Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - A Canadian with Working Holiday Visa in Sydney, Australia for IT work?

Hello all,

I'm a technical support analyst / software developer with 5 years of experience.
I've become tired of the lifestyle here, so I want to take a break and try a change in scenery; I think I'm in a 1/3 life crisis. :o

I'm not coming to Australia to make money. I know I'm better off here for that. While I live the modest life and not too picky about jobs, I'm still concerned about the type of work I can land in Australia. I mean, I don't really want to flip burgers; I did that when I was in high school.

So I guess my question is how's the job market for someone like me? Can I do tech support work with working holiday visa? What's the wage like for some general office work? I guess I can do labor work too but I lack the experience. Can I expect to earn $15-20/hr?

Am I out in the field here? Any opinion or advice is greatly appreciated.


Edit: Let's say I land a job and things are working out for me well. Can I apply for migrant visa while I'm in AU with working holiday visa?

Can't answer any of your questions, but the immigration aspects are well explained on the Australian gov't web site; maybe you should rely on that info instead of hearsay on FT? Visas aren't part of any Frequent Flyer plan.

A good friend of mine went to Australia on a working holiday visa and tried very, very hard to get a technical job in her field (tv/film tech). Due to current economy there were none -- and she had lots of stuff lined up ahead of time. Everything is delayed or offshored to India or China this year. The only work she could get was babysitting which wasn't enough to live on (rents are higher than in Toronto, as a point of comparison, due to severe housing shortage). Maybe IT is better, but it really depends on your specific skills and connections. Next year should be easier, fwiw.

So I guess my question is how's the job market for someone like me? Can I do tech support work with working holiday visa? What's the wage like for some general office work? I guess I can do labor work too but I lack the experience. Can I expect to earn $15-20/hr?

Am I out in the field here? Any opinion or advice is greatly appreciated.



$15-20/hour is not unrealistic IMO. Depending on your skills/experience $30 would not be unrealistic even in a fairly low level temp role. Having said that the job market is very tight at the moment so you might find yourself working in a bar, which will still give you the requisite $15-20/hour.

Check out seek.com.au to see what's available maybe send your CV off to a few recruiters and see what they see. I have a friend who has just moved back from London and has had a few recruiters flat out tell her that they don't have any work to offer her, they didn't even bother with the interview.

I'm a technical support analyst / software developer with 5 years of experience. I've become tired of the lifestyle here, so I want to take a break and try a change in scenery; I think I'm in a 1/3 life crisis. :o

Steve

I'm an Australian guy running a small IT company in the Caribbean, have 3 Canadian techs working for me, PM me if the Caribbean is an option for your life crisis, might be looking for someone in the coming months...