Average Full Time Wage in Western Australia as Q2 2016: $88,327 Really?

Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 11:45
Last edited 21/08/2017 - 12:06 by 1 other user

Came across this article, says Average Full Time Wage in Western Australia as second quarter of 2016 is: $88327

https://www.livingin-australia.com/salaries-australia/

I work in Retail which is one of the lowest industry, I am currently getting $34598 a year working 35 hours a week. I have been trying to saving money for a deposit for a house but at the moment I am only manage to save around $5000 a year after all expenses. Although I have friends that are highly paid, which is in IT and Banks, they are only low to medium level employee so the most I know is around $70000. No one I know cracks $80000 as far as I know.

So to see the average wage in Western Australia been $88327 is a bit of surprise to me.

What other industries can earn some decent money without needing some special skills? (a good friend was making close to $75000 a year at Crown dealing but he was recently let go, now he is gone back to Singapore to look for work as he cant find anything in Perth at the moment)

Thoughts? Anyone?

One thing to add: I did have some face to face interviews and some phone interviews with some good companies but I was not hired on all occasions. A friend thinks because of this: http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/work-in-progre… <———— I am not sure, what your thoughts?

Poll Options

  • 92
    Yeap I earn about that much!
  • 134
    Nah! Dont believe what the governments are saying
  • 61
    Change to a different industry or find a second job
  • 44
    You are screwed if you staying in Perth
Education & Work

Comments

  • battler on 21/08/2017 - 11:53
    +44

    No one I know cracks $80000 as far as I know.

    Need to find a friend in mining or construction.

    • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 11:55

      Don't you need qualifications to work in that industry?

      • Ozbismylyf on 21/08/2017 - 16:41
        +8

        No you don't. Labourers can earn upwards of $200k p.a. I previously worked in that industry and a number of people have relatively easy to get qualifications.

        How do you get a job on a construction site up north? 9 times out of 10 you'll need to know someone.

        • Toons on 21/08/2017 - 22:43
          +9

          It's all changing right now unfortunately.

          The industry had no faith in tickets from cornflake boxes first to go is High risk licences.

          No ticket no go and even if you have the Ticket All majors are moving towards Verification of competency so you might have a scaffolding ticket but if you can't perform to an acceptable level you won't pass the gate

          2 fold driver too many incidents and companies paying good money for unskilled labour. the rosters are also ridiculous if you want no life for a year to horde cash then so be it.

          Even construction sites are changing I've worked Both and i know where the money is and Unions can't fight this one.

          The find a friend doesn't work with a lot of companies either as they have to prove equal opportunity through advertising.

          I have friends who are VP's who don't get an easy ride past HR anymore.

      • Powershopz on 21/08/2017 - 17:33
        +4

        I knew a guy who had a very basic skill set but had a drivers licence. He was getting $90K per year to drive workers between mining sites. The salaries during the boom were incredible. Before that he was a factory worker in Melbourne and he is now back doing this for 55K.

    • antzz on 21/08/2017 - 23:10
      +8

      If you do engineering work. Normally in 5 years you will get 100k. If you are really good you can earn 150k. With luck you can earn 180k a year after 5 years experience with a bit of job jump. This was me and my friends experience about 4 year a go.

      Out of uni, the best salary i know is my friend who was doing actuarial study and work for one of the hedge fund. She got 200k a year.

        • ozhunter on 22/08/2017 - 11:58
          +26

          the same…

        • Matslurpee on 22/08/2017 - 17:17
          +1

          Further investigation into those claims have shown them to be inaccurate.
          The pay gap is actually much smaller, though it still exists.

        • greatlamp on 23/08/2017 - 07:11
          +6

          @ozhunter: probably less, no leadership pathway for He, because theres too many 50 yo men at the top

        • mskeggs on 24/08/2017 - 19:02
          +1

          @Matslurpee:
          Do you have a link for this?
          I'm interested in seeing any studies that effectively control for time out of the work force and assess by hourly rate as most headline grabbing articles just use tax return info or something equally coarse.

        • Matslurpee on 25/08/2017 - 22:55
          +1

          @mskeggs: Here is an article about it.

          http://www.smh.com.au/comment/pay-gap-due-to-womens-choices-…

    • aimpacc on 22/08/2017 - 15:50
      +40

      If u work at Westpac as graduate investment analysis, not only can u crack 80k but u can all that on a high yielding vehicle

      • Jackson on 22/08/2017 - 22:12
        +5

        Never gets old

        • JIMB0 on 24/08/2017 - 19:10
          +1

          That 80k high yield car sure has done a lot of miles.

        • kiitos on 25/08/2017 - 16:34
          +1

          @JIMB0:

          Yes, but the bikies will always have done more.

  • dmgdx on 21/08/2017 - 12:15
    +76

    I'm sure the median wage is much lower

    • Architectonic on 21/08/2017 - 12:25

      Exactly.

      • Scrooge McDuck on 21/08/2017 - 21:30
        +1

        My bad, gold rose 75 % from 14/15 to 16/17.

        Sorry for skewing the results. 😌

        • KLoNe on 23/08/2017 - 20:54

          Rose Gold is up 75%?!

        • buckster on 24/08/2017 - 19:47

          Knew I shouldn't have built a vault of oil to swim in!!

    • DonWilson on 21/08/2017 - 16:44
      +15

      Bingo.

      http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mediareleasesbyReleaseDa…

      The State’s median income ($724 per week)

      (that's $37,648)

      My name's Dan Wilson. I run Iowa's largest wildlife preserve.

      • abb on 22/08/2017 - 09:24
        +7

        That's income, which is quite distinct from full time wage.

        (Income includes pensioners, unemployed, teenagers with part-time jobs etc)

        • DonWilson on 22/08/2017 - 09:58
          +2

          True, the number here is "Estimates of Personal Income - Median employee income ($) 53 446" although that's for 2013 there has not been significant wage growth since then. It might even have gone down.

      • MrBear on 22/08/2017 - 10:00
        +3

        name: Dan Wilson
        user: Don Wilson

        I'm confused.

      • buckster on 24/08/2017 - 19:48

        Still peddling your lies Don, don't think we can't see through them!

    • Larz128 on 21/08/2017 - 19:27
      +1

      That is 14K over the national median. So looking at the spread, I'd estimate the median in WA is roughly 82-85K

      Median weekly total cash earnings was $1,421.00 for all full-time employees paid at the adult rate of pay, and $1,398.00 for all full-time employees. The lowest paid 10% of all full-time employees paid at the adult rate of pay received weekly total cash earnings of $866.00 or less, and the highest paid 10% received $2,638.00 or more.

      Or 74k (from May last year)
      abs.gov.au

    • jacross on 24/08/2017 - 14:10

      This is the answer!

  • scrimshaw on 21/08/2017 - 12:18
    +5

    Risky jobs = highly paid jobs. For e.g operating heavy machinery like lifts, cranes, or working on high voltage lines. These jobs usually involve a lot of hours of training though, and you have to quite mobile (e.g prepared to work in remote and isolated areas, like in a mine or even on a ship)

    • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 12:54

      Don't mind doing shift works. But hard to find places that are open at night in Perth apart from the airport. Casino was one but they are now getting rid of people instead of hiring

      • scrimshaw on 21/08/2017 - 12:59

        what is your hourly wages in Perth? I work retail too and I earn roughly the same amount, but I'm actually a casual worker and last financial year my earnings were the same as yours (before taxes).

        Hourly wages in NSW are about $23 (but I got penalty rates on Weekends and Pub Holidays) which means I could earn up to 39 per hour on Sundays.

        • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 13:00

          $19 is what I get at the moment. Monday to Friday

        • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 13:01

          Would love to earn $39 an hour on Sunday………

        • hypie on 22/08/2017 - 13:22

          @house2015:

          Get into sales (comission based retail sales). When i was studying i could make $48,000 a year working 3 days a week. Obviously that is a skill you need to develop.

  • bobbified on 21/08/2017 - 12:34

    I had a look into the median wages a couple of months ago from the ABS (not just specifically for WA though) and the figures do seem quite high. I always thought the average wage was about $60K.

    • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 12:55
      -7

      So the government is giving false information out? I knew it!!!!!!!!!

    • mskeggs on 21/08/2017 - 13:41
      +7

      The median household nationwide is circa $81k, the average a bit higher as there are some people earning squillions and almost everyone earns something, even if it is welfare.
      There is a lot of anchoring and self-reference frames.
      I work in IT with high paid sales people and there wouldn't be anyone on the floor earning under $75k, and all of them hitting their targets would more than double that. Watching them toss around the cash at the bar or buying shiny imported cars makes it hard to have much sympathy for their high mortgage payments…

      Remember too, that wages climb as you get older and more experienced.
      A graduate school teacher gets paid $59k, but a 8 years later it is $82k.

      • bobbified on 21/08/2017 - 14:02

        The median household nationwide is circa $81k

        It's a little strange - if the average wage is about $80K (around there) and the average median household income is $81K, does that mean that most households only have one person working?

        I live by myself, which means my salary and household income would be the same figure. But for the wider population including families, it would appear by those figures that there's only one person with an income.

        I don't have any reason to not believe it, but it sounds a bit odd to me.

        • mskeggs on 21/08/2017 - 14:20
          +3

          Lots of houses have nobody working (retirees, welfare).
          Lots have 2 people earning incomes like the OP.
          Or the wealthy who live mainly off investment returns rather than wages.
          I believe the most common arrangement is a full time worker and a part time worker, but that is still fewer than half of households.
          The average wage figure you mention is likely the average male full time earnings. It doesn't reflect part timers incomes etc, and there is also a large deviation between median and mean for household income:
          "The latest release shows that the median gross household income in 2013-14 was $80,704, and the average of all households was $107,276.[1]"
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income_in_Aus…

          That Wikipedia link goes to this 7yro Guardian piece, but it has a good graph showing how high incomes in the top 20% drag up the average, when someone earning middle income is much lower:
          https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2015/sep/10…

        • bobbified on 21/08/2017 - 14:33

          @mskeggs:

          "The latest release shows that the median gross household income in 2013-14 was $80,704, and the average of all households was $107,276.[1]"

          Thanks for this - this makes a little more sense and it is then consistent with your belief that the most common arrangement is the one full-time and one part-time person in a household.

      • Larz128 on 21/08/2017 - 19:34
        +1

        I was curious about this at the start of the year, and spent an age trying to track down reputable numbers. But here is a link to a employee based statistics, not household:

        Median weekly total cash earnings was $1,421.00 for all full-time employees paid at the adult rate of pay, and $1,398.00 for all full-time employees. The lowest paid 10% of all full-time employees paid at the adult rate of pay received weekly total cash earnings of $866.00 or less, and the highest paid 10% received $2,638.00 or more.

        Or 74k (from May last year)
        abs.gov.au

      • Scrooge McDuck on 21/08/2017 - 21:36
        +2

        almost everyone earns something, even if it is welfare.

        Questionable word choice.

        • mskeggs on 21/08/2017 - 21:46
          +4

          Have you tried telling many old age pensioners they didn't earn a pension?

        • Scrooge McDuck on 21/08/2017 - 22:02
          +3

          @mskeggs:

          Past versus present tense.

          Many old age pensioners wouldn't've been net tax payers after their benefit from public expenditure of the time was considered. Not to mention the immigrant old age pensioners…

        • gromit on 22/08/2017 - 09:48

          @mskeggs: It is reality, As much as they wouldn't agree, many of them didn't earn it from a purely financial perspective. quite a large percentage would have not been net positive with tax when you take into account government expenditure per person, it is actually part of the problem we have now where not enough has been put aside to fund our aging population, tax rates needed to be higher and government spending needs to be less.

        • mskeggs on 22/08/2017 - 22:07
          -1

          @gromit:
          Not disagreeing, the welfare and tax incentives available to the aged are indeed extremely generous in Oz. But the old age pension was sold to people as something that they deserved if they weren't "rich", but the definition of rich has changed over the years. Unfortunately, once someone gets told they deserve something, it is hard to wind it back.
          My personal sympathies are with pensioners not of the old age variety who have seen worse income growth and have no less entitlement to 'earn' a welfare payment.

      • cameldownunder on 22/08/2017 - 09:22

        "Remember too, that wages climb as you get older and more experienced."
        Only up to a certain age, then they start to come down ( inflation )
        I would say you peak at age 35. ( in IT )

        • Palamedes on 22/08/2017 - 17:55
          +6

          For some perspective my IT wage peaked at around 50. Had I stayed past 55 it would have hit a higher peak (big pay rise about a year after I bailed). Mind you about 80% of those I worked with have been outsourced since, jobs gone to India. A few moved to India with the work as trainers or managers.

          Not much joy in IT world for some these days.

        • MementoMori on 23/08/2017 - 10:47
          +1

          @Palamedes: Yes local IT pays have remained constant for the last 7-8 years (for those already at their peak).

      • Coatesy on 22/08/2017 - 10:50

        To clarify, teachers in WA earn significantly more. A full time graduate teacher in the public education system is on close to 70 plus super. This doesn't take into account that half our teachers are in private schools.

        http://det.wa.edu.au/careers/detcms/navigation/teachers-and-…

  • TheBilly on 21/08/2017 - 12:35

    That's how much a good construction labourer can earn in Sydney - I can't speak for WA, but in Sydney that is a very normal wage.

    • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 12:57
      +12

      I am in the wrong city. Perth city central now is a ghost town. I have not seen a more depressed street

      • GregRust on 22/08/2017 - 07:52
        +2

        Live maybe 5km from the CBD and go in there once or twice a year. No thanks!

  • [Deactivated] on 21/08/2017 - 12:51
    +29

    its not as high as the median wage on whirlpool = 200k p.a

    • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 12:56

      Isn't that most likely to be highly paid IT industry?

      • scrimshaw on 21/08/2017 - 13:00
        +5

        Not all IT jobs pay well. I worked in IT too and desktop support pays just about as much as retail.

        They pay decent if you're a programmer or developer, very well if you're manager, but poorly if you're in the 'support' role.

        • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 13:02

          So the manager and program are getting $200k a year? Wow!

        • scrimshaw on 21/08/2017 - 13:06
          +3

          @house2015:

          Here are some medians (medians being the average)

          Software dev median is 68K
          http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Software_Developer/S…

          .NEt senior dev is 96K
          http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Senior_.NET_Develope…

          IT manager is 98k
          http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Information_Technology_(IT)_Manager/Salary

          Security Specialist
          105k. These jobs can pay very well, as much as 133K
          http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Computer_Security_Sp…

          I personally know one or two IT directors in schools that earn $110K salaries.

        • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 13:07

          @scrimshaw: none close to the $200k though

        • scrimshaw on 21/08/2017 - 14:40
          +14

          @house2015:

          whirlpool is probably full of older more experienced people (the upper crust) though, while the young ones are on much trendier and dynamic websites like Reddit.. and Ozbargain.

          I used to be an avid WP user, nothing really exciting happens there now.

        • Kangal on 21/08/2017 - 17:55

          @scrimshaw:

          WP is ded, even Nokia uses Android now

        • Scrooge McDuck on 21/08/2017 - 21:38
          +15

          @scrimshaw:

          whirlpool is probably full of older more experienced people

          And BSers.

        • syousef on 22/08/2017 - 07:55

          @Scrooge McDuck:

          Yep. That about sums it up. Anyone can put down any number they like for their salary on a message board.

          I earn 50 squadrilion dollars per minute for example.

        • cameldownunder on 22/08/2017 - 09:24

          @house2015: Average of salary for my team of progeammers is 100-110K.
          Whe I say "my team" I mean my coworker. I only get around 95K all incl.

        • abb on 22/08/2017 - 09:28
          +2

          @syousef: > I earn 50 squadrilion dollars per minute

          Can I borrow your job for a second please?

        • gromit on 22/08/2017 - 09:53
          +2

          @house2015: All of those IT jobs can potentially be over 200k (though the standard software devs over that would be few and far between), all the rest can earn well beyond 200k, especially Security Specialists, software architects, senior devs in specialised fields (or just contracters).

        • syousef on 22/08/2017 - 11:17
          +4

          @abb:

          Yep you can borrow my job. I am the head clown of the circus of life at the clownatorium of Australia. When you get there, tell them Bob sent you.

        • Koolness on 22/08/2017 - 16:04
          +7

          @syousef:
          The average WPer are definitely earning more than the average Ozbargainer.
          Just look at the threads posted, WP has threads about what spec and how much they paid for a BMW M2 while people on Ozbargain complain about someone buying a new Toyota Corolla.

        • mikeangelo on 22/08/2017 - 19:15

          Not all true. 1st and 2nd level support roles don't pay much, because there generally junior roles in IT. 3rd level support roles pay close to 6 figures and higher and senior technical roles being same as or close to managers salary. Speaking from 10 years in the IT industry

        • ItsMeAgro on 23/08/2017 - 11:08

          @Koolness:

          WP has threads about what spec and how much they paid for a BMW M2 while people on Ozbargain complain about someone buying a new Toyota Corolla.

          Why do you think thoughtlessness with money is directly related to income?

          Of course OzBargainers will make more prudent financial choices, that's why we're here…

        • payless69 on 23/08/2017 - 16:44
          +1

          @scrimshaw: on reddit you need strong sunscreen lol

  • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 12:59
    +1

    For those who clicked I Earn About That Much. Can I ask you kindly to inform us what industry/sector you guys are in?

    • 0FoxGiven on 21/08/2017 - 13:19
      +1

      IT.. But i'm in Victoria

    • ssyl9 on 21/08/2017 - 17:55

      I live in perth

      I know several accountants that earns that wage. I myself is a data analyst and earn something like that (a bit lessor).

      Furthermore my friends who are pharmacists, radiologists (generally health science) all earn roughly around that figure.

      Friends who are plumbers/electricians/tradies of varies jobs earn lower than that on paper but they take a lot of cash jobs so I think they earn more than that figure.

      obviously you are not gonna earn that figure by standing at a till..

      One thing to add: I did have some face to face interviews and some phone interviews with some good companies but I was not hired on all occasions. A friend thinks because of this: http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/work-in-progre… <———— I am not sure, what your thoughts?

      Take it with a grain of salt. Most good companies and large ones actually promotes diversity working, in which that certain race/sex/orientation cannot be dominant and they actually welcome the minorities more.

      You said it yourself, they are good companies and the job is probably good. Thus due to the current market, there will be hundreds of people applying, many of which might be over qualified for the job but needed the job. Most likely you are just not beating the competition.

      However if you are a customer facing role which need you to speak perfect English, I can see why managers will have concerns on your communication level if you speak with heavy foreign accent.

      • Scrooge McDuck on 21/08/2017 - 21:49

        However if you are a customer facing role which need you to speak perfect English, I can see why managers will have concerns on your communication level if you speak with heavy foreign accent.

        Communication is important to most roles, not just customer facing ones. The fact of the matter is that people who speak with an accent are more difficult to comprehend, their race probably (hopefully) isn't a factor.

    • Scrooge McDuck on 21/08/2017 - 21:43
      +2

      Analyst and Therapist

    • AlexD on 21/08/2017 - 22:07

      Similar, but I’m in the ACT. Public Service, second year out of uni.

    • fan8956 on 21/08/2017 - 22:23
      +3

      a senior IT contractor can easily get $600 a day. a good one can get around $800 a day. and many people got it wrong, IT is not as certificate demanding as other jobs like doctors, uni professors etc. But it is fast changing. That is why certificate does not really matter, coz your skill will be outdated in a few years anyway. That is also why IT is a good place to climb up, because experienced doctors/professors can easily keep their position and give no chance to young people, whereas in IT, if your skill is outdated, you are pretty much done

      • Aerith-Waifu on 21/08/2017 - 22:31

        Not a computer person but I am willing to give it ago. How do I get started on IT jobs? Courses to learn or just ring up some company and offer to do free work experiences work?

        • WaveZero on 21/08/2017 - 22:52
          +5

          AFK, on reddit/ozbargain while pretending to do work?

          Seriously though, IT is no slouch of a job. You need to be pretty dedicated and always have a drive to learn more. I pretty much spend at least 10 hours a week doing self study to improve my skill on top of my 40+ hours week.

          Constant career building is pretty important in IT, as fan8956 said once you're outdated you're pretty much done for (unless you integrated yourself into the organisation so well, that they cant let you go).

          FYI, I am current a Network Engineer, but I do sysadmin/linux/support/sales/etc with my job. (We are kinda short staffed, we looking for more fresh grads to boss around, xD).

        • Aerith-Waifu on 22/08/2017 - 00:06

          @WaveZero: thanks for the info.

        • syousef on 22/08/2017 - 07:59

          This was a good idea 15 years ago. Now? You're more likely to be outsourced. I've seen and vetted PhD students applying for entry level positions in IT.

        • Untameable on 22/08/2017 - 09:17
          +4

          @WaveZero: I'm also in IT.

          My observation is that although some of us keep our skills and certs updated and work hard, I'm outnumbered 10-1 by idiots who are highly paid and don't seem to have any idea how to do their jobs or even use Google.

          They get in primarily by knowing someone, usually a real (profanity) of a manager, who enjoys treating them poorly and they know they can't leave because they have no skills.

        • fan8956 on 22/08/2017 - 12:59
          +1

          if I were you, this is a list of things I will do if I want to take this big challenge.

          • get phisycially and mentally prepared, it's hard
          • get a certificate from online uni, partially for certification and partially for your basic learning
          • make a good cv, I am an interviewer myself, for new comer, it's not important to show how much you know but important to show how much you are willing to learn, able to learn with good examples.
          • get some work exp, for example by offering free hours, don't look too much how much you earn at the beginning but focus of kicking start the career. 30-50% salary increase every 2 years for the first 6 years is quite achievable if you work hard
          • once in the job, learn as much as possible from the team and the books you read, you could get a lot of headache like me for the first 2 years, but once you know all the foundementals, you will be just patching your knowledge base. My example, first 2 years I had to study around 3 hrs every day, compared to 7 years after, I don't really need to spend much time after work. Maybe 5hrs a week max
        • MementoMori on 23/08/2017 - 10:53
          +1

          In my experience only the 'true nerds' will ever reach these $200k+ jobs (in general). i.e. programming in basic and/or installing their own ram as a kid, a life long obsession with technology and computing.

          Having said that, well organised person can make a great PM (which are few and far between) and a general all round smart person (but not technically minded) can do well as a BA.

        • rogue5 on 23/08/2017 - 10:55
          +1

          @domcc1:
          at the height of the resources boom I know of several senior pm's who would contract for $1200+/day, nowadays not so much!

        • MementoMori on 23/08/2017 - 11:03
          +1

          @rogue5: Yes, it's an interesting phenomenon.

          A project manager in say, Construction, would earn a certain amount.

          Whereas, that same PM in IT would earn much more, because of this strange (Australian only?) concept that a manager must earn more than the people under them. In the US, it was quite common for a senior technical person to out earn their PM (some significantly so!).

          The funny thing is, a PM in Construction is much more difficult with less margin for error - unlike IT where you can go live with bugs and fix them up as you go.

        • aragornelessar on 23/08/2017 - 18:20

          @DoctorOwl:

          Or because HR have filtered out the competent people and only go by the fact that person has a certain combination of certificates. The fact that certificates mean squat because they applicants these days just complete a brain dump and cram session.

          That relates to your comment about the manager - a good hiring manager will filter these out, but sometimes it just doesnt happen.

        • AlienC on 24/08/2017 - 13:43

          @domcc1: serious question but what do PM's and BA's do? This is kind of embarrassing as I went to university for this.

        • AlienC on 24/08/2017 - 14:16

          @rogue5: hidden locked repressed memories of INFS#### come rushing back… brrrr did it just get chilly in here.

        • rogue5 on 24/08/2017 - 14:26

          @AlienC:
          lol :) sorry mate, no disrespect intended!

          I work in IT and am often asked questions where I can reply RTFM or actually be helpful, in this case I thought the detail would be helpful :)

        • AlienC on 25/08/2017 - 06:53

          @rogue5: haha no worries mate I'm only playing.. I guess better too know this stuff and make a living from it than not. ;p

        • dentani on 25/09/2017 - 23:22

          @syousef:

          Considering a PhD does nothing to prepare you for an IT job, that's pretty normal.

        • syousef on 26/09/2017 - 05:14

          @nic1:

          It certainly wasn't normal 10 years ago.

    • ThadtheChad on 22/08/2017 - 00:54
      +7

      In the 130k-150k bracket (depends on bonuses). Work in specialised-IT in Sydney (technical security: penetration testing, reverse engineering, exploit dev, application security, incident response, security design and architecture etc).

      New starters in this domain make about 60k a year. A year or two of work ex will bring you in the 70-80k region (depending on the employer). About 3 years of work experience will easily vault you over the 100k mark.

      Typical requirement of this industry:
      1. Requires a substantial time-commitment towards up-skilling.
      2. Mental acuity to grasp highly complex topics and the inner workings of (sometimes, rather esoteric) technology.
      3. Folks need to be self-motivated and have the drive to learn.
      4. Affinity to everything electronics and computers.

      • trishmapow on 22/08/2017 - 06:55
        +1

        How do you get into this area of CS? I'm quite interested in security, but there's no clear course or degree that I can find. Is it just regular CS plus self study and certification?

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