using my throwaway account but have some comment history on my career (i did a Ask HN post on pivoting my "career" last year). I saw someone from Sydney posting their history so I thought I add my perspective from another Australian lurker:
Date - Company ID | Starting Salary | Percentage Increase Role | Role
2005 - Company A | $20/hour | 100%! :) | Part Time Tester
2007 - Company B | $48,000 annual | 20.0% | Graduate Engineer
2009 - Company B | $65,000 annual | 25.0% | Engineer
2010 - Company B | $70,000 annual | 16.7% | Consulting Engineer
2011 - Company B | $78,000 annual | 11.5% | Consulting Engineer
2011 - Company C | $120,000 annual | $53.8% | Engineering Specialist
2012 - Company C | $125,000 annual | 4.2% | Team Lead
2013 - Company C | $128,000 annual | 4.5% | Team Lead
2014 - Company D | $210,000 annual | 64.0% | Solutions Architect
2015 - Company D | $225,000 annual | 7.1% | Solutions Architect
2016 - Company D | $195,000 annual | -1.3% | Solutions Architect
2017 - Company D | $205,000 annual | 5.1% | Solutions Architect
2018 - Company E | $150,000 annual + bonus | -26.8% | Management Position
edit: took out notes since it wasn't relevant and rearranged fields to look more uniform. If you have any questions, on each role, feel free to AMA.
thanks! and good question - same locale but jumped ship to be a contractor.
I was a team lead prior and dealt with a lot of vendors where I was approving their time sheets so I saw how much they were being paid. Told myself.. WTF, why aren't I doing this?? Paid twice as much, way less accountability (parameters of work are all defined per project or per SoW) and I don't have to be stress out about the politics within the company. Also.. as a contractor, my schedule consist of half the time on customer's premises and the other half dealing with internal dev teams which gave me loads of flexibility of WFH.
This is the unfortunate reality for IT positions in any industry in Australia - Full time positions have not many upsides and contracting is the best way you can capture as much $$$ as you can. There are some downsides but upsides outweigh it by a mile!
Date - Company ID | Starting Salary | Percentage Increase Role | Role
2005 - Company A | $20/hour | 100%! :) | Part Time Tester
2007 - Company B | $48,000 annual | 20.0% | Graduate Engineer
2009 - Company B | $65,000 annual | 25.0% | Engineer
2010 - Company B | $70,000 annual | 16.7% | Consulting Engineer
2011 - Company B | $78,000 annual | 11.5% | Consulting Engineer
2011 - Company C | $120,000 annual | $53.8% | Engineering Specialist
2012 - Company C | $125,000 annual | 4.2% | Team Lead
2013 - Company C | $128,000 annual | 4.5% | Team Lead
2014 - Company D | $210,000 annual | 64.0% | Solutions Architect
2015 - Company D | $225,000 annual | 7.1% | Solutions Architect
2016 - Company D | $195,000 annual | -1.3% | Solutions Architect
2017 - Company D | $205,000 annual | 5.1% | Solutions Architect
2018 - Company E | $150,000 annual + bonus | -26.8% | Management Position
edit: took out notes since it wasn't relevant and rearranged fields to look more uniform. If you have any questions, on each role, feel free to AMA.