The Australian Dream: How I landed my first Software Engineer role in the land down under

It’s a tale for the ages, probably

Landing your first job can be quite a challenge. No one wants to hire you because you don't have the experience, but at the same time, you need a job in the first place to get that experience.

It’s a circular trap that's very hard to navigate out of and if you’re an immigrant in Australia, you have just added more to your woes.

I would say what helped me to get my first job was being in the “right place” and at the “right time”. I kid you not.

Sure I will go through a certain number of things one can do to increase their chances but for those who want to know the ONE thing which will help them almost immediately. It’s being in the RIGHT PLACE and at the RIGHT TIME. So let’s look into how I navigated the job market in Aussie land.

1. Background

I was working from my home country of Pakistan as a remote software developer for a company in the United States. This is June 2022 we are talking about. And I had around 2.5 to 3 years of experience at that point in time.

I had hopes of going abroad one day but for those who have been from that part of the world, they should know that “getting a visa” is not that easy.

In June 2022, I was granted a 476 visa which is a two-year work visa with unlimited working rights to Australia. How I got it? That’s a tale for another day but I got a ticket to fly out.

Now, the next step came. Getting a job

Before I even flew out, I started reaching out to LOTS and I mean LOTS of people on Linkedin regarding potential job opportunities. And reply to me that did.

But all of them showed me a certain number of Red Flags which were attached to my application and which I will be going over now.

1) Lack of Local Australian Experience Regardless of how many years you have worked abroad, It seldom matters to the employers and recruiters in the land down under. The Australian job market places a very high emphasis on local Australian experience and it rightfully does so too.

It’s not that one lacks the technical expertise to perform the job, It’s that there's a certain culture and a feel for the Australian workplace which most if not all new immigrants lack and lack severely.

The Australian job market places a very high emphasis on Soft skills such as leadership, teamwork, empathy, etc rather than technical prowess.

2) Visa Status Employers want assurance and security. Most of the talent in Australia is either on a temporary visa or a student visa. It’s estimated that there will be around 360,000 temporary visa holders in Australia by 2030.

The thing with temporary visa holders is that you never know when a visa can become a possible issue and students have a cap on the number of hours they can work. So employers always give preference to permanent visa holders due to no issues in visa handling.

3) Little to no portfolio Employers here in Australia give a lot of emphasis to your portfolio rather than your coding skills. Don’t get me wrong, there will be coding tests and assessments which you will need to clear but if you have a good portfolio and a strong GitHub profile, you will stand out.

Now, The thing with me was that I didn't have any of them.

I had no Australian experience, was on a temporary visa, and had little to no portfolio. So one can imagine how hard it would have been to navigate the job market with little to no checkmarks. So what worked?

Well, As I said at the very start, Being in the RIGHT PLACE and at the RIGHT TIME can put everything to the side for a brief moment.

2021–2022 was when Australia faced a very severe tech skill shortage. The world had just gotten out of the pandemic and a lot of people had either left Australia for their home countries or opted for different options.

Because of this, Employers and Recruiters were making the best of what options they had available for the tech talent and rules were relaxed, For instance, working hour limits for student visa holders were removed temporarily and individuals with temporary work visas were given extensions.

I happened to be someone at that point in time who, despite not checking off any of the points I mentioned earlier, was still managing to secure interviews.

Eventually, the opportunity came with an ASX-listed company in Sydney.

The interview process involved 3 steps. The technical interview stage, The cultural interview stage, and the final interview which involved Salary negotiation.

The job market in Aus can be navigated but you will need to be in a position to navigate around it.

I secured the offer and in June 2022, landed in Sydney to begin my job as a Software Engineer.

I would say I was lucky that I didn't have to go through that much struggle which, otherwise, lots of software developers face. I would say had it not been for the certain global situation at that point in time, I would have not been able to secure the role as easily as I did.

To conclude, The three points which I mentioned earlier are probably the only things you need to check off to secure a role.

If you like what you read, share this article for that helps me out a lot. Till we meet again.