Job Opportunities C# .NET Developer - Sydney or Melbourne

[vitchie]

HI all

 

I just wanted to check to make sure that we are not going under the wrong assumptions.

 

I am a C# .NET developer. We are looking at Sydney due to job opportunities. I am subscribed to c# jobs for the different cities. On a daily basis, there are about 20 posts for Sydney, 5 for Melbourne and 2 for Brisbane. According to the stats released by some recruiters, average and max/min salaries seems similar or even better in Brisbane & Melbourne than it does in Sydney.

 

With the cost of living are we stupid to consider Sydney over Melbourne? I know there seems to be more jobs going around in Sydney, but money seems to go a lot further in Melbourne. I know a person is not a tree and can move if you are not happy in a place, but based on some other threads it seems interstate moves are quite expensive, not even mentioning uprooting the kids from school/friends again. Trying to get the city right first time around.

[monsta]

I would expect there to be more development jobs in Sydney.

 

But the issue in Sydney is where they are. Most of them are in the "CBD and inner west". That's places like Bondi, the CBD and Surrey Hills. Those are *very*, *very* expensive places to live in. At best you would find a very small, expensive apartment to rent. If you wanted to buy you would, realistically be commuting for over an hour into the CBD and then an hour home.

 

The advantage to the CBD is you could earn over $120 000 + super to $130 000 as a senior C# developer. Super is 9.5%  pension fund payment.  If you found one of the few C# jobs out of the city, that would pay $95 000 to $110 000 + super. So, quite a bit less.

 

But to get the CBD job you would need to know asp.net, amazon web services (or Azure), a Javascript framework like React or Angular JS. 

 

That's why we recommend to people here to look seriously at Brisbane... if you can get a good job in your field there  then think about it. Sydney is the 2nd most expensive city in the world for locals to buy property in. If that doesn't put you off, not much will

[vitchie]

Thanks @monsta

 

Out of curiosity, do you think there is more opportunities in Brisbane than Melbourne? Melbourne is 2nd on my preferred list and Brisbane 3rd, mostly due to the fact that I think I might melt in the heat.

[monsta]

Sydney had some days that topped out at over 40 degrees this year. In the mornings its 9 degrees on my way to work. Melbourne can be very cold and windy. Brisbane probably has the better climate of all three. 

 

But be careful about Sydney. Sure, as a senior c# web developer you could earn up to $130 000 + 9.5% super. The reality is the median house price in Sydney is over a million dollars. Ask yourself, could you afford to buy a house in South Africa that is over 7 years gross salary?  So, realistically you will probably rent an apartment that's 30 minutes to an hour from work (each way). Or you would rent a house that is over an hour from work (each way). That is 2 hours of your life gone each day.

 

[Mara]

@vitchie if you were in the hospitality industry yes, Brisbane may have more vacancies, but I think across the board, especially IT, that Melbourne and Sydney would win hands down across the country.

[SurferMan]

Let me toss in my 50 cents....as one does. You may find work easier in Sydney, but you will also compete on a whole new level. I have now worked in every city in Aus bar Darwin, flown in and out all hours of the day and night, peak, off peak etc. Of all of these Canberra is sleepiest, Sydney is wild and uber expensive, Melbourne, well the only it has going for it is Mara lives there, Adelaide....next!. Brisbane is the best balance between cost, opportunity, lifestyle and work. You can castnet, dragnet, fish swim etc and the weekend lifestyle is gobsmacking. And cheap!

 

If you do C and Java, try to see if you cant get exposure to SAP Fiori, SAP HANA etc. Developers in that space command between 850 and 1300 AUD a day.

 

Cheers

Surferman

[Nev]

My 10c

 

I have lived for 4 years in Melbourne and a year in Brisbane now we moving to Sydney (Currently spending about 2 weeks a month in Sydney), Melbourne has won the most livable city in the world for untold years running, and its great, but the weather got to us, winter is rubbish and there are days in full summer at the beach that you need to wear a jacket at midday, they also get south pole water so if you want to swim in the ocean in mid-summer pack a wetsuit.

 

Brisban was fantastic we spent a year in Brisbane (And I am here working here right now), i wish I could settle here, the weather is great, winter is mild, not too humid but really coastal, the water is warm, just one problem, I do software development/reporting/BI, that kind of stuff and there is just not enough work for me here, Getting a customer that is willing to spend good money on solutions has not happened, however we have several in Sydney and one in Melbourne, and I got them while I was living in Brisbane....

 

So by in a couple of months we will have settled on the central coast (About an hour north of Sydney) where you can afford a home, and live close to the beach, but still easily train into the city

[CharlesH]

Quote

So by in a couple of months we will have settled on the central coast (About an hour north of Sydney) where you can afford a home, and live close to the beach, but still easily train into the city

 

Great to hear. Could you please give names of suburbs?

[Nev]

We are looking at Woy Woy and everything up to Gosford, it is about an hour train ride into the city and during peak times there is a train every 15 to 30 minutes, you can get better value going further out than Gosford but there is a bigger gap between the trains and I wanted to keep the commute at around an hour.

[SurferMan]

@Nev you bugger you should have called in!

[monsta]

17 hours ago, CharlesH said:

but still easily train into the city

 

I wouldn't go that far   Woy Woy is quite far out... 

 

Its a 10 minute drive to the train station. 5 minutes to park and walk to the platform. Then up to 15 minutes wait for the next train. Then 1h 11 minutes to Wynyard. Then 10 minutes walk to your office

 

So, its a 1h 30 minute trip.  That's 3 hours a day!!!

 

If you want to drive into Sydney... you have to cross the hawksbury river and go down the M1. There are frequently issues on that road. There just isn't another alternative. I had colleagues who traveled it each day. Nobody was surprised when they arrived for work 45 minutes late. 

 

At the bottom of the M1 you can go through Pennant Hills to the M2 motorway (yes, that's a proper motorway). You find 12 traffic lights!! Yes, between the M1 and M2 motor way (two freeways) there are 12 traffic lights. They are building the Northconnex Tunnel which will help you out in 5 years or so. Also, remember they are upgrading the M2... so again, stop and go traffic for the next while.

 

Your other option is the pacific highway... but that road has the worst traffic in Sydney. You could duck down the A3 and miss most of Pacific highway. But then you land up in Sydney's worst traffic hot area, Macquarie Park.  

 

So, you will find you won't travel much into Sydney. You will find that a typical job on the Central Coast will pay 20%-30% less... just because you can avoid the traffic. 

 

Go onto Google Maps, go to Woy Woy. Then select traffic on the left hand menu. Ask it for typical traffic at 5:20pm on a Friday afternoon. Then look at all the roads that take you into Sydney proper... The orange lines mean there is a car in front of you but you are still moving at 40km/hr. Red lines are stop-and-go traffic. Purple lines are get out and walk time.

Edited May 30, 2017 by monsta

[CharlesH]

Thanks Montsa. My line or work allows for flexible working hours so I would travel off peak.

[Nev]

Agree with Monsta on the traffic, I won't drive into the city, during the week I catch a train.

 

I dunno, having a garden for the family and a house instead of an apartment, then saving $ 10k per year (@200 per week) on rent is worth the extra travel for me, I leave early, sit on the train for the hour with my laptop or tablet and get some work done, or watch a movie, but I suppose different people are different.

[monsta]

Its not just rent you will be saving... everything from the cooked chicken at the chicken shop, to day care, etc.. will be cheaper up there. 

 

I worked with a guy who spent  1.5 hours getting into the office. Thankfully he only had to do it two days a week. He also worked on the train. He also got into the office at 8:30 and left at 4:30 to avoid the mad rush on the train lines. 

 

But he said he would hate to do it more than 2 days a week. He said that loosing 15 hours a week was a bridge too far. That's time you won't get to spend with your kids... you will miss out on events in their lives. He also pointed out that most companies require you to work from the office, where they can confirm you are working and not staring out the train's window. The only reason he was living so far our is because its where he grew up and all his family was there. He also liked the outdoors lifestyle.