Just a simple thread for the OzB community; thought it'd be good to get an idea of everyone's occupational backgrounds and provide a platform for some interesting questions and discussions regarding certain jobs and occupations.
I'll start off:
Age: Mid 20s
Current Title: External Auditor (intermediate)
Industry: Professional Services
Location: Melbourne
PS: If you have any questions about my job, ask away :-)
Age: mid 40s
Title: Manager
Industry: Telco
Location: Melbourne
Do you work on networks?
yes, but corporate (not Telstra/NBN/Optus)
So enterprise networks. I thought you work on wireless DAS.
Age: Late 20s
Title: Adviser
Industry: Accounting & Financial Planning
Location: Perth
@iykee Did you complete a bachelor of commerce to get into your position? How have you progressed? (currently in second year commerce, UQ)
Yes you do need a Bach of Commerce.
Firms like E&Y also require that one of the majors is accounting, as further down the line you need a CA as well.
Surprisingly, not entirely true nowadays (here). Many people I worked with had degrees outside of Commerce and I think the trend is only increasing. Whether or not I agree with them is another story for another time, but the rationale is that firms would prefer a broader range of backgrounds in their teams rather than just picking people with Commerce degrees.
Ah things have changed!
I don't think its a necessarily a bad thing if the person has an interest, instead of just hiring an Engineering grad for example who failed to land a job.
Hi, yes I did a BCom at Monash, majoring in Accounting.
I also had an opportunity to be a vacationer at a Big 4 in Singapore, and I took it. One of the best 3-4 months I've had in a long time (well, considering it was my first time there and made a ton of friends). I got offered a grad position but I wasn't ready for a big move overseas, and coupled with the fact that I'm not too keen on Big 4 gigs, I turned down the offer. The experience really boosted my CV though.
I started as a grad and now I'm about 2 years in and I would say I'm on the right path so far. I've been given small-medium sized engagements to run with a few team members; it is a challenge and there is a lot to learn in terms of manager/partner communication, expectations, and people skills. But I'd say it's definitely helped me develop both as a professional and individual.
Thanks for your reply, that really opens up my mind to the possibilities. Did you receive a high GPA to get offered such positions? Do you believe grades play an major role in determining what job you land or is the interview just as important? Do you feel the work you studied at uni is being applied heavily at your current job or do you just have to learn on the spot and uni just gives you the basic knowledge level?
Thanks :) appreciate it
No worries! I'll try my best to be as concise as possible:
I honestly did fairly average in Uni, but I tried a lot harder in the last few semesters. Although I do believe grades and the uni you went to play somewhat of a role, a few of my friends are living testimonies that they got into their current grad roles (Telstra, Coles,etc) by what they call themselves "average" - pass/credit average, limited internship/work experience, non-Go8 uni. They did also openly said that it had to do with a bit of luck too. I think there has been a shift towards just shortlisting the super genius kid without a soul, to looking past that and really seeing how a person carries themselves outside of work and study.
Definitely. But the application of it in real life is always a steep learning curve. A lot of people including myself knew the general 'theoretical' concepts of accounting/auditing in uni but when it really came down to being able to REALLY understand it and explain to someone else or applying it to your work takes some additional learning as well.
I struggled with this at the beginning because I picked up the way of performing procedures fairly quickly but the mistake I made was not fully understanding WHY exactly I was doing them (I call this mindless tick/bashing). I think this really helped me open my eyes to be a better auditor.
The ultimate destination for big 4 people is industry.
Industry has better pay, better working environment, better work life balance.
What makes you say that @gstfree? Is it because smaller firms are more dependent on a small team, therefore you're expected to complete the work no matter what (cutting into over time)? Not sure what you mean..
@slosh: Big 4 isn't small, its just people want out because the pay is less and limited opportunities compared to commerce roles.
I think big 4 underpaid their junior staffs considering the amount of work they do. I would not recommend big 4 unless you really enjoy the life there.
Age: Early 30s
Current Title: Operational Technology Specialist
Industry: Mining
Location: Melbourne
I look after the IT systems that run the mine, mine planning, the processing plant and all the infrastructure in the mine like trucks, diggers etc.
how did you get into that?
im currently a systems engineer
Not a terribly exciting story….
Got an Information Systems degree at uni majoring in java programming, then got a job with an oil company doing entry IT stuff like desktop support, infrastructure support and eventually some apps support in their head office. Got lots of experience in a huge company dealing with both internal customers and external vendors - which for me (and my current job) was the most important bit. Spent a year working at a oil refinery as well for on the ground experience. Then ended up moving to mining where I'm not an engineer by any means but my role supporting the mining systems is largely coordinating internal and external parties to make the systems run smoothly. I guess you would call me a bit of an IT generalist, im not a programmer or an engineer or anything with a specific label, I can adapt to do bits of everything when required. I never put up my barriers and say "thats somebody else's role" when asked to help, that way I learn lots on the job.
Do they pay you like the miners?
Funny guy :P No, but being in the mining industry certainly helps verses other IT roles in other industries.
Age: Early 40s
Title: Technician
Industry: IT (was previously an editor for govt documents)
Location: Toowoomba (via Melbourne, Canberra, and rural NSW, originally from Perth)
Age: 28
Title:
Job 1 - Registered Nurse- I work in the emergency department - 52 to 76hrs a fortnight - I may one day study further to a NP in Emergency Medicine. Job 2 - Teacher - teach TEFL/Primary to k-7 - 8-16hrs fortnight - Mteach(primary) + CELTA + Postgrad cert in TESOL.
Location - Brisbane
Do it! NPs are a highly respected and extremely helpful part of ED =D
Age: Early 30s(32 To be precise)
Title: Integration Consultant
Industry: IT(Working for on of the Big4 banks credit card divison)
Location:Sydney
Age: 40s
Title: Lecturer - Arts
How do you find it? Adequate balance between teaching and research?
I can't really. I'm part time (0.6), but here 5 days a week to do it. Some do it by working harder than I like.
The work though is the best - always new topics, doing stuff no one else has done, travel etc.
Are we bring profiled?
yes. the gov is stealing my info
I will not comply. :)
Dude - just tell us what you do so we can take a leaf from your book and get a $50k watch too
Ye- I mean, no. Of course not. Never.
Age: 19
Title: Web & App Developer
Industry: Software Engineering
Location: Melbourne
Working for some company or by yourself?
Age: Late 20s
Title: Software Engineer
Industry: Web Developer
Location: Sydney
Recently did a career change 6 months ago. Was a pharmacist (still have rego) and this will be my last year as one.
How'd you just careers like that? You study? How did you get your first gig in the industry?
I did a 3 month full time course in web dev after selling my pharmacy.
I then applied as an intern at my current work. After 3 months, they offered me a full time gig.
What course was this?
This sounds really unusual, especially someone with such little experience/ no qualifications.
Can I ask why you wanted to sell your pharmacy and change career path?
Money (which translates into risk in this case) was the biggest factor for me. The business was making money but with all the PBS reforms happening constantly, oversupply of pharmacists, encouragement of discount chemists, and speculation of deregulation (looking at you Susan Ley), I felt that in the next 5-10 years the income from the business would not be able to break even the interest repayments of the loan to purchase the pharmacy. I'm not a risk taker (I think many pharmacists would agree on not taking risks), so I backed off while I'm ahead.
Other factors included;
Personal motivation, perception of pharmacists, increase workload from government whilst incurring less reimbursement, working with crappy doctors, working with crappy nursing homes etc etc. the list goes on. If interested, feel free to PM me, especially any uni students as I honestly feel the universities offering pharmacy degrees are doing everyone an injustice.
The only thing I miss is the sense of the local community. I love looking after my patients, and was very satisfied in serving them.
@charzy: I want to move into web dev. I've started learning from books and online, teaching myself in my spare time. I read the best way to make it is to have a project to show a prospective employer, like something I built myself. What did you do to transition?
@freakatronic:
I did a course that taught the fundamentals in web development (using ruby and javascript) at General Assembly <Referral solicitation in comments is not permitted>. Once I finished the course, I put together a portfolio to showcase to potential employers. Saying that however, what we are taught are the basics; a lot of employers are looking for more than just a junior (sometimes a science engineering background) which is a shame as it can be quite demoralising, but the market is definitely for developers.
GA do try to help you get a job, but ultimately in my scenario, I took an intern position (without GA's help) that one of my colleagues turned down as the pay was too low, but I have no regrets after I took the same offer as my seniors are awesome in teaching best practices.
The best thing for you to do is to create something (it can be anything, a simple webpage, a simple game of tic tac toe/battleships etc) and work at it. If you need help doing things, I can help you get started. But you will need to have the ability and motivation to teach yourself and to push yourself to keep learning.
@charzy: Thanks for writing so much! My level is very low as I only just began learning about a month ago. I definitely can't make a simple game of tic-tac-toe yet :P I'll just have to keep at it until I have something to show for my effort :)
I don't think doing a 3 month web dev course makes you a software engineer, as Software Engineering is a 4 year full-time university degree.
@theguyrules:
I took a 4 year course in pharmacy and I reckon maybe 10% of what we learnt was applicable in every day use. The intern year to gain pharmacist registration I think was the milestone in pharmacy and that's when most pharmacist realise that pharmacy is just a piece of paper worth $40k. Whether or not that applies to software engineering, I do not know. But with today's documentations/apis/opensource etc as well as online courses, I'd imagine it to be more accessible and easier for the average person to get started.
@charzy:I don't know about software specifically, but there is so many types of engineering that one can specialise in that Uni's don't teach. Engineering 1st year of work is equivalent to 4 years of Uni.
@PcisT:
GA boast a 90% employment rate within 3 months. Everyone in my class found a job except one person who I have no idea if they found a job (7 people in my class). In the previous classes, around 1 in 15-20 people didn't find a job in 3 months, or disappeared off the rader.
Saying that, I think having good PR skills plays a very important factor in getting a job in the web dev industry as a junior. I don't have much PR skills and found it hard to land interviews, so I took up my first job offer despite the low intern pay, and 3 months after they reviewed my position and offered me a full time proper salary. I feel I am very lucky I landed in this place; my seniors are awesome in helping me refine my code and I've learnt so much more now than I did in GA in the same time frame. I heard from a few colleagues that they landed in places where you churn out bad code and no one cares e.g. agencies etc, and also there's no room to grow or no one to guide you as a junior.
@charzy: I second this.
Age: 38
Title: Pharmacist
Industry: Healthcare
Location: Melbourne
I work on a wage and that, due to the reasons charzy mentioned above (PBS reforms, surplus of pharmacists, etc), makes owners reluctant to give a raise. Worked since I was 27 years old and it was significantly better then. I've only had one raise and that was in 2010. Its not the prestigious job people (who are unaware of pharmacy) perceive it to be. We are now often perceived as a glorified clerk.
The average wage is not indicative of the 5 years study, the constant need to continue your education, the abuse you deal with customers, junkies, crappy and insane requests from nurses (e.g. "The foil for your webster pack is too flimsy. Change the colour of your packs. Expiry dates written as 10/17 should have the exact date," etc"), doctors (e.g. asking for information they should know or could easily look up themselves even on Google).
The workload has increased, both from government and owners, with no pay increase.
Nowadays I have to serve at the front register, dispense, provide information, answer the phone, make the webster packs, do the ordering, etc (i.e. manage the whole store) because the boss is cutting back on hiring a pharmacy assistant and I am the only worker in the pharmacy. I can't even nip off to the toilet (due to running the risk of a customer coming inside the pharmacy while I am at the back). And god forbid anyone who is thinking of working for "that big pharmacy chain". (I won't name the one (PM me for details), but conditions and pay there are horrendous.
I won't go into it any more. Anyone even THINKING about a "glamorous" career in pharmacy could PM me for a wake up call.
@eurofoti: Anyone even THINKING about a "glamorous" career in pharmacy could PM us for a wake up call.
Fixed that for you.
I totally agree. Pharmacist are perceived as nothing but glorified shop keepers to the public nowadays.. We can blame the discounters for taking a bulk retail stance.
To add to the list, when AHPRA took over the pharmacy board, rego fees almost doubled, time for registration application was delayed by months, when previously the pharmacy board literally handed you a pending license over the phone once you passed your oral board exam. Then they introduced compulsary CPD which require you to fork out at more dosh to reach the criteria.
As a result many pharmacists have become apathetic, and the quality of service have been lowered following the abuse of overworked/underpaid pharmacists. Now there's a group called PPA who want higher wages for providing lower standards due to the nature of discounters whilst owners are trying to balance government reforms with staff. RIP pharmacy.
That sounds like an interesting career change!
I know a family friend who did the same - worked in Big 4 Tax for about 4 years (CA qualified), but then decided to pursue his long time passion of web developing. I believe he also did an intensive course and now he's at a software company.
Age: mid-late 20s
Title: Petroleum Exploration Geoscientist
Industry: Oil and Gas exploration
Location: Perth
is the job market getting better for the mining industry (including oil & gas exploration) in perth?
It has picked up a bit over the last couple of months, I have noticed.
Though I know some geologists in my building that are hardly ever there and pretty much out of work.
same as what i heard. the good news is it cant get any worse (or can it?).
Markets rock bottom. Minings the worst!
Oil and gas is a little better.
There's some speculation about lithium mining and whether it will lead to the next mining boom!
i dont think there will be another mining BOOM in the rest of my life. but cyclical as mining industry, the tide will be turned……..one day.
lithium? we have (many) good quality lithium deposits in australia?
@alwayseric: yes what we saw was extraordinary during the boom.
What I find interesting is that salaries of trades has not dropped. I know a couple of friends doing FIFO and still bringing in $180k a year. Whereas the engineering side people are either out of work or on salaries that are considered boom.
Why the negative votes?
Age: 35
Job: Bunnings Team Member
Location: Western Sydney
Age: 29
Job: ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) Technician
Industry: Transport / Electrical
Location: Sydney
interesting so.. what do you do? :)
Mostly electronic road assets (message signs, speed limit signs, overheight vehicle detectors, vehicle classifiers, cycleway/pedestrian counters, traffic signals). Its a good mixture of electronics, electrical, computers and networking.
Age: Late 20s
Job: Software test analyst
Industry: IT/Finance
Location: Sydney
Age: 37
Job: Business Manager / National BDM
Industry: IT Sales
Location: Sydney
Age: 33
Current Title: Insolvency Accountant
Industry: Professional Services
Location: Sydney
Age: Mid 20s
Status: Accounting graduate 14,
Retail team member
Location: Sydney
Meanwhile looking for job in accounting/audit field as well
Keep at it - you've probably heard this all too many times, but networking really helps. The more people you know, the more doors of opportunities you will end up discovering.
Look for Sydney, more opportunities there.
Age: 32
Current Title: SRMO Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Industry: Womens bits
Location: Sydney
What made you want to specialise in women's bits?
Its a dual speciality that offers both surgical and medical disciplines. You can be a generalist and do both, or sub-specialise into one or the other. Its also very procedural meaning theres lots of oppurtunity to work with your hands which I enjoy. My point is i envision it will offer me variety, albeit at the cost of lifestyle. My first interests revolved around what better job than to be involved in bringing life into the world and the positive emotion surrounding that! That has changed somewhat lol. However its still positive outcome medicine largely, dealing with healthy(more and more less so) patients with minimal co-morbidities.
I also enjoy working on bits with my hands. Sounds like an ideal career
I was once an O&G SRMO - realised near the end of the year that it was not compatible with (my) life; I also missed treating non-lady bits.
You have a difficult and commendable job - all the best, I'm sure you'll go far :D
Age: 30
Current Title: Account Executive
Industry: I used to always say IT but actually its professional sales
Location: Melbourne
Age: 22
Current Title: Junior Engineer
Industry: Civil and Structural Engineering
Location: Brisbane
Age: 23
Gender: F
Job: Operational Business Analyst
Industry: IT/Finance (Fire protection company)
Location: Sydney
may i ask what type of education you have? did you do a double degree?
I also want to get into the IT/Business industry and am currently studying IT hoping to move forward into the business management side.
I have no degrees or qualifications post year 12/HSC.
A few factors including gool ol' "right place, right time" landed me the role.
Basically I worked my arse off, built a reputation and had proven that I was capable of doing the job. It just happened to fall on the right ears prior to the job opportunity opening.
My area is a niche area so there's no clear path. I think analysts with a solid IT background are some of the most valuable, in my experience it's not all that hard to fill in the gaps when it comes to the finance/business side.
It's sad to see that the offshoring trend that started 5-10 years ago has removed so many entry level non-retail roles, making it very difficult for our young graduates to get a foothold on the corporate ladder.
Hopefully the reshoring of jobs will change that for the next wave, although, I don't know if it will help the cohort that missed out.
depends on where you look though - the banks, accounting firms and consultancies still have graduate programs every year.
shit company, shit pay, shit team leader & shit workloads
At least you're happy.
Age: 34
Current Title: ?? Data Entry / Web stuff / Retail back-end management
Industry: Retail
Location: Melbourne Eastern Suburbs
Absolutely soul destroying. 2 years ago I was playing music in a Latin band, having fun, healthy & enjoying life (although rather poor). I was a very happy and positive person. Now I have no time or energy for anything, I'm deeply depressed and incredibly unhealthy (11 hour/day desk job). I barely speak to my family anymore because I have literally nothing to tell them when they ask what I've been up to or how I'm doing.
at least you have a paid job (the stuff is very simple and basic though, tbh) :p
time to get a new job?
not sure if relevant - but you could try reading 'power of now'; i think it'd be useful.
honestly I just want to move to the middle of nowhere and go (mostly) off the grid for a year. or 5.
What is stopping you from walking away from that job?
Please have a read. If you think its bollocks you can toss it aside after the first chapter.
How much you get paid per week?
$3 more per hour than the minimum at McDonalds. So I'm not exactly doing this for the money. I probably only see about 5-10% of my paycheck after rent, bills and taxes etc.
Can you still play in the band on your days off? Having something to look forward to can make work more tolerable.
Money will never buy happiness. Cliche. But true.
I think you should talk to your family about how you feel. Keeping connected to people is important, even if you feel like you have nothing to offer. I have a large family and quite often we will go back home. There will be ten or so if us all in the room, nobody even needs to say anything, but it is nice to have the company (mind you, with the majority of us being female it is usually very noisy).
Sadly 2 of the 3 main members of the band (me being the 3rd) were from Colombia and upon applying for their new visas, were declined and forced to leave the country, with a 10 month old child.
That is absolutely gutting to read. You have one huge advantage though, you know what makes you happy. You need to get back to doing that, if its about the money try getting a 'foot in the door' position in something vaguely related to what made you happy. Even if the pay/work/lifestyle is as bad as it is now, you would at least be in the right industry where you could carve out some kind of future. Best of luck mate.
Age: 27
Current Title: Snr Industrial Engineer / Continuous Improvement
Industry: 3PL/Logistics/Distribution
Location: Western Sydney
Been doing this job for 2.5 years and still enjoying it. Good people, and still learning new things (almost) everyday.
I just got a job as a grad production engineer and my first project heavily involves 3PL/Logistics/Distribution. Would love to know more about how you got the role, what it entails and any tips if you have the time.
Hi blingerz, send me a private message and we can discuss :)
Age: mid 30's
Current title: Business Manager
Industry: sales/retail
Location: Gold Coast