Professional immigration to Australia, IT and life on another continent
Inspired by several good articles on Habré, devoted to immigration, study and work in different countries, including Australia.
Actually I want to share my own experience in obtaining an independent immigration visa, moving, working and living in Australia. So far, the hands have never come to this, except for telling friends to one-on-one, but the experience is actually quite interesting. This can be useful as accomplished IT specialists who are looking for further prospects for their career, life, or just want to change the situation or climate, as well as novice specialists and, possibly, students who are looking for the right direction for their career. Everyone else may be interested in learning more about how IT and everyday life look across the ocean.
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Do not judge strictly, I am more a reader than a writer, and this is probably my first serious post. Everything is written in one breath, without preliminary preparations, because the style of presentation may not be perfect.
The picture with migration visas is generally well described in this topic .
Here information for students, this is probably the most correct way. When it dawned on me that studying in Western institutions was not at all crazy money, that there was even free money, and that this was in fact a completely doable task, I was already a more or less qualified specialist with at least a good salary and family. With all the delights of student life, I was a little bit late to return there, although I still don’t leave the hope of getting a PhD or at least MS.
This way is also correct because it will give an opportunity to perfectly master the language, make acquaintances, friends, and join the environment even before it is necessary to navigate in it. Even in universities, not only knowledge is important, but rather the atmosphere, the environment, the environment in which everyone cooks. It is from there come the original and bold ideas from which Google are born.
In this topic , the process is described in general terms in relation to Australia, but the author does not go into details because believes that his experience could be somewhat outdated.
I probably won't try to write an exhaustive guide either (which is actually on immi.gov.au), because in the 4 years that have passed since that moment when I understood the process well, something has changed and changed again in a couple of months. Instead, I will try a little more clearly to describe the process of obtaining a visa, and what follows it. Although he is actually not complicated and well described, he can get confused and scared right away.
Well, rather in general, to tell how it all happened, and what came of it.
This is a country with an immigration culture, when everyone came here, many not so long ago. This creates a rather favorable attitude towards visitors and the almost complete absence of bias. Better, perhaps, will not be anywhere. Even in Canada, which is very similar, there are problems with foreign education and experience.
In fact, this is directly proportional to the degree of proficiency in English, but no one here will infringe on your rights, the judgment is quite objective.
Here you can still get a normal immigration visa for IT-person (the second and last English-speaking country I know is New Zealand).
3 years ago there were 300 professions suitable for professional immigration. Now there are 180 of them. The benefit of IT for this distribution has fallen relatively not much, unlike, again, from Canada, which has been closed to IT for many years (not counting Quebec), but this is probably not for long.
On July 1, 2012, the system will again be slightly modified, but in general, nothing terrible seems to be happening there, there are even a few positive points. I will build on the new rules, so that the information is as useful as possible in the future.
To begin with, the immigration visa differs radically from the work visa. It gives the right to be in the country indefinitely, gives the right to all available social guarantees (with the exception of unemployment benefits that are not available for the first 2 years - it is a protective mechanism against educated idlers from poor countries) including medical care, schools, and institutes. It does not impose any obligations and does not bind you to work. Spouses and dependent children also receive a similar visa, which makes it possible to work without any restrictions not only to you, but also to your spouse. Therefore, it is rather difficult to get it; you actually become a full-fledged citizen of the country with the exception of the obligation to vote (not just rights) and the color of your passport, which you do not need here anyway. Work visas of all this are deprived, because living on them is rather risky and expensive, but they are made much easier and faster (this is on condition that you find an employer, of course).
In fact, you need to meet certain criteria, as a rule, successful specialists with work experience and higher education succeed, but there may be deviations from this pattern.
In total, so that you can successfully consider you need to score 65 points.
Up to 30 points can be obtained for the age, the most "expensive" category from July 1, 2012 will be 25-32 years (inclusive).
It is also a prerequisite to have an IELTS certificate at the time of application. The minimum requirement for the results is 6666, but now they don’t give points at all for the sixes, so in fact English needs to be passed no worse than 7777 (it will give 10 points), otherwise you just don’t get the right amount. This is no longer easy, but quite doable.
Higher education (bachelor or higher) - you can get an additional 15 points for it. In fact, it is necessary for IT.
Additional points can be obtained for state sponsorship. This is an optional, usually uncomplicated procedure, passing which you receive a letter from the state government that you need a person like you in this state. The requirements for candidates are different everywhere, not all specialties and far from being everywhere are in demand, and they often change. Sponsorship does not imply any financial support (the name may hint at this). Only points, and, as a rule, candidates with sponsorship are considered much faster. There may be requirements for the presence of certain amounts of money. Sponsorship also implies the obligation to live in the state that gave it for 2 years.
Proficiency in Russian, included in 20 community languages, can also cost 5 additional points. But more recently, this ownership needs to be confirmed.
A spouse who passed the stage described below can also bring 5 points, but due to the complexity of this procedure (consider doubling all the work) this is usually the most extreme option when everything is done, and there are still not enough points.
In addition, there is another critical point - the confirmation of qualification. Points for this are no longer given, but this must be done in order for you to be considered in principle. Depending on the specialty, various organizations deal with confirmation, all have their own requirements and nuances.
A detailed description of the requirements can be found here.
In short: for ACS you need a higher education (bachelor or higher) and 2 options are possible:
1) Major in ICT - roughly speaking, the number of IT disciplines in your diploma should be large enough and constant, especially important in senior courses where the core disciplines dominate. It will also take 2 years of work in the specialty (or a close specialty, here the concept is somewhat extensible). When I went through this procedure, I had 4 years of work experience, but the requirements for the diploma were a bit softer.
2) Minor in ICT - less requirements for the content of the diploma, but more to work experience - 5/6 years.
Also, ACS can recognize some certificates like MCSE, CISSP and several others for education (as an analogue of secondary education), unfortunately, the word Cisco is not on the list. Russian secondary education, if any, in the form of deeply differing standards is not taken into account at all.
Some IT professionals may fall into the category of engineers. They are engaged in Engineers Australia. I myself did not go through them, but in short: there are high requirements for diplomas and smaller requirements for work experience. A diploma must necessarily contain certain necessary disciplines, depending on which engineer.
Preparation of documents is a rather long and troublesome process. Taking into account the transfers and confirmations, it will be easy for half a year, but in fact it’s not so difficult and frightening as it may seem. You just need to carefully deal with the requirements and documents.
English. This is usually the most difficult part of the venture. A textbook on matan can be mastered overnight, if you really need. But this is different, it does not work with languages. It takes time, a lot of time, and regularity. 10 minutes a day, but every day over the years will develop into more or less good vocabulary, at least. And the memory for such things is very limited in time, for a day a person can effectively memorize just a few words.
Also, English does not learn in spherical vacuum, you need to do something interesting or useful. Many IT specialists, more precisely almost everything, at the very least can read manuals and professional literature. This is useful, but it is not at all the same as reading news, fiction, listening, or even speaking. Do it all you need. It is very useful to watch movies, TV shows - this is interesting, and very soon you will understand that in fact there are very few translations that do not spoil movies to almost complete unrecognizability, and you will begin to enjoy. Profit will be in any case. Owning a foreign language has never stopped anyone, this skill can always be useful and can always be sold. It is possible for a person with technical knowledge gaps to teach new technologies in a couple of weeks, in another month or two he will have the necessary experience. If a person cannot talk, you will not learn this in two weeks.
In case of success
Immigrant visa (they are called skilled independent or skilled sponsored, there is still a rather rare type for IT - the regional one for which one cannot live in capitals) gives the status of Permanent Resident and the right to stay in Australia for an indefinite amount of time. The visa itself is valid for 5 years and is needed only for crossing the border. The status is endless, you can come to the end of its action and stay here. After 4 years you can get citizenship. There are no conflicts with Russian citizenship, it is not required to renounce him as well as obtaining another citizenship does not contradict Russian laws (it can be more difficult with Ukraine, it is theoretically a criminal offense there). The visa must be activated after appearing in Australia, usually within 3-12 months from the date of its issuance.
There is no Silicon Valley, but there is work. For talented developers, California may be a more desirable place, since perhaps the most interesting things happen in the IT world (well, the States as a whole).
Compared with Russia, according to my own observations, of course, everything is about the same here, but much more mature or something. I have worked in many companies in Moscow, in non-core, not quite core, state, system integrator, international company, in principle, with what to compare. Russian companies have their advantages, sometimes quite large ones. They are more dynamic, yet a growing market, with them you can grow yourself much faster, especially in integrators. But this speed often goes against quality. This, of course, does not apply to technology, it is the same everywhere, but rather it concerns workflows, management (with the latter, everything is completely different), a systematic approach, and organizational maturity in general.
If a company, for example, does not have a CMDB, then there is no question what it is, why it is needed and what its absence is fraught with, it does not need to be explained, it does not need to be taught, it just means it has its own reasons. I recently read the work instructions of one of the clients (processes for working with Checkpoint) - the documents were written in 2000-2001, when I just started my career and in general hardly imagined what the process was. These documents are still quite relevant, and there is still no special need to redo them. And you are unlikely to find a serious company here without a change management system.
The IT infrastructure here is much more developed, the public sector is one of the main clients of large outsourcers and integrators. This does not mean that everything is perfect there, but it is there, it is big, and you can work perfectly perfectly with it. The financial sector is quite large, but there they are now talking very restlessly.
Mining is a separate story, everything is very good there now. They pay well there, but the style of work is rather peculiar. This is due to the fact that all the downtime there is quite easy to count not in the virtual lost profits, but in really lost dollars, and the amounts will be pretty scary.
The amount of work depends on the specialization, I believe that vacancies in Java or C # will be 1-2 orders of magnitude more than in C \ C ++. Wintel area usually assumes knowledge of Windows Server, AD, Exchange, sometimes SQL, and all this of course is not very useful without VMWare now. My personal observation is that serious experts on the latter are quite in demand, and their salaries are higher. I worked on both Windows and VMWare, but I didn’t have an exchange, which seriously prevented me from entering this niche. UNIX specialists are needed much less often, but as a rule, they have a slightly higher salary. Linux (RH, of course) is also quite common, usually as a separate specialization or as an addition to wintel.
In the networks, perhaps, the situation is the best with Voice, there are many vacancies, everything is needed, the area is relatively young. Salaries are good. Often voys are required in the appendage to other network specializations, especially at the senior and architects level. From vendors saw basically Cisco, meet Juniper. Checkpoint, McAfee, Symantec, Trendmicro are almost ubiquitous in network and information security. Of course, I have no data on the entire market, this is just what I paid attention to.
It is difficult to predict what salary a newly-arrived specialist can receive, but most likely it will be from 50 to 90K a year before taxes. 90 is rather a senior level or just a rare specialist, objectively perhaps you can count on 60-70. In Sydney may be a little more. If you are a very high-class specialist and do not experience problems with communications, the figure may be much higher. The first job is bad because you need it as soon as possible, you have to ask less than you could if there was time. In consequence, this can be easily corrected.
Theoretically, you can find work from overseas, but you have to be a rare and tasty specialist and have good English. As a rule, vacancies are published by agencies, but there are exceptions. One vacancy can be published by several agencies, therefore the real volume of vacancies is much less apparent at first glance. The recruitment process may not be quick, but not necessarily. In general, it is normal that your letter will react in a few weeks.
Work is of two types: permanent (permanent) and contract. From the first, everything is pretty simple and straightforward. The contract, as the name implies, work with a limited term which can be from weeks to a year. It is no better and no worse than a permanent job, it’s just a slightly different form. Contractors are NOT allowed to leave, sick leave, holidays. It's simple: you do not work - you do not earn. But the specific income of contractors is significantly higher than that of regular workers. The rate is hourly, in IT there can be a spread from 30 to 100 dollars per hour, the average specialist costs somewhere 40-70, but depends heavily on specialization. The contract can be as strictly temporary when it is necessary to replace someone, for example, and with the prospects of renewal or transition to a permanent. It is quite common when a person is first taken to a contract, then if everything is OK and everyone is happy, they offer a permanent job. It is convenient for the contractors to plug holes, when you need to do something for a while, or to help with something and resources are not enough. It happens that not the easiest or most boring work is dumped on the contractors, for example, if something needs to be put in order, or a large blockage is cleared. Additional duties may not be so easy for permanent employees, especially if they are not entirely in their area of ​​competence. This may require a review of his contract. When it is needed temporarily, it is easier to hire a contractor. Many people basically only work on contracts. Of the unobvious differences - the relationship to contractors on the part of regular workers can be as in the joke about bikers with choppers and high-speed motorcycles: “why should you get acquainted with you if you are new every season?”
The income rate is progressive here, which I personally think is quite fair and not too draconian, making a good life becomes somewhat easier. The increased rate applies only to that part of the amount that exceeds the threshold of this rate, that is, it will not work so earning 50001 net income will remain less than 49999. The effective rate between 60 and 80K will be about 25%, but usually at the end of the year a small part can be returned. It is also possible to return the tax on various expenses, medical, some investments (there is a rather cunning mechanism with investment real estate, which allows getting into taxes rather well).
Separately charged super - retirement money, this is about 10%. Salary is usually stated before taxes per year for the permanent (without super), and in dollars per hour without super for contracts.
If two people work in a family, earning, for example, 50K each, then there will be much more clean money if you work alone and earn 100K. Therefore, when two people work, even if the income of the second spouse is very low, life becomes much easier and more fun. If both earn good money, and 100K for IT is not the limit, even despite the high taxes on high wages, the total amount of money can be such that it will be quite difficult to spend it.
An interesting fact: with relatively low (by local standards) wages, taxes are lower here than in Russia, where, in addition to 13% of income, there is still about 29% of the unified social tax (now split into different taxes), and in which (e), unlike income tax impossible to climb.
Cities here is really nothing at all - one for the state + capital.
Sydney is the largest city (more than 4 million), most of all work, most of all traffic jams, it looks like public transport is the worst, and the most expensive. The climate is more or less good, but it is rather cold.
Melbourne is probably the most beautiful city, a lot of cultural events (F1, Australian Open, Melbourne Cup are all there) and cultural life in general. There is also a lot of work, but a very changeable climate. There may be a downpour and after 10 minutes will cover the heat wave. It is cold in winter - there are mountains with snow and skis nearby, but again there is a rather unpleasant climate.
Brisbane - significantly north, because it is wet. But warm. Suffering from flooding. Work is already much less, but still quite a lot. Well developed city.
Perth is the most isolated city in the world, the capital of Western Australia (read: the western half of Australia), there are no more significant cities in this state, and the nearest big city is about 5 hours from summer. Works even less, but there is. A lot of work in mining, which both the state and the whole country feeds well. The climate is also warm, dry, easily tolerated. There is almost no cold. It is theoretically possible to swim even in winter, preferably in a diving suit.
Canberra is the capital, administrative city. Work mainly in government, they say it is difficult to find. Minus 10 degrees is quite possible in winter, just a minus is quite normal.
Adelaide is a rather pleasant Mediterranean climate, a good city in general, but there is no work in IT at all.
Darwin - north, tropics, in summer 35 and humid, in winter 35 and very humid. The climate is heavy, crocodiles, cowboys, on the fan. They say the job can be found if you want, because the cowboys with crocodiles in IT do not seem very. Little.
Hobart - beautiful nature, the coldest of all, works like in Adelaide. Also small.
There are quite decent small cities, but it’s difficult to say anything about them in general.
Australia is a rather expensive country. This is a fact, but in fact it does not interfere much. High prices, in part, are due to high wages, and not just low competition and a small economy. Many things are cheaper if you look.
I will give a few examples. I can compare with Moscow prices for clarity.
Machines are about the same as in Russia, maybe a bit cheaper. Yes, it is about 2 times more expensive than in America
BUT # 1 there are still completely different salaries
BUT # 2 cars are aging much slower here, 10-year-old pepelats can still be quite fit, and you can hardly find rust on it.
BUT # 3 insurance is significantly cheaper. For Almeria worth about $ 13K, I paid about 50K rubles a year (about $ 1.7K) in Moscow for far from the most comprehensive insurance (Nissans in Russia are insanely expensive at all, as are the Japanese). Here for a more expensive car (also Nissan), I pay about $ 800 a year for the fattest program.
The tax may be slightly higher, but it is paid on the value and not on meaningless horsepower. For 150 drugs to pay about 10k rubles in Moscow per year, it does not matter how many years these forces. Here it will be 400 dollars, but there can be far over 200 horsepower.
Food. For example meat. Beef can cost 18-20 dollars per kilogram. It seems to be a lot, but in Russia, Australian or Brazilian beef costs at least 800r ($ 25), and it is simply impossible to compare this delicious meat with rubber cows. There are just other breeds, completely different.
Fruits vegetables. Cost may be cheaper and more expensive, and also, but they are fresh. Yesterday they could hang on a bed or palm tree. Significantly cheaper if you buy boxes.
The question is broad, you can live in different ways. In absolute terms, again, it seems expensive, but it is simply impossible to compare housing.
Some people think that at least you’re bursting straight, but you have to live in the very center and pay 2/3 of the income for it. Others can live very far away in huge houses, and also pay for it quite expensive.
In general, within reasonable limits, renting a normal house will cost about 1/3 of the average IT salary minimum.
Renting a 2 room apartment per hour from the center will cost 25-30 rubles per month in Moscow (say $ 1,000). Here it will cost about $ 1.5K. Yes, it is at least 1.5 times more expensive, BUT it will not be a 1 bedroom apartment on the outskirts, but a 3–4 bedroom house with an area of ​​100 meters (this is not the limit) in a self-sufficient area, it turns out that at higher absolute values, the result is poorly comparable in general .
So absolute numbers are pretty uninformative. Again, Ebay sometimes helps save money.
But some things are simply not there, or the choice is severely limited. This can be explained either by a lack of demand, or by high standards (faced with child seats, cool and inexpensive seats like the Recaro are simply not certified here), or whatever else. I was looking for home acoustics, almost no choice, prices are 2 times higher than in Russia. As a result, successfully bought at auction on ebee. But how often do we buy acoustics so that it influences something? I bought a bicycle for my wife - everything in the stores is very depressing that something worthwhile cost about a thousand while the equipment there stood mediocre. As a result, I bought a great car on a Christmas sale at CRC with a top kit for $ 600 with free shipping from the UK (usually costs 200), arrived in 4 days.
Unlike the States, where this is a big problem, medicine is free here, with the exception of non-critical things like dentistry. There may be queues to specialists, and quite large, if not critical. But urgent things are usually done clearly and quickly. With work visas, health insurance can be a major expense.
Lifestyle rather calm, relaxed. There are practically no annoying factors. The standard of living is very high, and this concept includes a lot.
Security level is very high.You can ogresti always and everywhere, if you do not follow the obvious precautions, but if you follow - then here it will be quite difficult to do. Severe crimes are very few.
Driving culture is not just perfect, there are reckless drivers, but on the whole there is no big problem, the road where it is supposed to give way to a pedestrian. Mortality on the roads is about 1,500 people per year, which is 20 million people, the number is decreasing and is one of the lowest in the world. Against 30,000 deaths in 140 million Russia, this is at least 3 times lower.
They do not go to Australia to live and work, they come here to live.
There is also a paradise for children. For them, almost everything is provided here, from quite good benefits (if there is one working in a family, then there may be about $ 500 a month to one child, but it decreases with an increase in income) to a huge number of playgrounds and other amenities. Three children in the family - a very common phenomenon, one - rather a rarity.
I can’t say that moving to another country was easy, but if you remember my move to Moscow at 98m, it’s probably no more difficult, at least this time without defaults :)
At least it was a great life experience, because I had to do quite a lot do, learn, learn, and properly expand your horizons. In general, the jump in the standard of living is more than just noticeable, I must say that to feed the family here is much easier. Also time is wasted is much less.
IMHO Russians are generally generally very immobile due to both historical and financial reasons and transport. Therefore, for many, moving to another country seems to be something so complicated that it simply does not fit in the head. In fact, there is nothing particularly difficult in this, who even moved to another city, I think, will understand me. It is not much more complicated.
I hope that my experience can be interesting to someone. Unfortunately, at one time I didn’t stumble on anything like that, and maybe I lost a lot of time that could have been spent on developing a career, family. I do not urge anyone to move abroad. All of the above is my IMHO, and does not pretend to the truth of ultimate authority.
, 4.5 , .
Actually I want to share my own experience in obtaining an independent immigration visa, moving, working and living in Australia. So far, the hands have never come to this, except for telling friends to one-on-one, but the experience is actually quite interesting. This can be useful as accomplished IT specialists who are looking for further prospects for their career, life, or just want to change the situation or climate, as well as novice specialists and, possibly, students who are looking for the right direction for their career. Everyone else may be interested in learning more about how IT and everyday life look across the ocean.
')
Do not judge strictly, I am more a reader than a writer, and this is probably my first serious post. Everything is written in one breath, without preliminary preparations, because the style of presentation may not be perfect.
The picture with migration visas is generally well described in this topic .
Here information for students, this is probably the most correct way. When it dawned on me that studying in Western institutions was not at all crazy money, that there was even free money, and that this was in fact a completely doable task, I was already a more or less qualified specialist with at least a good salary and family. With all the delights of student life, I was a little bit late to return there, although I still don’t leave the hope of getting a PhD or at least MS.
This way is also correct because it will give an opportunity to perfectly master the language, make acquaintances, friends, and join the environment even before it is necessary to navigate in it. Even in universities, not only knowledge is important, but rather the atmosphere, the environment, the environment in which everyone cooks. It is from there come the original and bold ideas from which Google are born.
In this topic , the process is described in general terms in relation to Australia, but the author does not go into details because believes that his experience could be somewhat outdated.
I probably won't try to write an exhaustive guide either (which is actually on immi.gov.au), because in the 4 years that have passed since that moment when I understood the process well, something has changed and changed again in a couple of months. Instead, I will try a little more clearly to describe the process of obtaining a visa, and what follows it. Although he is actually not complicated and well described, he can get confused and scared right away.
Well, rather in general, to tell how it all happened, and what came of it.
Actually, what is interesting about Australia in terms of a potential country for immigration:
This is a country with an immigration culture, when everyone came here, many not so long ago. This creates a rather favorable attitude towards visitors and the almost complete absence of bias. Better, perhaps, will not be anywhere. Even in Canada, which is very similar, there are problems with foreign education and experience.
In fact, this is directly proportional to the degree of proficiency in English, but no one here will infringe on your rights, the judgment is quite objective.
Here you can still get a normal immigration visa for IT-person (the second and last English-speaking country I know is New Zealand).
3 years ago there were 300 professions suitable for professional immigration. Now there are 180 of them. The benefit of IT for this distribution has fallen relatively not much, unlike, again, from Canada, which has been closed to IT for many years (not counting Quebec), but this is probably not for long.
On July 1, 2012, the system will again be slightly modified, but in general, nothing terrible seems to be happening there, there are even a few positive points. I will build on the new rules, so that the information is as useful as possible in the future.
To begin with, the immigration visa differs radically from the work visa. It gives the right to be in the country indefinitely, gives the right to all available social guarantees (with the exception of unemployment benefits that are not available for the first 2 years - it is a protective mechanism against educated idlers from poor countries) including medical care, schools, and institutes. It does not impose any obligations and does not bind you to work. Spouses and dependent children also receive a similar visa, which makes it possible to work without any restrictions not only to you, but also to your spouse. Therefore, it is rather difficult to get it; you actually become a full-fledged citizen of the country with the exception of the obligation to vote (not just rights) and the color of your passport, which you do not need here anyway. Work visas of all this are deprived, because living on them is rather risky and expensive, but they are made much easier and faster (this is on condition that you find an employer, of course).
To obtain a migration visa you need to pass points test
In fact, you need to meet certain criteria, as a rule, successful specialists with work experience and higher education succeed, but there may be deviations from this pattern.
In total, so that you can successfully consider you need to score 65 points.
Up to 30 points can be obtained for the age, the most "expensive" category from July 1, 2012 will be 25-32 years (inclusive).
It is also a prerequisite to have an IELTS certificate at the time of application. The minimum requirement for the results is 6666, but now they don’t give points at all for the sixes, so in fact English needs to be passed no worse than 7777 (it will give 10 points), otherwise you just don’t get the right amount. This is no longer easy, but quite doable.
Higher education (bachelor or higher) - you can get an additional 15 points for it. In fact, it is necessary for IT.
Additional points can be obtained for state sponsorship. This is an optional, usually uncomplicated procedure, passing which you receive a letter from the state government that you need a person like you in this state. The requirements for candidates are different everywhere, not all specialties and far from being everywhere are in demand, and they often change. Sponsorship does not imply any financial support (the name may hint at this). Only points, and, as a rule, candidates with sponsorship are considered much faster. There may be requirements for the presence of certain amounts of money. Sponsorship also implies the obligation to live in the state that gave it for 2 years.
Proficiency in Russian, included in 20 community languages, can also cost 5 additional points. But more recently, this ownership needs to be confirmed.
A spouse who passed the stage described below can also bring 5 points, but due to the complexity of this procedure (consider doubling all the work) this is usually the most extreme option when everything is done, and there are still not enough points.
In addition, there is another critical point - the confirmation of qualification. Points for this are no longer given, but this must be done in order for you to be considered in principle. Depending on the specialty, various organizations deal with confirmation, all have their own requirements and nuances.
For IT, as a rule, the confirming organization will be the Australian Computer Society - ACS
A detailed description of the requirements can be found here.
In short: for ACS you need a higher education (bachelor or higher) and 2 options are possible:
1) Major in ICT - roughly speaking, the number of IT disciplines in your diploma should be large enough and constant, especially important in senior courses where the core disciplines dominate. It will also take 2 years of work in the specialty (or a close specialty, here the concept is somewhat extensible). When I went through this procedure, I had 4 years of work experience, but the requirements for the diploma were a bit softer.
2) Minor in ICT - less requirements for the content of the diploma, but more to work experience - 5/6 years.
Also, ACS can recognize some certificates like MCSE, CISSP and several others for education (as an analogue of secondary education), unfortunately, the word Cisco is not on the list. Russian secondary education, if any, in the form of deeply differing standards is not taken into account at all.
Some IT professionals may fall into the category of engineers. They are engaged in Engineers Australia. I myself did not go through them, but in short: there are high requirements for diplomas and smaller requirements for work experience. A diploma must necessarily contain certain necessary disciplines, depending on which engineer.
How does all this happen
Preparation of documents is a rather long and troublesome process. Taking into account the transfers and confirmations, it will be easy for half a year, but in fact it’s not so difficult and frightening as it may seem. You just need to carefully deal with the requirements and documents.
English. This is usually the most difficult part of the venture. A textbook on matan can be mastered overnight, if you really need. But this is different, it does not work with languages. It takes time, a lot of time, and regularity. 10 minutes a day, but every day over the years will develop into more or less good vocabulary, at least. And the memory for such things is very limited in time, for a day a person can effectively memorize just a few words.
Also, English does not learn in spherical vacuum, you need to do something interesting or useful. Many IT specialists, more precisely almost everything, at the very least can read manuals and professional literature. This is useful, but it is not at all the same as reading news, fiction, listening, or even speaking. Do it all you need. It is very useful to watch movies, TV shows - this is interesting, and very soon you will understand that in fact there are very few translations that do not spoil movies to almost complete unrecognizability, and you will begin to enjoy. Profit will be in any case. Owning a foreign language has never stopped anyone, this skill can always be useful and can always be sold. It is possible for a person with technical knowledge gaps to teach new technologies in a couple of weeks, in another month or two he will have the necessary experience. If a person cannot talk, you will not learn this in two weeks.
In case of success
Immigrant visa (they are called skilled independent or skilled sponsored, there is still a rather rare type for IT - the regional one for which one cannot live in capitals) gives the status of Permanent Resident and the right to stay in Australia for an indefinite amount of time. The visa itself is valid for 5 years and is needed only for crossing the border. The status is endless, you can come to the end of its action and stay here. After 4 years you can get citizenship. There are no conflicts with Russian citizenship, it is not required to renounce him as well as obtaining another citizenship does not contradict Russian laws (it can be more difficult with Ukraine, it is theoretically a criminal offense there). The visa must be activated after appearing in Australia, usually within 3-12 months from the date of its issuance.
Jobs in IT in Australia
There is no Silicon Valley, but there is work. For talented developers, California may be a more desirable place, since perhaps the most interesting things happen in the IT world (well, the States as a whole).
Compared with Russia, according to my own observations, of course, everything is about the same here, but much more mature or something. I have worked in many companies in Moscow, in non-core, not quite core, state, system integrator, international company, in principle, with what to compare. Russian companies have their advantages, sometimes quite large ones. They are more dynamic, yet a growing market, with them you can grow yourself much faster, especially in integrators. But this speed often goes against quality. This, of course, does not apply to technology, it is the same everywhere, but rather it concerns workflows, management (with the latter, everything is completely different), a systematic approach, and organizational maturity in general.
If a company, for example, does not have a CMDB, then there is no question what it is, why it is needed and what its absence is fraught with, it does not need to be explained, it does not need to be taught, it just means it has its own reasons. I recently read the work instructions of one of the clients (processes for working with Checkpoint) - the documents were written in 2000-2001, when I just started my career and in general hardly imagined what the process was. These documents are still quite relevant, and there is still no special need to redo them. And you are unlikely to find a serious company here without a change management system.
The IT infrastructure here is much more developed, the public sector is one of the main clients of large outsourcers and integrators. This does not mean that everything is perfect there, but it is there, it is big, and you can work perfectly perfectly with it. The financial sector is quite large, but there they are now talking very restlessly.
Mining is a separate story, everything is very good there now. They pay well there, but the style of work is rather peculiar. This is due to the fact that all the downtime there is quite easy to count not in the virtual lost profits, but in really lost dollars, and the amounts will be pretty scary.
Who is in demand
The amount of work depends on the specialization, I believe that vacancies in Java or C # will be 1-2 orders of magnitude more than in C \ C ++. Wintel area usually assumes knowledge of Windows Server, AD, Exchange, sometimes SQL, and all this of course is not very useful without VMWare now. My personal observation is that serious experts on the latter are quite in demand, and their salaries are higher. I worked on both Windows and VMWare, but I didn’t have an exchange, which seriously prevented me from entering this niche. UNIX specialists are needed much less often, but as a rule, they have a slightly higher salary. Linux (RH, of course) is also quite common, usually as a separate specialization or as an addition to wintel.
In the networks, perhaps, the situation is the best with Voice, there are many vacancies, everything is needed, the area is relatively young. Salaries are good. Often voys are required in the appendage to other network specializations, especially at the senior and architects level. From vendors saw basically Cisco, meet Juniper. Checkpoint, McAfee, Symantec, Trendmicro are almost ubiquitous in network and information security. Of course, I have no data on the entire market, this is just what I paid attention to.
Salaries
It is difficult to predict what salary a newly-arrived specialist can receive, but most likely it will be from 50 to 90K a year before taxes. 90 is rather a senior level or just a rare specialist, objectively perhaps you can count on 60-70. In Sydney may be a little more. If you are a very high-class specialist and do not experience problems with communications, the figure may be much higher. The first job is bad because you need it as soon as possible, you have to ask less than you could if there was time. In consequence, this can be easily corrected.
Work searches
Theoretically, you can find work from overseas, but you have to be a rare and tasty specialist and have good English. As a rule, vacancies are published by agencies, but there are exceptions. One vacancy can be published by several agencies, therefore the real volume of vacancies is much less apparent at first glance. The recruitment process may not be quick, but not necessarily. In general, it is normal that your letter will react in a few weeks.
Work is of two types: permanent (permanent) and contract. From the first, everything is pretty simple and straightforward. The contract, as the name implies, work with a limited term which can be from weeks to a year. It is no better and no worse than a permanent job, it’s just a slightly different form. Contractors are NOT allowed to leave, sick leave, holidays. It's simple: you do not work - you do not earn. But the specific income of contractors is significantly higher than that of regular workers. The rate is hourly, in IT there can be a spread from 30 to 100 dollars per hour, the average specialist costs somewhere 40-70, but depends heavily on specialization. The contract can be as strictly temporary when it is necessary to replace someone, for example, and with the prospects of renewal or transition to a permanent. It is quite common when a person is first taken to a contract, then if everything is OK and everyone is happy, they offer a permanent job. It is convenient for the contractors to plug holes, when you need to do something for a while, or to help with something and resources are not enough. It happens that not the easiest or most boring work is dumped on the contractors, for example, if something needs to be put in order, or a large blockage is cleared. Additional duties may not be so easy for permanent employees, especially if they are not entirely in their area of ​​competence. This may require a review of his contract. When it is needed temporarily, it is easier to hire a contractor. Many people basically only work on contracts. Of the unobvious differences - the relationship to contractors on the part of regular workers can be as in the joke about bikers with choppers and high-speed motorcycles: “why should you get acquainted with you if you are new every season?”
Revenues and taxes
The income rate is progressive here, which I personally think is quite fair and not too draconian, making a good life becomes somewhat easier. The increased rate applies only to that part of the amount that exceeds the threshold of this rate, that is, it will not work so earning 50001 net income will remain less than 49999. The effective rate between 60 and 80K will be about 25%, but usually at the end of the year a small part can be returned. It is also possible to return the tax on various expenses, medical, some investments (there is a rather cunning mechanism with investment real estate, which allows getting into taxes rather well).
Separately charged super - retirement money, this is about 10%. Salary is usually stated before taxes per year for the permanent (without super), and in dollars per hour without super for contracts.
If two people work in a family, earning, for example, 50K each, then there will be much more clean money if you work alone and earn 100K. Therefore, when two people work, even if the income of the second spouse is very low, life becomes much easier and more fun. If both earn good money, and 100K for IT is not the limit, even despite the high taxes on high wages, the total amount of money can be such that it will be quite difficult to spend it.
An interesting fact: with relatively low (by local standards) wages, taxes are lower here than in Russia, where, in addition to 13% of income, there is still about 29% of the unified social tax (now split into different taxes), and in which (e), unlike income tax impossible to climb.
Cities
Cities here is really nothing at all - one for the state + capital.
Sydney is the largest city (more than 4 million), most of all work, most of all traffic jams, it looks like public transport is the worst, and the most expensive. The climate is more or less good, but it is rather cold.
Melbourne is probably the most beautiful city, a lot of cultural events (F1, Australian Open, Melbourne Cup are all there) and cultural life in general. There is also a lot of work, but a very changeable climate. There may be a downpour and after 10 minutes will cover the heat wave. It is cold in winter - there are mountains with snow and skis nearby, but again there is a rather unpleasant climate.
Brisbane - significantly north, because it is wet. But warm. Suffering from flooding. Work is already much less, but still quite a lot. Well developed city.
Perth is the most isolated city in the world, the capital of Western Australia (read: the western half of Australia), there are no more significant cities in this state, and the nearest big city is about 5 hours from summer. Works even less, but there is. A lot of work in mining, which both the state and the whole country feeds well. The climate is also warm, dry, easily tolerated. There is almost no cold. It is theoretically possible to swim even in winter, preferably in a diving suit.
Canberra is the capital, administrative city. Work mainly in government, they say it is difficult to find. Minus 10 degrees is quite possible in winter, just a minus is quite normal.
Adelaide is a rather pleasant Mediterranean climate, a good city in general, but there is no work in IT at all.
Darwin - north, tropics, in summer 35 and humid, in winter 35 and very humid. The climate is heavy, crocodiles, cowboys, on the fan. They say the job can be found if you want, because the cowboys with crocodiles in IT do not seem very. Little.
Hobart - beautiful nature, the coldest of all, works like in Adelaide. Also small.
There are quite decent small cities, but it’s difficult to say anything about them in general.
Cost of living and prices
Australia is a rather expensive country. This is a fact, but in fact it does not interfere much. High prices, in part, are due to high wages, and not just low competition and a small economy. Many things are cheaper if you look.
I will give a few examples. I can compare with Moscow prices for clarity.
Machines are about the same as in Russia, maybe a bit cheaper. Yes, it is about 2 times more expensive than in America
BUT # 1 there are still completely different salaries
BUT # 2 cars are aging much slower here, 10-year-old pepelats can still be quite fit, and you can hardly find rust on it.
BUT # 3 insurance is significantly cheaper. For Almeria worth about $ 13K, I paid about 50K rubles a year (about $ 1.7K) in Moscow for far from the most comprehensive insurance (Nissans in Russia are insanely expensive at all, as are the Japanese). Here for a more expensive car (also Nissan), I pay about $ 800 a year for the fattest program.
The tax may be slightly higher, but it is paid on the value and not on meaningless horsepower. For 150 drugs to pay about 10k rubles in Moscow per year, it does not matter how many years these forces. Here it will be 400 dollars, but there can be far over 200 horsepower.
Food. For example meat. Beef can cost 18-20 dollars per kilogram. It seems to be a lot, but in Russia, Australian or Brazilian beef costs at least 800r ($ 25), and it is simply impossible to compare this delicious meat with rubber cows. There are just other breeds, completely different.
Fruits vegetables. Cost may be cheaper and more expensive, and also, but they are fresh. Yesterday they could hang on a bed or palm tree. Significantly cheaper if you buy boxes.
Housing
The question is broad, you can live in different ways. In absolute terms, again, it seems expensive, but it is simply impossible to compare housing.
Some people think that at least you’re bursting straight, but you have to live in the very center and pay 2/3 of the income for it. Others can live very far away in huge houses, and also pay for it quite expensive.
In general, within reasonable limits, renting a normal house will cost about 1/3 of the average IT salary minimum.
Renting a 2 room apartment per hour from the center will cost 25-30 rubles per month in Moscow (say $ 1,000). Here it will cost about $ 1.5K. Yes, it is at least 1.5 times more expensive, BUT it will not be a 1 bedroom apartment on the outskirts, but a 3–4 bedroom house with an area of ​​100 meters (this is not the limit) in a self-sufficient area, it turns out that at higher absolute values, the result is poorly comparable in general .
So absolute numbers are pretty uninformative. Again, Ebay sometimes helps save money.
But some things are simply not there, or the choice is severely limited. This can be explained either by a lack of demand, or by high standards (faced with child seats, cool and inexpensive seats like the Recaro are simply not certified here), or whatever else. I was looking for home acoustics, almost no choice, prices are 2 times higher than in Russia. As a result, successfully bought at auction on ebee. But how often do we buy acoustics so that it influences something? I bought a bicycle for my wife - everything in the stores is very depressing that something worthwhile cost about a thousand while the equipment there stood mediocre. As a result, I bought a great car on a Christmas sale at CRC with a top kit for $ 600 with free shipping from the UK (usually costs 200), arrived in 4 days.
The medicine
Unlike the States, where this is a big problem, medicine is free here, with the exception of non-critical things like dentistry. There may be queues to specialists, and quite large, if not critical. But urgent things are usually done clearly and quickly. With work visas, health insurance can be a major expense.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle rather calm, relaxed. There are practically no annoying factors. The standard of living is very high, and this concept includes a lot.
Security level is very high.You can ogresti always and everywhere, if you do not follow the obvious precautions, but if you follow - then here it will be quite difficult to do. Severe crimes are very few.
Driving culture is not just perfect, there are reckless drivers, but on the whole there is no big problem, the road where it is supposed to give way to a pedestrian. Mortality on the roads is about 1,500 people per year, which is 20 million people, the number is decreasing and is one of the lowest in the world. Against 30,000 deaths in 140 million Russia, this is at least 3 times lower.
They do not go to Australia to live and work, they come here to live.
There is also a paradise for children. For them, almost everything is provided here, from quite good benefits (if there is one working in a family, then there may be about $ 500 a month to one child, but it decreases with an increase in income) to a huge number of playgrounds and other amenities. Three children in the family - a very common phenomenon, one - rather a rarity.
Something like a resume
I can’t say that moving to another country was easy, but if you remember my move to Moscow at 98m, it’s probably no more difficult, at least this time without defaults :)
At least it was a great life experience, because I had to do quite a lot do, learn, learn, and properly expand your horizons. In general, the jump in the standard of living is more than just noticeable, I must say that to feed the family here is much easier. Also time is wasted is much less.
IMHO Russians are generally generally very immobile due to both historical and financial reasons and transport. Therefore, for many, moving to another country seems to be something so complicated that it simply does not fit in the head. In fact, there is nothing particularly difficult in this, who even moved to another city, I think, will understand me. It is not much more complicated.
I hope that my experience can be interesting to someone. Unfortunately, at one time I didn’t stumble on anything like that, and maybe I lost a lot of time that could have been spent on developing a career, family. I do not urge anyone to move abroad. All of the above is my IMHO, and does not pretend to the truth of ultimate authority.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/298136/
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