As a software engineer who moved to Australia from Southern California 3.5 years ago, my experience is that development jobs in Australia pay well, but there ar

As a software engineer who moved to Australia from Southern California 3.5 years ago, my experience is that development jobs in Australia pay well, but there are very few of them around. http://www.seek.com.au/ http://www.seek.com.au/ will give you an idea of what programming jobs are around. Apart from a handful of larger companies (Google, Atlassian, Campaign Monitor) there isn't much of a software industry in Australia, and even then it's essentially limited to Sydney and Melbourne. Most developers work in-house for banks, the government, web agencies etc. I've met some very capable developers, but many of them are working in roles below their potential. Longer term I fear that without a significant software industry, Australia will find it difficult to develop new talent and keep experienced top-flight developers from seeking greener pastures overseas. Personally I believe the high-cost issue will largely solve itself as the mining boom slows and the property bubble pops...