Hey everyone,
I'm a kiwi web developer specialising in Drupal for the last 4 and a bit years (since the release of D5) and it's been amazing to see how the project has grown since then! I currently work in Auckland for one of NZ's biggest companies as their sole web developer managing, developing and supporting over 100 sites across their business portfolio. It's definitely been a great challenge but I'm now ready for a new opportunity, potentially in Australia.
I just have a few questions about Drupal over there and would appreciate your advice:-
Is g.d.o the best place to find Drupal jobs in Australia? - are there any other job sites you'd recommend?
What's the freelance environment like, is there much demand?
Back in Jan, Dries blogged that Drupal talent in Melbourne was in high demand, is this still the case or in your view which state or city which has the most Drupal work/jobs?
Looking forward to your response.
Cheers,
Thom
Comments
welcome
Hey Thom
Personally, I always advise companies and recruiters to advertise any Drupal position that they contact me about on gdo. Most of them haven't heard of it but my impression is that they are gradually starting to learn that it's where you post Drupal jobs. It definitely is the best place to find more interesting and worthwhile Drupal jobs (imho) because it's the companies who are already using Drupal and have Drupalers in-house that will post on gdo (and without using a recruiter). If someone doesn't advertise on gdo then I usually assume they have no clue about Drupal.
Regarding work, the last time I was hunting was 2007 and I was based in Brisbane, so don't know if my advice is relevant to the current job market. Anyway, I found that there were twice as many IT jobs in Melbourne as Brisbane and maybe 3-4 (or more) times as many in Sydney. It's my impression that most IT jobs are in Sydney, followed by Melbourne, then Brisbane. Salaries tend to decrease along the same sequence. I suspect with your background you would find Drupal work in any of those cities with relative ease, just depends where you want to live.
If you like the colder weather and coffee, Melbourne has a very strong Drupal user's group with many sharp developers who have used Drupal for years, contributed modules, patches, etc. We have monthly meetups and mentoring sessions, and are hosting Drupal Down Under next year.
Good luck with your plans!
Shaun
welcome
I have no idea why my reply posted twice!
Role in Sydney for you
Hi Thom,
I have a Snr Drupal role I am trying to fill right now in Sydney if you are interested?
Email me at jim@insightrec.com.au for a chat.
Cheers,
Jim (02) 8021 1827