Dont know if any of you can help me out with this, but I'm hoping you can. Currently I'm in college studying to get my degree in Computer Science. However after I get my masters, I'm thinking about moving out of the United States and go to Australia. I don't have any family there and it would be a fresh start for me.

Few things Im worried about:

- How hard is it to get a Computer Science related job there? Namely as a programmer or Software Engineer?

- Do they make enough money to live comfortably? I know the cost of living there is higher.

- How big of a transition would it be moving from America to there?

- How does the projected job growth for Comp Sci look over there?

I've been looking at some information about it for a few days and some of the sited I looked at said that computer related stuff was being moved over seas for cheaper labor, and that sort of worries me.

Anyways I'm hoping some of you are from Australia and maybe could help me out with this. Also feel free to include why maybe I SHOULDNT move there? Thanks :)

I'd like to visit other countries but I wouldn't like to live in them. I just wouldn't know the customs well. However, you sound ready to move. Good luck.

(I'm making this post under the assumption that it's in the Lounge and I don't have to provide a technical/formal answer.)

Being only 1/20th the size of the USA, there's obviously going to be less companies to choose from. However, Sydney/Melbourne in particular, and also the other capitals such as Canberra/Brisbane will have a lot of programming jobs, from web apps, to finance, to MS/Google ;)
Also, because we're so much smaller in population, though similar in area to the US, we've basically only got one big city per state, and they often sprawl over large areas, like LA etc... The culture / political views is also quite different between each of the cities as you'd expect.

A starting wage will be quite comfortable, and after a few years you could be well above average income.

Cost of everyday expenses like food, beer and electricity are likely well above US standards, but the taxes are about the same and there's many more public services (like free doctors, e.g. I'm perfectly happily with no insurance), but I'm not sure if temporary residents qualify for Medicare/etc or not...
There's also a compulsary retirement scheme (like 401k), where employers have to an extra 9% of your salary into an investment account for you. You can withdraw it when you retire, or foreigners can get it when they leave the country.

We mostly have a car-culture over public-transport-culture, like the US does, except in some major cities. E.g. Inner Melbourne has a brilliant network of trams (as well as trains/busses).
If you're into sports, you'll find yourself at home... Except instead of baseball we have cricket, and instead of American Football we have AFL (Aussie rules) in the south and rugby (league and union) in the north.
Colloquialisms/slang will be very different, but you'll pick it up soon enough. Unless you're not used to accents at all, you should be able to understand people fine. We don't actually sound how we're portrayed in Holywood films (we talk like that only as a caricature of ourselves, or when imitating Aussie rednecks).

A lot of jobs are being outsourced overseas, just like in the US, such as manufacturing, customer service, etc... Though I don't think high tech jobs like programming are at the same level of risk. I've personally been very lucky with employment, having never really being stuck unemployed.

Economically, in the 90's, 1 AUD was worth abou 0.60 USD, but these days it's about 1 to 1. The AUD is even more valuable than the USD from time to time!
So, you won't double your money by moving here (any more), but your savings will be worth about the same in USD when you leave too.

Politically, we're similar to the US, and getting more like them every day. We're still much more "socialist" than he US is though with public services.
At the moment, we've recently elected our own Georrge W Bush equivalent, who's popular with the northern states and despised by the progressive south-east.

I'm not australian, but I lived in Sydney for 2 years before moving to NZ, so I can give you a migrants perspective. Please bear in mind that my information is nearly a decade old, although the Australian economy features pretty heavily in NZ news.

So to answer your questions:

- How hard is it to get a Computer Science related job there? Namely as a programmer or Software Engineer?

The first issue you have will be getting a visa to work there.

Seriously, do not turn up in Australia without one. They might ship you off to god-knows-where.

If you're under 30, you can apply for a working holiday visa which will let you live and work in Australia for a year, with a few caveats, mainly that you can only work for 3 months in a single job. Unfortunately this means it is very difficult to get any kind of IT related work on this visa.

You can apply for a 457 temporary visa, but that will tie you to the job you hold.

Assuming you get a visa, there's plenty of work available, but you will probably need to live in either Syndey or Melbourne (that's fine, both are great places to live).

In terms of how hard it is to get work, it's roughly on par with anywhere else, i.e. if you're good enough to get a job in the US, you'll get one in aussie.

- Do they make enough money to live comfortably? I know the cost of living there is higher.

Yes and no. The pay for software developers is quite reasonable and you can live quite comfortably.

That said, housing in Sydney is quite expensive.

Also, if you're coming straight out of college, don't expect big bucks. As a junior engineer, you'll probably start on around AU$60-70k.

- How big of a transition would it be moving from America to there?

It depends on where in the US you're coming from and where you're moving to. If you move from NY to the outback, it will be a massive shift. But if you're coming from a decent sized reasonably liberal city to Sydney or Melbourne, it won't be a big deal. The language is obviously the same, as are many of the cultural values. Films, tv, music, etc are largely american. As an extremely broad generalisation, Sydney is more american and Melbourne is more European. Again, that is a gross approximation.

The one thing you may struggle with is the sheer distance to friends and family. The time zones make that even worse. If you are close with your family, it can be hard, especially if you have a wife/girlfriend and are planning to have kids anytime soon.

- How does the projected job growth for Comp Sci look over there?

Pretty good, as far as I know. The financial services sector in Syndey is huge and I believe there are a few game dev studios popping up.

" Also feel free to include why maybe I SHOULDNT move there?"

Well, I would be turfed out of my new home if I didn't point out that there are a few very good reasons not to move to Australia.

• Their rugby team sucks
• It can be kinda racist.
• They just elected a "creepy as fuck sociopath"
• Australian chocolate is awful and so is most of their beer (although if you drink mainstream american beer, you won't notice any difference).
• Everything wants to eat and/or poison you.

But the primary reason not to move to Australia is very simple: if you live in Australia, you are not living in NZ. mind blowing, I know! :)

NZ has:

• Better beer
• Nicer people
• real mountains and seasons to go with them
• better scenery
• the worlds best rugby team

Ok, I'm only half serious. Australia does have a lot going for it. It's richer, the food and wine are generally awesome (even some of the beer is pretty good), and if you like surfing, scuba or sailing, it's fantastic (assuming you don't get eaten by a shark or poisoned by well, pretty much everything that lives in the oceans around Australia). Even if you just want to live in a diverse cosmopolitan city with lots of sunshine, Sydney or Melbourne are both great (apologies to people from Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide, I just know Sydney and Melbourne better)

Best of luck whatever you decide. Living in another country (even one as culturally similar as Australia or NZ) is a fantastic experience, and I heartily recommend it.

Dude, don't go to Australia. Pretty much everything there is designed to kill you!

Well from what I gather its actually pretty similar to over here in terms of living, besides a few minor differences. And I actually have a few years to really think about this before I do anything. But thanks :)

Wow for some reason everyone else's replies didn't show up till now lol but you guys gave me a lot of excellent information and I really appreciate it. So far, Australia seems like the place I'll be going to in a few years :)

My friend recently moved back to Canada from Australia. He originally went on a working holiday visa which lets you stay in the country for 1 year, but only work for 6 months (no more than 20 hours a week). He evenytually got permanent resident status and a few full time contracts. He was experienced in game programming though and got a job before he left at THQ in Brisbane when it still existed. I think it might be easier for a Canadian than an American though due to being part of the British commonwealth and the terms of the working holiday visa might also be different. I'm talking out of my ass though.

Dude, don't go to Australia. Pretty much everything there is designed to kill you!

Hah, that didn't even mention the Irukandji!

Lol, good thing I'm not going in the water when I get over there. Looks like not knowing how to swim is gonna pay off ;)