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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Tech jobs in 2004 By Fran Foo, 0 December 15, 2003 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/soa/Tech-jobs-in-2004/0,139023731,120281875,00.htm
All Greg Taylor wants for Christmas is a full-time job. A C++ programmer, who later dabbled in Java to capitalise on opportunities created during the dotcom boom, the 40-year-old father of two has been freelancing since March. Like Taylor, many hardcore programmers in Australia are in dire straits -- the art of writing computer code is simply a thing of the past ... at least in this country. "This is just the way it is," lamented Taylor. "Programming jobs are scarce in Australia." While he understands the need to outsource basic coding work -- offshore or otherwise -- all in the name of reducing costs but says most programmers don't have a safety net and aren't great communicators.
He's currently taking lessons to improve his written and oral communications skills. "I just can't sit here and rot," he added. Taylor's predicament runs counter to recent statistics which show countless new job opportunities for software developers. According to the Olivier Recruitment Group, the largest segment within the Information Technology and Telecommunications sector in November was software development and engineering, which accounted for 26.47 percent of job advertisements on the Internet. Robert Olivier, director of Olivier Recruitment, is optimistic that the IT and telecoms will improve and says job seekers should up the ante. "At this time last year I advised IT professionals to go sit on a beach, and wait for the vacancies to come back. Not this year. IT is holding up, with an 11 percent [seasonally adjusted] increase where in previous years it has slipped." Taylor admits there may be opportunities for programmers but insists the [resource] pool has gotten wider while the pie has shrunk. "There are too many people fighting for a handful of jobs," he stressed.
Past, present and future
Andrew Sim, who recruits IT professionals for multinational companies in Asia-Pacific, believes it's time for Australian technology workers to spread their wings. "They've been doing it for some time and Australians have a good reputation in the market. "My advice to out-of-work programmers would be to upgrade their interpersonal skills and look for opportunities around the region since there's a glut in Australia," Singapore-based Sim said. He concurred with statistics by Olivier Recruiting which showed management and sales topping the job chart. "Everyone knows software development in countries such as India is more affordable than employing a bunch of people in Sydney or Melbourne ... that's just reality." At the higher-end of the spectrum, a magazine salary survey has found that Singapore-based expatriates -- foreigners in white-collar jobs - who are working in the IT industry draw an average monthly package of around US$15,000. "So you need seek opportunities beyond normal boundaries if need be ... uprooting is no mean feat but IT workers in Australia are stuck between a rock and a hard place," Sim added.
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