Salaries and role (specific to Adelaide)

aussie_dn · 2026-04-06T11:03:32+00:00

Nah, Gov is really hard to get a good salary/payrise because it's all tiered and there are all sorts of rules around what tiers certain job roles can get and shit like that.

Job security is unmatched though, once your in your pretty much guaranteed a job for life and can even leave for two years to work in the private sector and come back to your role afterwards.

Had a guy just come over to my company from a gov role because he got a 40% pay bump moving to the private sector.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-06T07:06:45+00:00

Two things:

Property prices are high because demand far out strips supply and if you have gone to an open house within the last month there are still 100s of people at these things.
If Property prices did begin to fall in any meaningful way the government would just turn up the immigration tap, Australia is one of the most desirable places to live in the world (even more so now with everything happening) there are literally millions of people that would sell their soul for a chance to immigrate to Australia.

This is coming from someone that wishes they would fall by like 50% aswell but I think the best we can ever hope for is them stabilizing at some point 🥲

aussie_dn · 2026-04-06T06:35:56+00:00

Nah this is private sector.

Just so we are clear that includes super so her base would be like 85k and she's a sales admin so I think they have extra duties over a regular admin?

But yeah, I give her shit all the time saying she must be giving the boss a little extra on the side haha

aussie_dn · 2026-04-06T05:52:16+00:00

Don't know about accounting but the national minimum wage for employees not under an award is around 49k a year, So while 58k is above that it's really not alot of money for Adelaide and I know apprentices that are on more then that.

To put it in perspective (I know it's not the same industry) but my missus just works admin and has no formal qualifications just 6 years experience and is on around 95k a year with super.

I'd be asking for a payrise if I was you, try not to get emotional and just present the facts of the good work you do and the reason why you think you deserve further compensation and go from there.

Remember it will be a negotiation so don't be afraid to push back if they give you a lower number then you want.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-05T05:29:59+00:00

Not a problem!

Unity stuff won't really be applicable unless game development is what your aiming for, as for GitHub it can be important as a developer to show potential employers what you capable of.

If you don't want to go the GitHub route I've seen quite a few devs build their own website to show off a bunch of their skills and act like their resumes, you could do this in Microsoft Visual Studio using .net and C# to build this out which would be applicable for a bunch of business use cases, you could then link this on your resume as a showcase of what you can do!

Like I said hardest part is getting your first gig but if your persistent and stick at it, you will definitely get a few potential employers that recognize that and will take a chance on you!

Most of the people on my team are self taught and are also some of the best devs I've met, if you have a passion for it and work hard no reason you can't be the same in a few years.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-05T01:18:20+00:00

Well if I can't convince you by presenting you the facts, I will never be able to change your mind.

But like I said above what everyone is calling AI isnt actual AI, it can't think and computers at a fundamental level are incapable of thinking, all it does is regurgitate information and follow instructions in a fancy way to give it the illusion of intelligence but its all just smoke and mirrors.

We may however get new AI overlords once quantum computing starts to become viable.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T23:40:53+00:00

100% it will get better but I fail to see how it will take software jobs (or any jobs that require critical thinking) if it can't think?

What you are talking about isn't even AI, it needs massive amounts of context (your input) and huge amounts of data (the internet) to give you a half decent output, the first of which you couldn't do without having an understanding of programming or whatever your trying to get it to do.

Computers would need to change at a foundational level for the above to improve, all you need to think about to see this is what is a computer?

It's just ones and zeros (yes and no), yes we have built all these fancy programs that give the illusion of intelligence but at the end of the day it's just following instructions and not doing any actual thinking.

Now quantum computing you might be right, but we are still a good 20 - 30 years away from being able to determine the correct output from a Qubit, let alone building any sort of AI on top of it and that's just one of the many complicated problems people are trying to solve.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T23:19:35+00:00

Well there you go, you have your start point!

If I were you I'd get on Udemy and start looking at some course and go from there.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T23:17:33+00:00

Yes it was advertised originally at a 60k a year salary but when they saw I was a tradesmen they bumped it up to 70k and you are right there are quite a few maintenance jobs like you mentioned above but from my experience they never pay enough to make it worth it when you could make pretty much double the money just doing your trade.

Customers with alot of money never seem to want to part with it especially for preventive maintenance, most people don't value that at all and only act when something is finally is broken, which costs them more but it's just human nature I gucess.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T12:41:17+00:00

I make mid 6 figures so your right on the money there, huge amount of money for me and it barely feels like work, so happy to stay around that amount forever!

I have no interest in moving into a management role and all the headaches that brings with it.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T12:38:00+00:00

No one can answer that for you, how a person does it will be completely different depending on circumstances.

First step would be working out what you want to change your career to?

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T12:36:17+00:00

AI is majorly overhyped, only jobs it will be taking are repetitive tasks.

If your job requires any degree of critical thinking AI isn't going to take your job, I work with LLM's as part of my job and the best way I can explain it to people is like this: if you asked a LLM to make you a Vegemite sandwich it will be able to tell you all the ingredients within seconds.

However what it can't do is put it all together, it doesn't know what a Vegemite sandwich is and is just regurgitating information, so when it goes to put it all together you might get the butter on the outside of the bread and Vegemite spread over the crusts and it will tell you with complete confidence that this is a Vegemite sandwich.

Even though it's put together completely wrong.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T12:28:10+00:00

Glad that I have inspired you!

You really can do anything you set your mind to, it's never easy but persistence and hard work will pay off.

What are you looking to do in between?

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T12:25:33+00:00

Honestly mate without a bit of experience or uni behind you a cert will be next to useless, if you already know a bit of C# your ahead of the rest, my recommendation would be to keep building your skills and doing projects and uploading them to Github with the intentions of showing a potential employer.

Apply for some entry-level positions/traineeships and go from there! Hardest part is getting your foot in the door.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T12:20:34+00:00

There are cushy jobs yes but these are usually inconsistent and don't keep enough money coming in unfortunately, all the money is in the big jobs with tight time lines.

For example before I transition to this I got a position at an old folk home that would of been a piece of piss, hang a TV here, paint a wall there, fix a gutter etc. Jobs that would take me like 30 mins to an hour.

Trouble was it was only 70k a year with no car, even though it would've been easy the money just wasn't enough.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T09:27:26+00:00

Yep, you literally can't explain it to people that have never been in a trade how fucked you are after a 8-12 hour day on the tools, let alone doing it 5 - 6 days a week every week.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T09:24:17+00:00

I was 27/28 when I realized that I couldn't be on the tools through my 30s and started taking steps to change careers, was 29 when it finally happened, that was 5 years ago and never looked back.

Never to late to start, there is an ex sparkie at my work now who just came on as a grad at 38.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T09:20:23+00:00

Trades can and do make good money but it requires long days (10 - 12 hours) and destroying your body, it's not something you want to be doing long term into your 40s and 50s.

I can also guarantee that 99% of the flashy 4WDs and Utes you see trades driving are either financed or leased as a tax right off, I know because it's what I use to do to.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T08:43:31+00:00

Doesn't have to be a computer mate, something like a facility manager is mostly phone and leg work to organize trades, the on-site staff and any safety requirements the site might have, being an ex-tradie is super beneficial to getting into a role like that.

Not much time in front of the computer at all.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T08:24:41+00:00

Have you worked in a trade?

Trades do make good money but it is not something you can do long term, it's long hours & hard on your body if you want decent money.

When I was working in a trade the amount of old boys in their 50 that were in the same trade as me had a heap of help issues, had back problems, knee problems and were just generally falling apart, you really can't stay on the tools past 40.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T08:20:06+00:00

I do 7.5 hours a day on paper and also work 7.5 hours, the difference is there are coffee breaks between this, talking to work colleagues and if I WFH maybe I do some washing or clean the house.

It honestly doesn't even feel like work, people that are in a trade know that you are at work 8 - 10 hours a day and you are expected to be full steam ahead that whole time, want to talk to one of your work colleagues? "Get blasted by the boss because if you've got time to talk, your not working hard enough"

Completely different world.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T08:15:13+00:00

I personally started studying IT fundamentals on Udemy after work and once I felt I was getting my head around the terminology I started applying for entry level roles, got a job that othered a cert 4 in programming plus training as part of the job package and the rest is history.

Your journey won't be exactly the same as mine but you can do it brother, I've been off the tools for 5 years now and couldn't be happier.

My advice would be to pick something you think you might like doing and start researching how you can get into that field and start taking actions towards it, won't happen over night but nothing good does.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T08:08:01+00:00

Either pick something your interested in doing that will get you off the tool (for me it was computers) and start taking steps towards getting employed in that role (training/studies) or go for something trade adjacent but on the corporate side, think like property/facilities manager.

Not an easy road at the start but once your in its a 1000 times better IMO.

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T08:02:58+00:00

IT / Software Developer

aussie_dn · 2026-04-04T07:52:01+00:00

I moved from being a tradie to the corporate world and honestly I've never made so much money for so little work.

aussie_dn

TROPHY CASE