[austechwriter] Re: Any oppurtunities for tech writers in Australia?
- From: Michael Edward Granat <megranat@xxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 11:07:45 +1000
Dear Murali,
Unfortunately, in the IT area, such jobs are rare here at the moment (at=20
least in Melbourne) with a lot of our software development and many call=20
centres going offshore to places such as India and the Philippines.
Also, we've had three plus years in a row of imposed and immovable=20
deadlines for massive, structural software rethinks:
=95 1999/2000 saw Y2K.
=95 2000/01 saw the national introduction of our Goods & Services Tax.
=95 2001/02 saw the national introduction of Full Retail Contestability=
(FRC)=20
to the public (choice of retailer) for the Electricity industry. (The=20
initial setup of FRC electricity cost the energy industry =97 passed on to=
=20
the consumer of course =97 a reported figure of AUD$680,000,000.00.)
=95 2002/03 saw much the same for FRC / Gas.
As a consequence, all IT focused firms in Australia blew all their=20
development budgets. People were revved up by the spin doctors, snapped=20
up, burnt out, then discarded three years in a row. Our family lives went=
=20
to hell as we worked ridiculous hours and many of us budgeted for ongoing=20
income, only to be thrown on the IT scrap heap with huge debts to service=20
as major companies merged, moved dissolved and shed staff and contractors.
On top of that, we've seen the bursting of the Dot.Com bubble, the "merger'=
=20
of HP and Compaq that, here in Victoria alone, saw the loss of a few=20
thousand jobs. Then came the closure of the Ericsson mobile technologies=20
development centre in Melbourne (supposedly their centre for worldwide=20
development excellence in G3 and associated digital mobile and personal=20
remote sensing networking technologies). Count 450 jobs lost here, 150 of=
=20
those in development.
Just at my former employer, the Information Services division of a US owned=
=20
Victorian Energy reseller, about 120 good people went in the first few=20
weeks (including yours truly) as soon as FRC Electricity was=20
implemented. Hundreds more have gone since, also through no fault of their=
=20
own. The company was patting us on the back and feeding us up at=20
motivational seminars, so that we'd work all hours and discard our family=20
lives, right up until the axe fell =97 fattening us up for the kill, so to=
speak.
Now the IT jobs market in Australia (from what I can tell from the job ads,=
=20
affecting Victoria in particular, Sydney and Canberra far less so) is a=20
wasteland =97 and has been much like this for 18 months, with many top=
people=20
simply with usually highly prized skill sets and experience driving taxis,=
=20
building garages and doing whatever they can to service their debt burdens=
=20
and keep their families afloat, before finally changing careers.
If there is a possibility of decent work where you are, you'd be wise to=20
stick with what you (can) have and to not consider coming here for much=20
more than a holiday. If you are already in a paying job that is paying=20
your bills, hold onto it with both hands. Many of our colleagues are=20
having a very tough time finding decent work here and the rates are so=20
depressed as to be insulting, even to junior writers. Employers are simply=
=20
taking advantage as the bean counters take over the world.
The grass is not greener on this side of the fence right now, we are in the=
=20
midst of a jobs drought.
Best of luck to you, wherever you are but, much like the US market=20
(particularly around Silicon Valley) Australia has felt the worst of the IT=
=20
jobs decline.
Maybe it all comes down to the fact that one can buy sophisticated=20
computing equipment next to toasters in department stores, these=20
days. Most families here have at least one personal computer, many have=20
home networks and we are one of the most connected countries on=20
Earth. Since computers have become so familiar and omnipresent, they have=
=20
effectively become invisible.
The general public places no special value on IT any more, as long as it=20
keeps working. The very success of the Y2K fixes became part of our=20
undoing. People were asking what all the fuss and cost were about when=20
things didn't go wrong and business managers became suspicious of the very=
=20
people who saved them from impending IT doom, failing to understand the=20
massive and awe-inspiring effort involved.
With the aftermath of Y2K, came a shift in the world's technology psyche.
Information Technology (always such an involved yet fragile discipline)=20
appeared to become invincible so, we just didn't seem to be needed any=20
more. Top that off with the expectation that programmers must also be=20
information architects, network engineers and technical writers on the low=
=20
end income of just one of those disciplines and you can see that we are in=
=20
real trouble. Unless we can each demonstrate how our work adds value to=20
our employers' and clients' businesses, our profession itself might well be=
=20
in real trouble.
All the very best to you.
Michael Granat
Write Ideas
Carnegie, Victoria, Australia.
At 22:31 23/4/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi all,Kindly let me know on any openings (permanent basis) for tech=20
>writers in Australia. Thanking You, Cheers!Murali
>
>
>Tiger Tiger Burning Bright.....
>
>HELP SAVE TIGER.....SAVE WILD LIFE
**************************************************
To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.
To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.
To search the austechwriter archives, go to
www.freelist.org/archives/austechwriter
To contact the list administrator, send a message to
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************
Other related posts:
