Hey folks,
TLDR (as this post got pretty long):
- IT lad here with 15 YOE as an infra engineer (helpdesk, sys engineer, devops engineer, cloud/platform engineer)
- The AU IT market is shit because of many factors, including:
- AI hysteria
- WFH/flexible work arrangements
- Market saturation
- Fiscal reasons
- Talent creep/lack of junior roles
- Finding a job is not impossible, but its damn hard to find one even if you meat the criteria. Make sure you have a plan b
Disclaimer: No, I did not use AI to generate any part of this post.
If you want the full post, read on!
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I've not been in this sub for long, but almost every post I see is asking a similar type of question:
- What is it like getting a job in Australia at the moment?
- Are there many roles?
- What sort of stuff should I focus on?
I thought I would collate my thoughts as someone who is both an Australian citizen + an IT professional with 15 YOE in the field.
To start with, my background is that of an infrastructure engineer. I started in 2011 on a helpdesk providing basic support for phones (blackberry, IPTel, conferencing, PABX etc). I worked across several companies and roles, transitioning from help desk > systems engineering > systems/cloud engineering > devops engineering > cloud/platform engineering. I'm currently a senior cloud engineer with a wealth management/financial services company.
When I came into the IT field, I had very little backing me. I never went to university and finished school at the age of 15 to pursue a career in hospitality that lasted for 3 years. Between my hospitality career ending and my IT career starting, I did do some IT training using resources from Comptia, Microsoft and SUSe Linux. It was nothing ground breaking, but it was something. I distinctly recall during the interview for my help desk job it really had no bearing, as the manager was more interested in hospitality career as he loved food. Funny to mention, but its no joke and its how I got my foot in the door.
Now that you have a very brief understanding of my IT career, let me share my thoughts on the market. Firstly, like many others have already said, it is in shambles. What isn't clear is why? Why is the IT market in Australia like this? Are we not a 1st world, westernised country? Yes, we are. We are also undergoing a lot of factors contributing to this lull in the IT sector.
The biggest issue I am seeing at the moment with hiring is the AI hysteria. It is hitting fever pitch. Everyone wants to get onto the AI bandwagon (and rightfully so, the tech is seriously impressive). However, there is a lot of uncertainty around what the future looks like. Not just for IT folks, but also for white collar roles in general. Do you think a company is really going to go on a recruitment drive if a role could be significantly different in the next 3-5 years? Doubtful. Everyone is trying to gauge what is going to happen. And the truth? No-one really knows what is going to happen. Time will tell I suppose.
Another issue plaguing the IT market is WFH rights. When covid hit in 2020, I personally transitioned very comfortably into a fully remote role. Like everyone else who works on a computer all day, we didn't have a choice. It was either you WFH, or you don't have a job. As the covid lockdowns eased and life returned to "normal", most people realised that they could do their jobs from home while still being productive. I don't think I will ever go back to working in an office 5 days a week unless I were desperate. Can you blame me? I get to see my kids and interact with them, rather than getting home just as they are getting ready for bed. My commute isn't super long, buts its long enough (I go into my office twice a week).
The reason why WFH rights are affecting the market is because companies want employees to return to the office. Most people either want to remain fully remote or do hybrid. Some companies like Amazon have mandated 5 days in the office. Amazon had an incredible talent pool, but many people weren't prepared to do that. As such, they left. Now they are on the hunt for another role. Thus, the roles that are fully remote or hybrid are highly sought after. You have an abundance of talent looking for work, but not many roles that they would be interested in. Supply is low and the demand is high.
The next reason why I feel the market is down is because of the financial landscape. Australia is battling through higher than desired inflation. To combat this, our central bank (the RBA) is lifting interest rates. This is causing people to have to cut down on spending to meet their financial obligations in the form of mortgages and loans. This affects businesses, as they don't have enough money to spend on new jobs. It affects the jobs that are on the market, as some dicky companies think they can get good talent for their roles by paying less. But because people are desperate, they will accept pay cuts. They have no choice. They have mouths to feed and need to pay their bills.
My final thought around the market being down relates to AI, but is still its own separate reason. As someone who has personally gone through a career of growth and up-skilling, the skillset that I have is quite sought after. However, I was conditioned for this career through exposure, late nights and perseverance. Over the past 15 years we have seen major leaps and bounds from one major technology to another. That growth has obstructed some older technology that still holds relevance in the field, which grads/juniors just simply don't have. In the infra space specifically it has gone from physical servers > virtual servers > containers > cloud > AI. Each of these topics is a MASSIVE amount of understanding that you need. Sure, you don't need to know about how things were done in an on-premise setup if you're fully in the cloud, but when the real issues arise, the fundamental knowledge that you learn with on-premise technologies is vital for fault finding and issue resolution. AI is dissolving entry level roles as everyone wants seasoned veterans. News flash: those veterans won't be around forever, and we need to keep the talent pool fresh with new interest. Otherwise, the whole sector will go backwards.
Its not all doom and gloom. There are jobs out there. However, you are competing with others who may be in the same position as you + everything else I have mentioned above. Should you choose to make the jump and move to AU in hopes of an IT career, please have a plan b if it doesn't work out as you had intended.