Is The IT Job Market Dead at The Moment?

edisonAU on 28/11/2023 - 22:55

One year ago we had a hard time looking for IT contractors. Everyone was very picky and often refused our job offers.

Fast forward to now we have lots of CVs for jobs recently advertised (in Cyber Security, Project Management and Technical in Sydney), completely overwhelm us. I know a few people having a hard time looking for IT jobs.

However, the national unemployment figures remain low, which does not seem to line up on what I heard from my network.

Are you looking for a job in IT, and how do you find the job market right now? If you are in IT, is your department hiring or are they freezing hires?

Education & Work

Comments

  • Protractor on 28/11/2023 - 23:14

    IT is now AI.
    Another extinction epoch arrives

  • JimmyF on 28/11/2023 - 23:19
    +2

    Fast forward to now we have lots of CVs for jobs recently advertised

    Hard to say, might just mean everyone hates their current job and is looking!

    • Sleeqb7 on 29/11/2023 - 09:57

      Not according to my poll yesterday…

      • JimmyF on 29/11/2023 - 16:51
        +1

        Depends on how you read the results. Only 60 out of 150 had 'liked' their job…..

        • Sleeqb7 on 30/11/2023 - 09:35

          But only 34 'disliked' or 'hated' them.
          Reads like almost twice as many people like their job than dislike.

          • JimmyF on 30/11/2023 - 09:52

            @Sleeqb7: and the rest, are like meh…. don't hate it, don't love it. So can't put them in the liked camp.

  • bargaino on 28/11/2023 - 23:22
    +1

    Is your personal https://www.ozbargain.com.au/privatemsg box now overflowing with inquiries?

  • tooblue on 28/11/2023 - 23:30

    What position is it?
    Where is it?
    How much do you pay?
    When can I start?

    • payton on 28/11/2023 - 23:39
      +3

      maybe they don't want staff who browse ozbargain all day

  • Drakesy on 29/11/2023 - 01:11
    +4

    I have a feeling someone's been fudging the unemployment numbers given we're in a gig economy now.

    • Oofy Doofy on 29/11/2023 - 17:53

      fudging? It's always been fudged by definition. Some people work 1 hour a week and make bank. That's their justification for how the stats are defined.

      • Drakesy on 29/11/2023 - 18:12
        +1

        Underemployment is the new unemployment.

        Plenty of people working, but not working enough to make ends meet.

    • mini2 on 30/11/2023 - 13:34

      I think the only thing they could fudge is the participation rate - there's some pretty loosely defined crap to consider who's a participant in the market.

      They really should look at the underemployment rate, though.

  • websterp on 29/11/2023 - 04:09
    +3

    End of COVID and mass immigration would be your answer.

    • Mechz on 29/11/2023 - 05:51
      +13

      Yeah now we have every muppet (of which I'd say 80% have fake or worthless degrees and certs) taking jobs for much less money which drives out people established in the industry.

      No need to outsource anymore, everyone has just been imported.

      • Gdsamp on 29/11/2023 - 17:40
        +1

        drives out people established in the industry

        They also drive people for Uber

  • Hellfire on 29/11/2023 - 07:03
    +2

    Im hiring in sydney and there is an influx of ex NSW Govt contractors. Appears like the govt has been cutting down on contractors since being elected.

  • Hugh G Rection on 29/11/2023 - 07:50
    +2

    turning obsolete locally because everything is outsourced to 3rd world countries to do it for pennies for the exact same job you are doing.

    that isn't 100% of the market, but a very high amount are being outsourced. you will need local people, but before say you might need 5-10, now you only need 1-3.

    ymmv

    • BargainCowboy on 29/11/2023 - 09:08

      Yes, this is true, much more outsourcing at the moment, not good times for Australia

    • coffeeinmyveins on 29/11/2023 - 09:34
      +2

      for the exact same job you are doing.

      For the exact same job at 1/10th the quality requiring local resources to redo it at double the cost,.

      • teeendee on 29/11/2023 - 10:14
        +1

        Yeah I'm not sure why they even bother. My team is made up of mostly Indian offshores, and a few onshores including myself (also mostly Indian migrants FWIW). The offshores suck so hard that they could just get rid of them and save the money, they're actively detrimental to the rest of the team.

        • Mechz on 29/11/2023 - 11:21

          I reckon most of the time the job prerequisites are;

          1. Do you have a computer that can connect to the Internet.

          2. Is the Internet fast enough to connect to a Citrix VM and chat on a Teams call.

          3. Can you vaguely speak English.

  • freefall101 on 29/11/2023 - 09:50
    +2

    Number of advertised jobs in IT is down a lot year on year - https://www.seek.com.au/about/news/employment-dashboard-oct-…

    Less ads, more applicants per ad. Particularly if it's a good looking job. A lot of companies in Australia followed the US lead of layoffs pending what they see as a recession, Atlassian laid off 500 people earlier this year, Culture Amp (melbourne based) 90, Willow (sydney based) 100.

    National employment is a reflection on the rising cost of living and the huge backlog of need. Every entry level place still has people needed, trades jobs are still in massive demand, government spending on infrastructure was just ballooning out so contractors were hiring everyone they could get their hands on. If you want an unskilled trades job in a regional area you can walk into it, or a job in fast food, warehouse stacking, etc.

  • dogboy on 29/11/2023 - 10:40
    +2

    The last few jobs I have advertised in IT, I have had about 5-10 applicants. This is at one of the biggest software development companies in the world. Very few skilled resources avaialble it seems.

    • Protractor on 29/11/2023 - 11:00
      +3

      And yet the govt floods the market with dodgy CV holding migration numbers.

  • mini2 on 29/11/2023 - 11:37
    +1

    It's always been quiet around this time of the year for as long as I've been contracting, but I did notice it's gone quiet as of late Aug/early Sep, but usually that doesn't kick in till the end of Oct. Rates are going down (at least in the Canberra market) so yeah, things aren't as rosy as it once was.

  • fez on 29/11/2023 - 11:49
    +1

    IT was boom time over the last couple years, I was getting hit up multiple times every week by recruiters.
    its def died in its arse

    • BiotBargin on 29/11/2023 - 16:18

      tell me about it …. i was getting 1-2 calls a week in the first 5 months of the year and i wasnt even looking.
      now i am looking and applying and the phone hardly rings.

  • bobbified on 29/11/2023 - 11:54

    My IT area is still hiring. The market rate for PMs and analysts have dropped quite a bit this year compared to the previous few years and there seem to be a number of people who are not willing to accept the rate drop. So I've found that while there are jobs out there, there's also applicants out there looking for higher-than-market rates. (Eventually when they can't find anything, they'll realise they have no choice but to take the market rate).

  • Ghost47 on 29/11/2023 - 12:42
    +1

    However, the national unemployment figures remain low, which does not seem to line up on what I heard from my network.

    Surprise surprise, governmental figures not aligning with reality.

  • Sinnerator on 03/12/2023 - 10:09
    +1

    every second immigrant into australia has a masters in IT
    expect that to had an effect on the market

  • pr0o on 13/12/2023 - 19:24
    +2

    IT job market is really good in Sydney. I am every second immigrant with Masters degree in Sydney that every white muppet in this thread is talking about lol. Just secured a $115k package, good jump from $90k.

  • transplanted on 29/12/2023 - 10:18

    Since May, my employer lost 5 staff (4 devs, a pm). So people are looking for new roles, moving around, you'll see lots of applicants but they're just moving around. Maybe most of these are immigrants from fake unis in India.

    • BiotBargin on 29/12/2023 - 10:43

      there are also some who seasonally move/leave - whether they return or not is the next phase (or if they can return at all).

      i actually had a short discussion with one HR person who was a recent ex-IT recruitment firm for the same reasons some of us experiencing so there is a bit of a snowball effect happening.

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