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Overview of the Australian IT sector
Australia has a strong and thriving ICT industry, with a particular reputation for innovation in IT product development projects.
Strong aspects of the industry include the development of software and technical management disciplines, and use of the latest IT techniques. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) offers the following report on ICT in its Australian Labour Market Statistics report: "During the five-year period from 2001–2002 to 2005–2006, the industry which employed the largest proportion of ICT workers was the property and business services industry (which includes a computer services sub-division). In 2005–2006, about 37 per cent of all ICT workers were employed in the property and business services industry, compared to 12 per cent of all employed people. Computing professional and technicians accounted for 85 per cent of all ICT workers in this industry.
"The second largest group of ICT workers was in the communication services industry (13 per cent) with most employed as electrical engineers or technicians and communications technicians. "The proportion of total employed people who are ICT workers has remained relatively stable at around 3.5 per cent over the five years to 2005–2006. In 2005–2006, almost half (47 per cent) of all ICT workers were computing professionals. The number of electronic engineering associate professors fell between 2004–2005 and 2005–2006." Most significantly, the ABS noted that, over the five financial years to 2005–2006, the number of overseas-born ICT workers increased from 115,200 to 134,300. In 2005-2006, a massive 39 per cent of all ICT workers were overseas-born, compared to 25 per cent of all employed people.
There are some industry sub-sectors where recruitment consultants have noticed particular skills shortages. ADAPS recruitment agency notes that they have observed shortages in the following areas:
Internet technologies;
Advanced web design;
J2EE;
SAP;
PeopleSoft;
Siebel ;
Oracle E-Business Suite;
Network security/firewall/internet security;
PKI; and
E-commerce security (non-programming)
British ICT workers can expect to receive an Australian salary of slightly less than what they may have received in the UK. However, this is generally compensated for by a lower cost of living. An initiative announced by the Department of Immigration in 2004 created a minimum salary for sponsored temporary ICT workers. The then Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone said: "The minimum salary for ICT workers entering Australia on Business Long Stay Visas will increase from AUS$35,828 to AUS$46,620, reflecting the typical salary for experienced workers in that industry."
This initiative is still in operation. For more detailed information and a list of the gazetted ICT occupations, click here.
If a salary of AUS$46,620 sounds a little meagre to you, however, then take comfort: it is more likely that your salary will be considerably higher. Figures released by MyCareer.com quotes the following figures for average annual Australian wages in ICT :
Architecture – AUS$98,323
Business Analyst/Systems Analyst – AUS$79,474
Database Development and Administration – AUS$70,028 Hardware Engineering – AUS$71,501
Helpdesk and Desktop Support – AUS$55,964
Management and Supervisory – AUS$103,174
Networks and Systems – AUS$72,693
Project Management – AUS$89,569
Software Development and Engineering – AUS$76,042
Technical Writers – AUS$70,595
Testing and QA – AUS$67,839
Training – AUS$54,590
Web Design and Usability – AUS$92,341
Web Development – AUS$70,279
Victoria
Victoria has a thriving ICT industry, which employs approximately 30 per cent of Australia's ICT workforce. It has an annual revenue of AUS$22.9 billion and exports over AUS$1 billion annually. Victoria specialises particularly in a number of areas, including:
Telecommunications: Companies such as Telstra, Optus, Primus and Telecom represent and large proportion of the ICT employment and revenue for the state.
Electronic games: Victoria is home to more than half of Australia's games industry production companies. These include Torus Games and Tantalus Interactive. The Games Developers' Association of Australia also have their headquarters in Victoria. Web applications software: Victoria has a large base of developments in software platforms, particularly in the Java-based J2EE and Microsoft's .NET. There are three industry clusters of around 500 companies which have development capabilities in these platforms.
Niche software and services: Victoria's subsector in niche software and services includes the provision of combined technologies and service solutions that allow the outsourcing of business functions and the development of software built on specialist experience to serve specific industry sectors. Some of the major companies operating under this subsector are IBM, EDS, Infosys, Senetas, Oakton, Computershare, Ocean Software and Aconex. ICT education is also prominent in Victoria – the strength of the local higher education sector and the graduates it produces is a major motivation for the international companies which have relocated to Victoria. However, the pool of local talent does mean that foreign workers may not be so much in demand.
ACT
In ACT, and particularly Canberra, on the other hand, immigrants with ICT skills are welcomed with open arms. Bob McGannon, a programme manager, is one of the many who has emigrated to the state in recent years. "This feels like a big small town," he says. "It is a relatively small city; however, it has an outstanding amount to offer in the way of cultural events, community activities, recreational resources and business growth. There is considerable opportunity here in our field of IT project management."
The big boost to Canberra's ICT industry comes from the Federal Government, which is the largest single purchaser of information and communication technology products in Australia. The Federal Government is based in ACT, and purchases around AUS$2 billion worth of products from the ICT industry every year. This has meant that many national and international ICT businesses have chosen to have a base in ACT. There are nearly 1,000 specialist ICT businesses in ACT, which together employ more than 7,700 people. ACT has also experienced the highest employment growth in Australia and the highest ICT employment growth of any Australian jurisdiction. In particular, the ACT ICT industry specialises in the following areas:
Photogenics;
Intelligent systems;
Data mining;
Wireless signal processing;
Natural language processing;
Remote sending;
Signal processing;
Systems engineering;
Logic and computation;
Systems integration;
Data management;
Database administration;
Programming;
Web management;
e-government;
Defence communications geo-spatial applications; and
Complex systems
Multi-national ICT companies based in ACT include Raytheon, the Computer Sciences Corporation, The Distillery, Electro Optic Systems and WetPC. In addition, the National ICT Centre of Excellence (NICTA) has recently established a node in Canberra.
New South Wales
Perhaps the largest centre for the ICT industry in the Asia-Pacific region, New South Wales is home to 76 per cent of ICT's regional headquarters and regional operating centres. Leading ICT companies based in Sydney include Fujitsu, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle-Peoplesoft, Sun Microsystems, SAP, SingTel-Optus, Hewlett-Packard, CSC, BenO, Marconi, Nokia, Panasonic, Sercel, Sophos and Samsing.
New South Wales accounts for around 42 per cent of Australia's ICT businesses, and employs 38 per cent of the national total of ICT workers. There are more than 133,000 people employed in NSW's ICT industry. New South Wales is also the base for Australia's ICT services and exports. In the past decade, it has generated 83 per cent of the growth in Australia's ICT services exports, and in 2005–2006 exported AUS$1.1 billion worth of goods.
In addition, NSW is famous for its research developments in ICT. In the period of 2004–2005, the state accounted for 46 per cent of the AUS$872 million spent by business on ICT research and development. It also contributed AUS$872 million of the AUS$250 million allocated nationally by businesses to electronic equipment research and development. Sydney is the headquarters to five centres of excellence in ICT-related research fields, as well as two major national research facilities, three cooperative research centres and three supercomputers.
Related article:
Australia's IT crowd
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