice Speckled Hen or an Abbot.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
To paraphrase the ads we have here in the US... "Fosters, ... Australian for Urine' Seriously - they hardly drink it there as it's so weak.
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I've always wanted to visit NZ... Looks like a beautiful country. Australia too, but NZ even more so... But it's just so far away! Isn't it like a 20+ hour flight from the US? Lewis Black said it best... "If the people of New Zealand want to be a part of OUR world, then they should all step off their little island and push it closer!"
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)"Isn't it like a 20+ hour flight from the US" 12 from LA to Auckland, 13 LA to Christchurch. Totally worth it.
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Yeah, if I'm honest it's a downside. I don't like the idea of my little boy playing in the back garden and coming across a poisonous {insert dangerous animal here}. However, it's pretty rare so it's a risk worth taking I think.
Joan Murt wrote:
Good luck if you travel there...
Thanks!
No snakes in New Zealand. In fact - no native predators to speak of since Haast's Eagle^ went extinct. Even the introduced ones aren't those that would go after a human.
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To paraphrase the ads we have here in the US... "Fosters, ... Australian for Urine' Seriously - they hardly drink it there as it's so weak.
To quote (or at least paraphrase) an Australian that was on a mailing list with me: "VB - best bloody beer on Earth". Victoria Bitters. I've never had it, so can't speak to it, but he made me want to try it. And he bristled at the thought of Fosters too. It's their Budweiser - that's all.
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Any tips? I'm fed up with England - it's cold, overcrowded and expensive. I crave a warm climate, the outdoor life and great beaches. Is Australia all it's cracked up to be? I have a wife and a small baby and I'd like to make the break in the next year or two, has anyone here made the move? What's the software development industry like out there?
any tips? Perhaps have your sanity checked ;) Hmm, perhaps moving to the other side of the planet is a little extreme. We lived in Birmingham for 18 months (just came back last year) and would have stayed if it weren't for aging family back here. You have a beautiful rich heritage - you can drive anywhere and see buildings 1000+ years old. You can pop over to Europe for a few pounds. It's hard to justify encouraging you to come to this country when you are certainly not trading up. I can assure you that any reprieve from the crowding or perceived expensive cost of living is only temporary given the huge influxes of people in recent years. And the Govt are aiming to get us up to 35+million. While that may sound modest given the size of Australia, bear in mind that only a small percentage of Australia is desirable as residential area and there is less and less of that left. Most new estates are horrible. Small blocks, high fences - in our heat, they are just stifling so need air conditioning - and the govt is asking us to not switch our air conditioners on as the power suppliers are struggling to cope with the demand. Please be under no illusion concerning standard of living, it's very expensive and over crowded here as well and rapidly getting worse. In the major cities the peak hour traffic well exceeds the carrying capacity of the roads and this is even true of some of the toll roads. Housing has been all but priced out of reach of a single income earner on a decent wage. Public transport is overcrowded for the most part and expensive. It is also crowded here in the cities and if you're looking for IT work, that's where you'd need to go. Further, if my experience is any indication, trying to migrate here on a skilled visa is not easy particularly in fields such as IT and understandably, most employers/recruiters won't even look at you unless you are on Australian soil and have permission to work - still the number of CVs that cross desks from people pretending to reside in Australia boggles the mind. Having said all that, do your home work and definitely crunch the numbers and don't come here if you're trying to get away from over-crowding or escaping a high cost of living. Lastly, it's hot here for most of the year. It's not a nice oh let's go out in the sun heat, it's damned hot. If you recall the heatwave you had a couple of years ago - that's a relatively moderate day here. In summer you can expect weeks on end of hotter days than that.
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any tips? Perhaps have your sanity checked ;) Hmm, perhaps moving to the other side of the planet is a little extreme. We lived in Birmingham for 18 months (just came back last year) and would have stayed if it weren't for aging family back here. You have a beautiful rich heritage - you can drive anywhere and see buildings 1000+ years old. You can pop over to Europe for a few pounds. It's hard to justify encouraging you to come to this country when you are certainly not trading up. I can assure you that any reprieve from the crowding or perceived expensive cost of living is only temporary given the huge influxes of people in recent years. And the Govt are aiming to get us up to 35+million. While that may sound modest given the size of Australia, bear in mind that only a small percentage of Australia is desirable as residential area and there is less and less of that left. Most new estates are horrible. Small blocks, high fences - in our heat, they are just stifling so need air conditioning - and the govt is asking us to not switch our air conditioners on as the power suppliers are struggling to cope with the demand. Please be under no illusion concerning standard of living, it's very expensive and over crowded here as well and rapidly getting worse. In the major cities the peak hour traffic well exceeds the carrying capacity of the roads and this is even true of some of the toll roads. Housing has been all but priced out of reach of a single income earner on a decent wage. Public transport is overcrowded for the most part and expensive. It is also crowded here in the cities and if you're looking for IT work, that's where you'd need to go. Further, if my experience is any indication, trying to migrate here on a skilled visa is not easy particularly in fields such as IT and understandably, most employers/recruiters won't even look at you unless you are on Australian soil and have permission to work - still the number of CVs that cross desks from people pretending to reside in Australia boggles the mind. Having said all that, do your home work and definitely crunch the numbers and don't come here if you're trying to get away from over-crowding or escaping a high cost of living. Lastly, it's hot here for most of the year. It's not a nice oh let's go out in the sun heat, it's damned hot. If you recall the heatwave you had a couple of years ago - that's a relatively moderate day here. In summer you can expect weeks on end of hotter days than that.
Thanks for your input. It's quite interesting to hear a native Oz's perspective that has lived in England for a while, especially when he's been living in Birmingham! I have to say that most people in England would agree that Birmingham is probably one of the least desirable places to live in this country so it makes your argument for staying put even more compelling, particularly as I live in the South West which is much nicer than many other parts of England!
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Christian Graus wrote:
It's still the best bloody country to live in on the earth.
Except the Telstra part, right ;) ?
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary Wheeler wrote:
Christian Graus wrote: It's still the best bloody country to live in on the earth.
As a Canadian I feel a little honour-bound to dispute this. Although, while we're in the same part of the globe (and the Commonwealth), what's New Zealand like? Five minutes of looking at web sites seems to indicate that it has quite a good climate, and both my wife and I are interested in visiting. Comments?
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Any tips? I'm fed up with England - it's cold, overcrowded and expensive. I crave a warm climate, the outdoor life and great beaches. Is Australia all it's cracked up to be? I have a wife and a small baby and I'd like to make the break in the next year or two, has anyone here made the move? What's the software development industry like out there?
Me too!!! I wanna surf the Superbank!!! lol :cool: By the way, I think Sidney is not that bad, and there are a lot of nice beaches there to.:thumbsup:
"Go for it!"
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Any tips? I'm fed up with England - it's cold, overcrowded and expensive. I crave a warm climate, the outdoor life and great beaches. Is Australia all it's cracked up to be? I have a wife and a small baby and I'd like to make the break in the next year or two, has anyone here made the move? What's the software development industry like out there?
There is a small and growing software industry in the Gold Coast. The question is do you want to form a friendship base? If you do then the gold coast is a holiday destination and will go from 50,000 to 150,000 overnight (or something like that). I live in South Australia at the moment but have lived in various parts of Australia. It is a big move for you and I have seen others move back because they have missed things in England so I would encourage you to move because you want to not because England is bad as once you have moved the brain will tell you it was not that bad where you were because it will be hard to break into the social network where ever you move. Stephen .999 is not 1 There is an absolute!
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Sydney is definitely a great city, almost as good as Melbourne ;)
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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Any tips? I'm fed up with England - it's cold, overcrowded and expensive. I crave a warm climate, the outdoor life and great beaches. Is Australia all it's cracked up to be? I have a wife and a small baby and I'd like to make the break in the next year or two, has anyone here made the move? What's the software development industry like out there?
Sadly, I have to agree with the beer comments - the bad news is that you can only get lager :( The good news is you get used to it - when it's over 30 degrees even lager is good :) Unfortunately, software development only exists in the rat race so don't imagine you're going to get away from it and still develop software - not here, not anywhere :( Most development is in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra in that order with very little anywhere else. I left the UK in 1994 and have lived in Sydney ever since and you're right that in some regards it's just like there only hotter. Sydney/Australia ain't Utopia but there's no way I'm going back to the UK. Like you I was fed up with the naff weather and there's plenty here to satisfy your cravings. Food for thought: Do you know if it's hotter weather or drier weather you really want? Do you like to feel the sun burning your skin or do you simply want to escape the miserable grey wet weather of the UK? Australia is a great place to live but I'm not sure anything is 'all it's cracked up to be' - mainly because we hear good things and we develop a defect free perception. If you accept that fact that there isn't a perfect place on the planet then you must look for a place that most suits your needs. At the end of the day, life is what you make of it. If you arrive in Australia expecting a charmed life just because you are here then you are likely to be disappointed. On the other hand there is great opportunity here just waiting for you to make something of it. Good luck with whatever you choose.
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Yeah, and they are all crap. Ice cold and fizzy. Fosters, Castlemain, KB, Tooheys, Swan...All suck. You can't beat a nice Speckled Hen or an Abbot.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
Dalek Dave wrote:
Yeah, and they are all crap.
A mate of mine often said - "There are good beers, and less-good beers, but there's no such thing as a bad beer." I can't comment on Aussie beers, but the only beer I've tried that was a "bad beer" (definition - a beer that you don't finish, even though it cost you packet in the pub) was a german weissbier (wheat-based beer, I think) I bought in Sweden.
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Yeah, and they are all crap. Ice cold and fizzy. Fosters, Castlemain, KB, Tooheys, Swan...All suck. You can't beat a nice Speckled Hen or an Abbot.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
Fosters, Castlemain, KB, Tooheys, Swan - are produced for export purposes only. Locals don't drink that stuff. BTW warm beer is used to make batter for the fish and fizzy drinks are for the kids. If you want to live in Queensland you will need three thumbs, but if you want to live in Tasmania, cut two off then you will fit right in. If you are still not happy sit on the remaining thumb and move to Canberra and become leader of one of the political parties.
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and the crap football teams
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
Yeah, they never make the Super Bowl.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Any tips? I'm fed up with England - it's cold, overcrowded and expensive. I crave a warm climate, the outdoor life and great beaches. Is Australia all it's cracked up to be? I have a wife and a small baby and I'd like to make the break in the next year or two, has anyone here made the move? What's the software development industry like out there?
I was born in Australia and love it here. I wouldn't recommend living on the Gold Coast though - it's mainly for tourists or young people who love the party lifestyle, not those looking for a career in IT, although you could get lucky. The major cities are your best bet (Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra), although Melbourne and Canberra can be bloody freezing at times. You could live on the Gold Coast and commute to Brisbane as it's about 1 hour drive away. Most people fly between major cities as it's too far to drive (I wouldn't think about driving from Perth to Sydney, unless you like looking at dirt and rocks).