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The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

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Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#111

Post by jpatokal »

lancewiggs wrote: post #68

Firstly - come to New Zealand. There is long list of ICT/Electronics and Communications roles, including all professional engineers, on the long Term Skills Shortage list. Additionally ICT and creative indistries are deemed long term growth areas. This means it's much easier to get into NZ - either for working or for immigration through our points system.[1] On the ground the answer is yes, we really need more devs a…

The main problems with working in IT in NZ are that there aren't many jobs, and the pay is much lower than in Australia. And since Kiwis and Aussies have reciprocal working rights, there are a whole lot of Kiwi IT people who've moved to Australia.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#112

Post by throwxxx »

beamso wrote: post #79
Schwolop wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More so he's pro-theoretical grounding in a subject, because with the right background it's easy to get up to speed in the practicalities. It's a bit unpleasant reading these articles (Barrie's and the original by Harper) now, as I currently work for Bigcommerce, and turned down an offer from Freelancer. Ironically, Freelancer offerred me about 40% less salary because at the time I had a theoretical background and al…

If you like, turn on 'showdead' in your HN preferences. Matt appears to have responded to your original post directly from a hellbanned account (teflonhook).

Reviewing the account's comment history, funny to see "teflonhook" has been chattering away for a year without noticing the hellban.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#113

Post by rmc »

Nursie wrote: post #100
beilabs wrote: post #58

Here's my experience with the Australian Computer Society. Having studied abroad (Ireland), I was required to send in all of my exam results for my B.Sc, H.Dip & M.Sc. as well as a reference from each employer that I worked with in my field (Software Engineering). For the visa I was applying for at the time it required that I was certified by the ACS, have a minimum of 5 years experience. The process took 6 months fo…

I went through the same process. Yes it took longer than I would have liked, but in general it went very well. Australia is very restrictive on immigration because so many people want to go there. I'm not really sure why they would restructure the system when this is the case, they have a relatively small population and extend a variety of state benefits to immigrants, so they don't want to be swamped.

They used to have a "White Australia" policy until late 60s. (Basically yes, we want immigration in order to populate our country, but we only want white people). Since then they have stopped having racist immigration policies, so they have just reduced all immigration.

It's all about keeping one type of immigrants out.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#114

Post by JacobAldridge »

throwaway2048 wrote: post #45
jpatokal wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As your link itself explains, the vast majority of those vacant properties are either a) holiday homes that are empty outside vacation season, or b) "areas with declining population where dwellings are simply abandoned by owners who can’t sell their property". Vacancy rates in major cities are remarkably low.

it may not be a big problem at present, as there is a huge real estate boom in Australia. But when there is an economic downturn these regulations are going to hit older areas extremely hard, just like they have in many other nations.

Property values in Australia declined by 4.5% last year. Forecasts are for around 5% growth this year in my city (Brisbane), but continued declining prices in Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart and Adelaide.

Huge real estate boom fizzled at the end of '09 / early 2010.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#115

Post by rmc »

throwaway2048 wrote: post #45
jpatokal wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As your link itself explains, the vast majority of those vacant properties are either a) holiday homes that are empty outside vacation season, or b) "areas with declining population where dwellings are simply abandoned by owners who can’t sell their property". Vacancy rates in major cities are remarkably low.

it may not be a big problem at present, as there is a huge real estate boom in Australia. But when there is an economic downturn these regulations are going to hit older areas extremely hard, just like they have in many other nations.

it may not be a big problem at present, as there is a huge real estate boom in Australia

DANGER WILL ROBINSON! A property boom has wrecked several countries. Australia could be hit by that.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#116

Post by rmc »

mctx wrote: post #29
throwaway2048 wrote: post #6

Accreditation is common in many industries in Australia, it's basically a huge racket. To legally do any wiring work at all it must be done by an accredited electrician, not merely inspected by one as in most countries. in fact most home improvements of any kind must be performed by an accredited tradesman. add to this the laws that state any home improvement must bring the entire house up to current building codes,…

> To legally do any wiring work at all it must be done by an accredited electrician, not merely inspected by one as in most countries. And contract electricians cost upwards of $80/hour, making replacing a light fitting prohibitively expensive.

Just wait till the property market collapses, like in other countries. Prices for skilled tradespeople will fall.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#117

Post by jpatokal »

mylittlepony wrote: post #109
dbaupp wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just out of interest, what are the discrimination issues? (I'm Australian so I don't ever get an outsider's perspective, but it'd be nice to have some understanding of what others think of us.)

Well I was watching videos trying to catch the Australian accent, which I found to be very cool... One video led to another, and somehow I ended up watching this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp6J6PF47CM From another angle, and longer explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsWhGBgbUsc I have never seen something like that in real life, I couldn't believe it.

There's 22 million people in Australia, don't assume a few idiots reflect the entire country. Neither my wife nor I were born here, but as parents with a mixed-race kid and experience of living on four continents, we haven't found a better place to bring him up yet.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#118

Post by Nursie »

jpatokal wrote: post #110
Nursie wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went through the same process. Yes it took longer than I would have liked, but in general it went very well. Australia is very restrictive on immigration because so many people want to go there. I'm not really sure why they would restructure the system when this is the case, they have a relatively small population and extend a variety of state benefits to immigrants, so they don't want to be swamped.

Please read this, then come back and tell me that Australia's visa system is sane: http://gyrovague.com/2012/08/10/notarizing-your-fingerprints...

That guy has

  - moved all over the world
  - applied for a visa while inside the country in question
  - some expectation that having an employer vouch for him means anything
  - most of his trouble with getting a COC out of Singapore
Oz basically want to know you have skills, education and no criminal record. They ask you to go to some length to prove this. I really don't see a problem with this. As I say, they are in the unusual situation that they are swamped with applicants from all over the world, they can afford to be picky, and in fact need to be.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#119

Post by jpatokal »

astrec wrote: post #102
mylittlepony wrote: post #65

I'm sorry Australia, you are not getting me as a skilled worker (I thought you were in need of IT experts with fluent english). No seriously, I stumbled upon this issue some time ago, and that wasn't the first or last paywall. You have to pay for everything, even if you end up being rejected (not that I couldn't afford it, but f*ck that). Kind of offtopic, but I also saw they have some serious discrimination issues (…

If you're still interested, and can find someone willing to employ you look at the 457 visa and the transition stream to PR. Circumvents that whole mess IIRC.

Yup, this is the best option if you can swing it -- the problem is that you need to find an employer to sponsor you, which is a significant hassle and expense for them.

Re: The Australian Computer Society should be disbanded

#120

Post by Nursie »

rmc wrote: post #113
Nursie wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went through the same process. Yes it took longer than I would have liked, but in general it went very well. Australia is very restrictive on immigration because so many people want to go there. I'm not really sure why they would restructure the system when this is the case, they have a relatively small population and extend a variety of state benefits to immigrants, so they don't want to be swamped.

They used to have a "White Australia" policy until late 60s. (Basically yes, we want immigration in order to populate our country, but we only want white people). Since then they have stopped having racist immigration policies, so they have just reduced all immigration. It's all about keeping one type of immigrants out.

Yes, that policy from 50 years ago sure is good evidence that they have a racist immigration policy today!
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