Skills assessment for Software Developer

[Jaydi]

Hi!

My husband has two bachelor degrees in IT, one from the Belgium campus and one from the University of Pretoria.
I have a honours degree in Chemistry and a honours degree in Computer Science.
We both have about 7 years of working experience (I worked as a software developer and not as a chemist).

What is this "skills assessment" thing, and with our qualifications, what do we need to do?

Kind regards,
 

[Ietermagog]

Hi Jaydi,

 

The skills assessment is basically a way that they validate the amount of points you are claiming for education and work experience. Therefore, you would need to submit documents that show proof of education (degree and a transcript displaying the subjects you passed) and reference letters with the company letterhead and/or salary slips/IRP5 documents.

[Jaydi]

Thanks! 🙂

 

[monsta]

@letermagog was pretty much on the money. The Australian Federal government doesn't try to explain whats going on. Their site is more factual, i.e. you need to do x,y, and z.

 

To give you the context... Many industries here in Australia have specific requirements. Those can vary by state. For example,  in New South Wales you need to get a "white card" to visit a construction site. That's a rubber stamp from the state insurance company that you can do basic things like understand safety instructions in English. 

 

So, when it comes to a VISAs, each industry gets to decide if you meet the minimum standards to get a job here. Ultimately they are giving you a VISA because of the skills shortage here in IT. They don't want you to come out and be forced to take a job in another field because you lack the required qualifications, experience, etc..

 

Its something Australian's don't like to talk about. There have been cases where Australia had brought in migrants, with the best of intentions, only to find they can't cope. Some would argue that Australia is a nice place to live because we only bring in the migrants who will benefit from the move as much as Australia will benefit from having them here.

 

So, don't stress about the skills assessment. Its just another one of their checks and balances. 

 

[CharlesH]

For software developers your experience and qualifications are assessed by the Australian Computer Society.  They look at your qualifications and work experience and then assess you to have X number of years experience and your qualification to be equivalent to whatever Australian qualification which you can then use to claim points on the expression of interest for experience and qualification.