Masters?

[dme]

I have been toying with the idea of maybe doing my Masters in Information Systems in Australia next year. I have an honours degree in Information Systems from South Africa and 12 years experience in the field. Do you think it's worth doing a masters to increase my job prospects for the future in Aus, or to just gain Aus work experience instead (assuming I can get work). 

Edited April 2, 2016 by dme

[RYLC]

@SurferMan is probably the person you need input from on this question. 

 

My opinion: it won't help with jobs and might make you look over qualified since IT is more hands on than academic.   Also you will have to pay the international student fee rates which are very expensive.

[SurferMan]

Thanks RYLC,

@dme

 

I did a post grad thinking it would help me, yes it did, but only for academic points from the ACS for my 186 PR visa. And I had to fight tooth and nail for it too.

 

Other than that, I can say hand on heart it was an utterely useless exercise and cost wastage. Please don't get me wrong, if you are the study type, go for gold. Nothing wrong with a Masters and I salute those who have the tenacity to do one. The only time I have seen HR look for an MBA/DBA was for old school CIO roles - the last time I saw that was 2011. Lastly, an Honours will not help you get work experience.

 

In the work space, I have never once looked at a CV for a degree, never have. I am only interested in: Combat experience, can you take orders, can you lead, use initiative and own an outcome? If not keep moving, you won't last two weeks under me. That is the way most of the higher end work happens. Sure the junior positions don't work like that, but I don't hire in that space.

 

By way of example, I once had a guy come to me for an analyst job. Man on paper this fellow was perfect - 4 degrees, all cum laude, Business Process courses out of his ears, SAP certification etc. Dressed in a suit that cost the same as a small car and a wholly disarming personality. But I had a funny feeling about him. So I put him on probation for 2 weeks. Turns out he was only good at delegating, pointing at others, had NO idea how the real world worked and was spineless. I hired the old grizzled fellow with a Std.4 but 25 years combat time.

 

I see you have an Honours already with 12 years combat experience. You would be instantly employable by me if you had skills I was after. I would not care for your papers, just your skills and attitude.

 

Here are some tips to help your work hunt mate:

 

1. Make 100% SURE your LinkedIn profile matches your CV. Do not miss ONE date/date range, etc. Agents/employers pick it up and it's an immediate red flag. Make sure you have bulletproof references. If you don't, say they have moved on, emigrated, something but don't have weak ones.
2. Don't waffle. CV MAX 2 pages. I have a policy that if one is longer than that, it goes to the bottom of the pile. If I fill my shortlist before revisiting that pile...too bad.
3. make sure your LinkedIn and CV match your skills AND what you are after. Ensure your profile Summary has the keywords in it or the headhunters will miss you on a search.
4. Be prepared to take a hit on the corporate ladder when you get here. I went back about 8 years and easily a 100% drop in income, but within 1 year had climbed up income wise. Now I earn far more than in SA...by a mile. And I work 40 hours a week. (Personal limit - I value family time more than coin now)
5. Tailor your replies to jobs. Be prepared to try and fail countless times in terms of trying for work. Once you break in though you should be fine.
6. Learn to say no. One of my most difficult lessons I ever had to learn. A lot of clients will just keep piling your plate until you buckle. Learn to say no, and to squabble. One of my classics are, "Okay I have 3 tasks, you want to add a 4th, sure, which one of the first 3 either falls away or goes to the backburner?"

 

In my youth I was eager to please to make up for my lack of degree and my desperation to get work among "the learned" And boy did they look down at me in South Africa. Open scorn on many occasions. The result? I would do all the shyt jobs, work 120+ hours a week while they loafed about. Not anymore. Just prior to my current client, I told another to take a hike when the PM came to me and said, you need to analyse another 1086 systems in 3 days. Idiot. Don't be arrogant, just have boundaries.

 

Maybe you can share what area of IT you specialise in, I can try help.

 

Lastly, NEVER GIVE UP!

 

See you soon mate!

 

Cheers

Surferman

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by SurferMan

[dme]

5 hours ago, RYLC said:

@SurferMan is probably the person you need input from on this question. 

 

My opinion: it won't help with jobs and might make you look over qualified since IT is more hands on than academic.   Also you will have to pay the international student fee rates which are very expensive.

 

Hmm, the over qualification factor was something I was worried about. However not having an Australian qualification was a concern to. I have a full permanent residency visa (189), so from what I can tell I would qualify for domestic fees and possibly the commonwealth assistance too. It would also only require one year of studying based on my previous degree and work experience.

[RYLC]

Your earlier post didn't mention your existing visa so I thought you were looking to come over on a student visa. 

 

With PR you would get domestic fees but need CITIZENSHIP to qualify for government assistance with university so you'll have to pay at the time of study.

[RYLC]

Also perhaps @SurferMancan weigh in here but it is my understanding that an Australian qualification for IT is not really a thing people look for since IT skills are universal.

 

It's only careers such as accounting and law that require country specific knowledge.  Sure Australia may prefer particular systems in IT but they are not specific to Australia only and don't require local study as such.

 

What area of IT are you in?

[dme]

Thanks @SuferMan for your input. I am currently employed as an application development manager using OpenEdge and associated tools. It's a bit of a niche area, which may or may not be good for finding a place in Aus. I manage a small team of developers and we develop all in house applications for our company. I am tied into an agreement which keeps me here till the end of the year. After which I am hoping to move to Aus as my 189 visa expires in 2018.

[dme]

25 minutes ago, RYLC said:

Your earlier post didn't mention your existing visa so I thought you were looking to come over on a student visa. 

 

With PR you would get domestic fees but need CITIZENSHIP to qualify for government assistance with university so you'll have to pay at the time of study.

 

Sorry, should have mentioned the visa status from the start.

 

This site mentioned permanent residency would qualify?  http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/csps/pages/commonwealth-supported-places - just not sure if it covers PG studies. I will do a bit more research and get back to you.

 

Thanks for your support.

Edited April 3, 2016 by dme

[SurferMan]

Hi @dme

 

An Aussie IT degree would not help you at all in my opinion. Not once have I been asked for my post grad qualification or even my membership of the ACS. If you are an app dev manager you may want to consider brushing up on Fiori, HTML5, JSON, REST etc unless you already have. These are big technologies. Also in your space, mobility, responsive and adaptive websites, UX, open API's and writing strategies around these.

 

Cheers

Surferman

[RYLC]

2 hours ago, dme said:

 

Sorry, should have mentioned the visa status from the start.

 

This site mentioned permanent residency would qualify?  http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/csps/pages/commonwealth-supported-places - just not sure if it covers PG studies. I will do a bit more research and get back to you.

 

Thanks for your support.

 

 

My research shows that assistance is only given to permanent humanitarian visa holders. There are many types of permanent visas and they all have different rules.  At first glance of the site you mentioned it looks like assistance might be possible but on closer reading it is for the specific humanitarian permanent visas like those for refugees.

 

---------------------------------

For permanent (non-humanitarian) visa holders and other New Zealand citizens

If you are a permanent (non-humanitarian) visa holder, or a New Zealand citizen who does not meet the NZ SCV long-term residency requirements (see above), you are not eligible for HECS-HELP. You must pay your student contributions upfront to your university by the census date.

---------------------------------

 

Just this past year a friend of mine who has lived here for nearly 10 years on a permanent visa (skilled like yours) wanted to enrol for university masters and was told that she has to become a citizen first to get assistance.  Luckily it was just a formality (and some money etc) to get her citizenship.  Without it she would have had to pay fees.

 

Sorry for the bad news but then again Surferman doesn't seem to think that study would be necessary.  Perhaps you need to consider the reasons for wanting to study when a job doesn't really require it.  Do you want to have something to "do" when you get here?  Is it easier to tell family in RSA (and possibly yourself) that you are "studying" rather than that you are unemployed if it take a while to get a job?  Just some things to think about.  No need to answer on here.  I just wanted to get you thinking about your motives for wanting to study when it isn't a job requirement and will probably make you over qualified with all that that brings.

 

 

[ottg]

23 hours ago, dme said:

doing my Masters in Information Systems in Australia next year. I have an honours degree in Information Systems from South Africa and 12 years experience in the field.

 

Use what you got to get the first job. Let your most recent and current experience do the work for you. While you are doing that focus on your communications skills for example by joining Toastmasters International chapter while you still in SA (and once you landed in Aus). There you will learn to speak on your feet, quick thinking, formulation of your thoughts before speaking and convey the essence of a message to your audience - it will serve you for the rest of your life.

 

Once you have a job (which may be at a lower level) and you understand the market and industry you need to stay relevant and employable.

Often there is a change in industry growth and while ICT cuts across all business and industries often you will lack the experience/knowledge moving from one industry to the next.

 

This is where a post grad certificate can really help you - just enough to be able to speak the same science language and to better understand the problems of your customer/client. For me to be able to convey between engineering and agriculture science - it opens up a whole new world however remember there are no guarantees in life.

 

[Tiermelk]

On 4/3/2016 at 10:34 AM, SurferMan said:

I hired the old grizzled fellow with a Std.4 but 25 years combat time.

 

You hired Jacob Zuma and then left SA!!??

[SurferMan]

Waahaa,

 

JZ has a Std 2. He cant possibly have worked in Aus, we still have money!  Cant wait to see him hang for his 783 charges.