For the list of winners, please click here.
This year, we've gone coast to coast.
From Sydney to Perth, Darwin to Adelaide, ZDNet Australia readers have nominated the best places to work with wires, cut code, integrate systems, monitor networks, and do all number of other tech-related jobs.
We received nominations from workers at companies of all sizes and persuasions. From tiny Techex Communications, with a staff of just over 10, to Big Blue's workforce of over 10,000, nominees rallied behind their bosses for making their work interesting and workplaces first-rate.
The top ten finalists in alphabetical order are:
Acer Computer Australia is a computer manufacturer and systems integrator based in Sydney. The company has a total of 385 employees in various cities including Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Hobart and Canberra.
Telecommunications infrastructure provider Alcatel Australia provides ADSL equipment, terrestrial and submarine optical networks, public switching, and fixed wireless access. The company has 761 staff predominantly located at its headquarters in Sydney, with a strong presence in Queensland and Victoria, and representatives in South Australia, and the ACT
IT project management and consulting company APCS IT has 18 employees at its Melbourne headquarters, and is looking to expand its workforce to 25. Delighted at the company's nomination, managing director Craig Dennis attributes it to a combination of above average remuneration, workplace social events, and the company's broader commitment to social justice.
Currently celebrating its 45th year in Australia, CSC is one of the giants of systems integration, infrastructure outsourcing and application services. With a staff of 3,700 in 12 offices throughout the country, CSC provides a rare opportunity to work in the tech sector outside state capitals, with offices in places like Newcastle, Whyalla, Wollongong and Nowra.
With 6,000 staff throughout Australia EDS has ridden the ebb and flow of the IT outsourcing market since 1985. With high profile customers including Customs, the ATO and the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, EDS is headquartered in Adelaide, but has offices in all major capitals.
EMC's tag line is "where information lives", however, it would seem that EMC Australia is also where people want to work. Information storage and management vendor, EMC has 350 staff across Australia and New Zealand, and offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth.
From Mackay in Queensland, to Tasmania's Launceston, Hewlett-Packard employs 4,600 people in 33 locations throughout Australia. Meanwhile, HP's close rival IBM has one of the largest workforce in the country.
Once famous for its strict dress code, Big Blue has become decidedly less stuffy in recent years, but continues to provide its 10,000 employees with a chance to work in one of the largest, and most technological sophisticated IT environments in the country. It has multiple offices in all major capitals in Australia.
Headquartered in the Sydney beach-side suburb of Manly, Techex Communications is a broadband solutions provider with 14 staff, and recently opened a branch office in Brisbane. Selling into government, education and the private sector, Techex punches above its weight when it comes to providing its pint-sized workforce with a stimulating environment.
With 130 employees mostly based in Perth, Internet and broadband service provider WestNet offers a full range of solutions throughout Australia. Having already gained recognition for its satisfied customer base via a Whirlpool survey earlier this year, the company has now been dobbed into ZDNet Australia for keeping its staff similarly happy.
The winner of ZDNet Australia 's Best IT Employer Award will be announced by October.
ZDNet Australia 's Best IT Employer Award is supported by the Australian Computer Society and SEEK IT.
You have got to be kidding having EDS on this list. I have never worked for a worse organisation. Over the four years I was there in Sydney I saw instances of bullying, and employees treated like second-rate citizens. Training budgets were removed, and limited career advancement opportunities existed. A number of friends I still have working for the organisation are either looking to get out, or just waiting for their redundancy. At the time I left EDS, I was being paid $30,000 below the bottom of the pay scale which EDS themselves developed. Since leaving I have been offered two contracts to return to the company, but I can assure you, there is no amount of money they could offer that would get me to go back there.