Skills to retrain in, job opportunities in New Zealand / OZ etc.

[tommyc]

Hey guys,

So.. heres the deal. I'm a UK citizen currently working in London and living with my girlfriend of 2 years, she's from New Zealand where we met..
In a year her visa (for here) runs out and she wants to study. It's way too expensive to do it here so her options are either back home in New Zealand or possibly Oz (they have a similar EU style relationship to each other as we do with Europe)
I'm quite happy to go to the other side of the world with her, the question is finding work..

I understand that there are way more IT jobs in Oz, but I think I might struggle to get a visa for there since she's not an Oz citizen. (I have already used my WH visa for oz), unless I went down the skilled category but then I might need a job offer, not sure. New Zealand would be alot easier visa wise since we've been together long enough to go for the family visa.

Skils wise I am currently pretty screwed if I'm not in a finance centre though. My core skill is Excel VBA (over 4 years and my current role) I've worked in hedge funds for over 3 years. I used to have reasonable C/C++ and java knowledge but its about 10 years old so is pretty much useless now. I've forgotten it all (plus all the changes in the languages)
Reasonable Matlab skills but 3 years since I used it so getting rusty.
I have been using Python a little in my current role (including a little bit of web development in pylons) so have beginner level knowledge there.
Basic SQL to get data in / out of a DB for all my other stuff.

So I think, even if we do go for oz where there is a little more work it might be a good idea to train up in .NET or something in my spare time. Or is it a waste of money unless I have work experience? Are there equivalent sites to ITjobswatch for those countries.. I've looked on seek and the like and from a quick scan, Java, .NET, C++, and SAS seem to be the top specific things being asked for.

Has anyone relocated to one of those countries? I've got a year to try and improve my CV.. what should I do? (Currently under contract till Dec but likely to be renewed)

[Aman]

Is uni going to cost her so much because she is an NZ only national?
Is applying for UK citizenship a possibility for her? If she did obtain UK citizenship, would that then reduce the fees to EU citizen rate?

Being away from the market does have a career and contract limiting effect.

In my expericence unless a CPD activity results in a certificate, ot you get to use it in a cork environment then it often doesn't have much value.

[MarillionFan]

Gonzo will be here shortly...

[SueEllen]

If you have work experience in Java and C++ already and those skills are still sought why not brush up on those skills?

You may have to put your CV in a slightly different format to get an interview but as you will have recently trained up on those skills you would be ok for any tests you are made to do.

[aussielong]

Hey guys,

So.. heres the deal. I'm a UK citizen currently working in London and living with my girlfriend of 2 years, she's from New Zealand where we met..
In a year her visa (for here) runs out and she wants to study. It's way too expensive to do it here so her options are either back home in New Zealand or possibly Oz (they have a similar EU style relationship to each other as we do with Europe)
I'm quite happy to go to the other side of the world with her, the question is finding work..

I understand that there are way more IT jobs in Oz, but I think I might struggle to get a visa for there since she's not an Oz citizen. (I have already used my WH visa for oz), unless I went down the skilled category but then I might need a job offer, not sure. New Zealand would be alot easier visa wise since we've been together long enough to go for the family visa.

Skils wise I am currently pretty screwed if I'm not in a finance centre though. My core skill is Excel VBA (over 4 years and my current role) I've worked in hedge funds for over 3 years. I used to have reasonable C/C++ and java knowledge but its about 10 years old so is pretty much useless now. I've forgotten it all (plus all the changes in the languages)
Reasonable Matlab skills but 3 years since I used it so getting rusty.
I have been using Python a little in my current role (including a little bit of web development in pylons) so have beginner level knowledge there.
Basic SQL to get data in / out of a DB for all my other stuff.

So I think, even if we do go for oz where there is a little more work it might be a good idea to train up in .NET or something in my spare time. Or is it a waste of money unless I have work experience? Are there equivalent sites to ITjobswatch for those countries.. I've looked on seek and the like and from a quick scan, Java, .NET, C++, and SAS seem to be the top specific things being asked for.

Has anyone relocated to one of those countries? I've got a year to try and improve my CV.. what should I do? (Currently under contract till Dec but likely to be renewed)

Why not apply for Permanent Residency from the UK. That way you are not limited in the kind of work you can do, once you get here to Oz. You should be able to get it with your skills, if you have a degree. I'm guessing your about 28-30. If you apply before you turn 30 its better for you. That's easier than skilling up. Every 5 years it gets harder: 35, 40, etc, you lose points.

There's lots of IT work here and the competition is not too tough compared to London. There are not that many jobs here sitting on a trading desk doing VBA. Funds Management is big here, due to compulsary pension contributions. There are a few hedge funds here, try emailing Challenger. You might find something there.

There's also an increasing number of imported skillsets in vanilla technicals like J2EE/.NET. In my opinion that is a dead end. If I was you i'd focus on your business knowledge and perhaps brush up your Java, then target the banks in Sydney. Having said that, .NET is on the increase here because Microsoft supply PC's to Uni's and somehow they have got them teaching C# in return.

[Gonzo]

I understand that there are way more IT jobs in Oz, but I think I might struggle to get a visa for there since she's not an Oz citizen. (I have already used my WH visa for oz), unless I went down the skilled category but then I might need a job offer, not sure. New Zealand would be alot easier visa wise since we've been together long enough to go for the family visa.

It might be easier for you to get a visa for Oz than you think.

There is a visa for the partners of Australian and New Zealand citizens, I am not sure what the qualification requirements for the relationship are though. They accept de-facto partners and same sex relationships, you would probably just have to provide documentary evidence that you have been together for as long as you claim - joint bills, joint travel agent's itineraries, that sort of thing.

EDIT: I should add that I keep telling Mrs Gonzo that we might have to do this due to the lack of decent work opportunities in NZ.

[aussielong]

It might be easier for you to get a visa for Oz than you think.

There is a visa for the partners of Australian and New Zealand citizens, I am not sure what the qualification requirements for the relationship are though. They accept de-facto partners and same sex relationships, you would probably just have to provide documentary evidence that you have been together for as long as you claim - joint bills, joint travel agent's itineraries, that sort of thing.

EDIT: I should add that I keep telling Mrs Gonzo that we might have to do this due to the lack of decent work opportunities in NZ.

Apply yourself from the UK rather than going defacto. It'll cost you about 2 grand. With your skills you won't have a problem and you don't need a job to come to. If you go defacto you will be tied to your girl. When you get here you might take a fancy to the locals - I did.

[Gonzo]

If you go defacto you will be tied to your girl. When you get here you might take a fancy to the locals - I did.

Good point.

I've been married long enough now that such thoughts don't even occur to me but I can see that a younger or a less tied-down individual may appreciate the greater flexibility.

I'm not sure that I would concur with your thoughts on ozzie women though.

[tommyc]

Good point.

I've been married long enough now that such thoughts don't even occur to me but I can see that a younger or a less tied-down individual may appreciate the greater flexibility.

I'm not sure that I would concur with your thoughts on ozzie women though.

Ha! Well I went overseas and found an antipodean thatI liked. Although from the year I spent in OZ wasn't too impressed with the ozzie women.

Thanks for all your comments...

Oz certainly seems the better bet work wise and I think the visa may as some of you have been saying not be too much of an issue perhaps.. looking at the web site as long as I am the partner of an "eligible" new zealand citizen (although there is no information on their definition of eligible) I can go the family route if needs be.

Trouble is I'd probably slightly prefer NZ and I know my girl would. She wants to go back there to be closer to friends / family and so on after being away from home for 2 years (oz is still a 3+ hour flight away) (thats also why she's not keen on studying here since it would mean another 3 years living away from home)

A long shot is a mining company I did a 3 month VBA contract for in Perth, they have an office an auckland (as well as sydney and others worldwide) and offered me more work after I'd finished but the timings didn't work out, I could hit up my old manager there and see if he'd keep me in mind for any projects that need doing in around a years time..

I'll definitely look into improving one of my skills. The trouble is the C/C++ I did, while it was in work was 10 years ago and wasn't especially sophisticated, essentially a big data processing / extraction / text file parsing console program. I barley used any advanced features in the language at all.
Similarly my java code was a 3 month dissertation and sadly I've lost it so I can't even look over it to rejig my memory,

I did see plenty of fund jobs in sydney when I was browsing web sites, which is what I've done most of my career.. sit with traders/quants and bash out pricing / risk / time series analysis spreadsheets and so on.. I just wish I'd got to work with a wider variety of technologies.. I wonder if I can push to do some Java stuff or something on the intranet site we have at my current place although most of it is python (since its sitting in the pylons framework) there is a little client side javascript for some graphy stuff.


The annoying thing about all this is the visas and the time it will take to apply for those..

Well still lots to think about, my gf hasn't even decided what she wants to study yet it may be that one of the unis in Oz is best for what she eventually decides she wants.

Cheers again for all the tips...

[Gonzo]

Cheers again for all the tips...

Feck me.

A newbie that doesn't argue with what he is told and then, to cap things off, says thank you.



We should have him stuffed.