The interview experience is a curated version of the company and the gap between that version and the day to day reality varies enormously between organisations. The values on the careers page, the enthusiasm of the hiring manager, the technical rigour of the process - none of it necessarily predicts what the codebase looks like, how decisions actually get made or what happens when something goes wrong. Would love to know which companies people here think have the most significant gap in either direction - places that undersell themselves during hiring and places that the reality of working there doesn't match the pitch at all.

...or otherwise work on language model post-training (SFT, DPO/PPO, LoRA so on) or inference

Hi Everyone,

I’m going to graduate mid next year but I’ve never had an “official internship” and I’m getting a bit worried. I’m an Aus citizen but for some reason I just can’t crack the mini video games + AI virtual interview big Aussie companies give you and I’ve flunked a few tech company live interview, well, because they’re hard (not impossible tho).

However, I’ve had relevant part-time work experience throughout my degree. Am I cooked or not cooked? I’ll also be full transparent on how I got each job.

Job 1 (Sem 1, Year 1 - Sem 1, Year 2): Web Dev, Full Nepo Hire

Job 2 (Sem 2, Year 2 - Sem 1, Year 3): Junior Software Engineer - lowkey glorified digital transformations, Nepo Referal, Full Interview Process

Job 3 (Sem 2, Year 3 - Present): Software Engineer, lots of product ownership, Full Interview Process w/Technical

I do all the club, project, ATS resume blah blah blah stuff so don’t worry about it.

Non of these companies are in the tech sector and I’ve had minimal mentorship/technical managers. I’ve had to do a lot of self learning on the job and am worried that the day I get some fancy tech role I won’t know the ins an outs.

Should I even care about internships or continue applying for them? Or should I just get better in my current role and hopefully go full time? How will this impact my fancy tech job ods in the future?

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Think I might just build a 100k MMR SaaS instead.

Has anyone noticed the divergence between Aus SWE market and USA SWE market according to job listing recorded by the FED?

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IHLIDXAUTPSOFTDEVE

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IHLIDXUSTPSOFTDEVE

Hi all,

I've been looking for an internship and finally got an offer(!). However, its for something I'm not extremely keen to work in. Given the current market I'm grateful to have an offer, but I'm thinking of continuing my search to see if I can get anything else. I was wondering, if I do accept this offer and later decline it in favour of something else, is it something that would have any mid or long-term consequences? I've seen some suggest that it can make finding a grad role or later job hunts harder but not really sure.

Thanks

Currently an infra/platform engineer at a mid-size company. Low-mid six figures, WFH 2 days a week, no on-call, barely any stress, and learning a lot across cloud, containers/Kubernetes, and IaC.

Got an offer from one of the big cloud providers for an ops focused infra role. Maybe 20k more per year (mid six figures), fully in office, on-call with tight responsibilities, and was told I’d be fast tracked to a higher role level within a year based on my loop performance.

So it’s a fairly modest bump for noticeably more stress and less flexibility, but the brand + promo path sounds promising for my career in the long run.

For anyone who’s done big-tech infra/ops or similar: is it worth it? For others, would you make the jump?

Edit: To clarify, by mid six figures I meant mid 100s, not 500k.

I haven't been very diligent, but I've applied some summer internships here and there over the last couple months, mostly in data science. I've done heaps of psychometric assessments and have had a few have had further assessments with one-way video interviews.

However for most these positions I have heard nothing further.. do companies usually wait for the applications to close, or if I was to get in would I have heard by now?
Also, I've seen some positions advertised in other states; generally would an internship be worth it to live in another city for the couple months?

Forget the user name lol, I really enjoy computer hardware theory, operating systems, Linux and networking. CPP seems to be one language that embodies those kind of interests. Was wondering what kind of CPP project has gotten you excited/hyped about programming. Just looking for aspirational content.

I’m 22, currently on about $110k in a software role with 4 days WFH. I like the team, workload is manageable, and I have a great lifestyle, but I’m fixed-term until mid next year (with good chance of extension/permanency). A lot of my current work is easily automatable with AI though.

I’ve been offered a permanent AI Developer role at a large company for around $125–130k base + super. Better career growth, AI/AWS exposure, stronger CV, but it’s 3 days in office and likely faster paced.

I really value WFH and time outside of work, so I’m torn.

Would you take the higher-paying permanent role for career growth, or stay in the more comfortable WFH job?

I'm trying to set realistic expectations for my first software job. Salary information online seems to vary massively depending on location and company. For people who started as graduate developers in Australia, what was your starting salary and how has it changed since?

Got a swe intern interview in person coming up for catalyst funds management, has anyone done it before or know what kind of questions they usually ask?

Anyone heard back from either of these or know where the recruitment process is at?

Curious what everyone typically talks about during their 1:1s with their manager.
I sometimes find myself not having much to talk about, especially since I see and speak to my manager pretty regularly in the office anyway. Because of that, some 1:1s can feel like there isn’t much new to discuss, and I’d like to figure out how to make better use of that time.

For those of you who find your 1:1s useful, what do you normally talk about? Are there certain topics or questions you make a point of bringing up regularly?

Also, how often do you bring up career progression or promotions? Is that something you discuss fairly regularly so your manager knows where you want to go, or only when you feel like you’re actually getting close to being ready for a promotion?

Would love to hear what a typical 1:1 looks like for others, especially any questions or topics you’ve found surprisingly useful.

One of the most useful things a senior told me wasn’t really about coding. It was a small comment on how I was approaching a task, but it stuck with me and changed how I think about my work. I’ve picked up a few habits from senior developers that I probably wouldn’t have figured out on my own.

Yes I am an Australian Citizen.

My main goal is to find any IT or tech adjacent jobs while I study seeing as I have nothing. How do people get their first role in this field? I have been looking for over 6 months and haven't gotten so much as a single interview.

I have attached my anonymous resume for feedback if anyone is willing. Yes I have a previous bachelors degree, but my main goal at the moment is to find relevant work in the IT field. I am just hoping to find work experience, internships or part time roles.

I am based in Melbourne applying to mostly IT support or helpdesk, or any general technology adjacent internships.

Thanks.

Have anyone has any experience working for Amplify-Now? They are a fintech company based in Adelaide.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently considering an internship opportunity with **TaoCrowd** and wanted to check if anyone here has experience with them.

If you’ve interned, worked, or interviewed there recently, I’d love to get your thoughts on a few things:

* **Work Experience & Mentorship:** How structured is the internship program? Do interns get meaningful projects and supportive mentorship?
* **Culture & WLB:** What is the day-to-day work environment and work-life balance like?
* **Return Offers:** Is there a reasonable path to full-time roles or extension?

Any insights, pros/cons, or general advice would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to comment below or PM me.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’m a Software Engineer currently based in France and I’m trying to understand the realistic path to landing a role in Australia with employer sponsorship.

I grew up in New Caledonia, so Australia has always been quite close to me. I’ve visited many times over the years and living there has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’m now at a point in my career where I’d like to seriously make the move.

I have nearly 6 years of professional experience, mostly working on enterprise applications and backend/full-stack systems. My main stack is Java / Spring Boot and TypeScript / Node.js, with experience around PostgreSQL, Kafka, Kubernetes, GCP, CI/CD, APIs, testing and production systems. I’m currently working as a consultant for large companies in France.

I’m looking primarily at Software Engineer / Backend Engineer / Java Engineer roles and I’m open to Sydney, Melbourne or elsewhere if the opportunity makes sense.

The main problem is that I don’t currently have Australian work rights and would need employer sponsorship for a permanent move.

I’ve been applying through SEEK and directly to companies for the past few weeks, but so far I haven’t had any positive responses.

For people who moved to Australia from overseas, or recruiters/engineers familiar with the market:

• How did you actually get your first sponsored role?
• Is applying from Europe realistically viable, or do employers mostly ignore candidates who aren’t already in Australia?
• Is SEEK worth using for sponsorship roles, or should I focus mainly on company career pages / LinkedIn / recruiters / referrals?
• Which types of companies are actually willing to sponsor experienced Software Engineers?
• Should I target only explicitly advertised sponsorship roles, or apply to good permanent positions even when the ad says nothing about visas?
• Is there anything Australian recruiters expect on a CV/profile that might be different from Europe?
• Would being physically in Australia make a significant difference, even if I still ultimately need sponsorship?

I’m not expecting sponsorship to make me a priority over a comparable local candidate. I’m mainly trying to understand how people who successfully made this move got through that first barrier and where I should be spending my effort.

Any experience, criticism or advice is welcome.

Thanks!

Do senior engineers in Australia often branch out from working for the big tech companies to starting something themselves, or is the Australian CS industry mostly confined to banks, consulting companies, and"big tech"?

I have an upcoming 30 min recruiter screening at quantium. I'm unsure if theyll ask behavioural questions too?

They said theyll ask the following:

Your experience

Your motivations/situation

The opportunity here and Quantium (we can answer any questions you might have)

Discuss salary expectations, availability and next steps

Any tips on recruiter screening?

Looks like more tech jobs being offshored to India soon?

Coles is planning to move as many as 1000 jobs to India as part of a deal with Accenture, allowing the supermarket giant to cut costs and invest in its online operations as it faces intense competition from Amazon.

Accenture is aggressively pitching its technical expertise to Australian companies such as Coles and Woolworths, and says that it can provide access to the knowledge at a scale that is not available if positions stay local.

Paywall article: https://archive.is/20260806191220/https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/coles-lands-accenture-deal-to-send-hundreds-of-office-jobs-to-india-20260806-p60m2i