Just a simple thread for the OzB community; thought it'd be good to get an idea of everyone's occupational backgrounds and provide a platform for some interesting questions and discussions regarding certain jobs and occupations.
I'll start off:
Age: Mid 20s
Current Title: External Auditor (intermediate)
Industry: Professional Services
Location: Melbourne
PS: If you have any questions about my job, ask away :-)
Age: 28
Current Title: Senior Lawyer (Dispute Resolution and Litigation)
Industry: Legal
Location: Melbourne
Age: Mid/Late 20's
Current title: Petrochemical distribution agent
Industry: Transportation and delivery of petrol and bulk lubricants to a variety of locations throughout NSW, primarily petrol/diesel to service stations/mine sites/depots
Location: Based ex Newcastle but travel all over the place, specifically western NSW.
Its an ok job, good money in the mid 6 figures per year, earning more then most people with certificate of attendance from uni (aka degrees)
Hahah that's is true, most degree holders will never reach the $150k mark.
How did you become a agent?
certificate of attendance from uni (aka degrees)
Ouch! I worked hard for mine. All 3 of them.
Do you like your job?
Mid 6 figures? So $500k+?
Age: 27
Job: Orthoptist
Industry: Healthcare
Location: Sydney
Hi, my name is George.
I'm unemployed and I live with my parents.
At least you were once a famous hand model. Most of us don't even have that.
Alrighty. Ah … my last job was in publishing … I got fired for having sex in my office with the cleaning woman.
Before that, I was in real estate. I quit, because the boss wouldn't let me use his private bathroom. That was it.
Unemployed marine biologist and architect
Age: 31
Job: Project Director
Industry: Land / Property Development (Assisting investors to subdive land and project manage the construction works too)
Location: Melbourne
Interesting! I would be keen to hear how you got into this role. Reckon you could share a bit about your background?
Did a few for my own and it's indeed a good return. So, friends who wanted to involve into development, they got me on boat and ask me if I could assist them. Then after 1 or 2 projects, their friends got interested too.. that's how I began. :D
FYI, I have been doing this for 8 years now.
Age: - 35 - 45
Job - AT-AT driver / technican
Industry - Miltary
Location - Endor (Ewok species sector)
Age: Late 20s
Job: Subsea Engineer
Industry: Oil and Gas
Location: Perth
DOF Subsea?
Age: 30 in a few months.
Job: Digital Imaging Technician/Editor/Digital Asset Manager
Industry: Film & TV Production
Location: Melbourne
It's a really tough industry in Melbourne. Most people live contract to contract and drift in/out of the industry between other casual jobs. I'm lucky enough to have found a full time salaried position, but it took me 5 years of contracting before finding something more permanent.
What's your opinion on the future of Australian film & TV? I'm studying media arts and looking to getting into the industry in a few years.
Sorry for the late reply!
The future at least in Melbourne is hard to say. I have primarily worked for large TV drama productions (I would rather not say which as they will identify me on a public forum) and will be discussing that particular field of media creation. From what I've heard from reality TV production people - it's a completely different ball game with a lot more money to be spread around.
The industry is not particularly healthy that's for sure. You need to love the work to stay in the industry as the pay and conditions are not great. I've done multiple contracts where my hours were 4pm-1am one day and then 9pm-7am the next in an office by myself for what was essentially less than minimum wage when late night loading is considered. But because most people involved on the production side was or has become contractors with their own ABN, there's no recourse as there's plenty of uni students like yourself that will be happy to take the job.
There's also hardly any real career progression pathways as you will enter as an editor, camera operator, focus puller, gaffer, vfx artist, colourist, technician ect. and will generally stay as that as those. That's if you enter that high up, a lot of people enter as a production runner or go-fer. Clapper loading is an interesting one, as the act of loading the clapper isn't exactly highly skilled - but they need to be highly skilled as they are also (a lot of the time through personal experience on large productions) responsible for the set up and breakdown of camera setups costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, everyday for months on end. They need to be as proficient in camera operation as much as the director of photography.
You can get well known and have a large body of work - then you will be in demand and can charge very high rates. At a post house I used to contract for the boss is a very well known editor and is always in demand. He used his hard work over many years to start a post production company along with another of the bosses who was also an editor (who has since stopped editing to become the managing director at that post house). Those guys did all of that during one of the toughest times in the industry where everyone was downsizing and budgets were being strangled. I have a lot of respect for them for their skills, leadership and determination. They also helped me get the full time position at another company that I am working at now, and to be honest I kind of wish I stayed working with them. It was just the hours and inconstant work that I couldn't really handle much longer.
The best way to get your foot in the door will be an unpaid/low paid internship. It really helps if you have a contact already in a company. Once you prove yourself reliable to someone known in the industry then you can always get work - just be prepared for months of no work between contracts.
I actually did a science degree (had no idea what I wanted to do out of school, and TBH still don't lol!) and then went and studied a multimedia diploma that was a joke. I knew more already from editing personal videos than I got out of 1.5 years at Holmesglen Tafe, but that piece of paper at the end did help me get a foot in the door when looking to do internships.
Thanks so much for your reply. I read every bit you said, great insight. I'm in Sydney. I'm also studying Computer Science alongside my aforementioned degree.
It's a bit of a shame to hear about those working hours, and about the lack of career progression. The starting Australian salaries for cameraman (and related roles) are quite low compared to other fields. I do plan on making a portfolio/webpage of my material and (hopefully) making a name for myself, though!
Age: 27 couple months ago
Current Title: Illustrator
Industry: Gambling/Gaming/Pokies (Aristocrat)
Location: Sydney
Cool job!
Have known a friend who did the perspex sign designs and possibly the sprite images and also another friend who did the mathematical programming.
Age: 30
Current title: IT Security/Networking Administrator
Location: Brisbane
Happy to answer any questions regarding I.T security…
Mate, I would like to know your experience with IT security/networking administrator. Basically the following things
1. career and salary progression
2. work-life balance- flexibility to do job
3. what certifications or skill required to start in IT security.
4. estimate salary range for 4-5 years experience in IT security/admin job
pay was shite for a friend doing it
they wanted more hours for less money
with everything going cloud jobs are leaving out the door for sys admin and most onsite networking is all done remotely or through a vendor as its cheaper
I'm in that industry currently so I can give you some insight ;)
Not on a salary, but decent pay with 2 payrises a year in my current contract.
38-42 hours a week. Usually plenty of time for life in the evenings and weekends. Currently not so much free time and more overtime due to contracts with corporations.
I've got a general IT degree and several vendor specific certifications. The key is always experience and knowing the right people. Working for an IT MSP is a great way to get involved with the different industries.
Hard to predict salary as the industry is constantly evolving and it depends on where and who you work for.
Sorry for the late reply.
There are two main areas in Information Security. IT Admin/architect (who works on the tools like firewalls, proxies, vpn's, etc.) and IT Security Policy consultants (who look after policy based security like auditing, compliance, etc. of policies such as ISO, ASD, IS, PCI-DSS etc.)
I spend most of my time in design and architecture, so I am better with the tools, than policy.
career and salary progression
As far as career, I love my job and I always new this is what I wanted to do. It also helps that I work with a great team of techs!
In regards to progression, I think security is one of the few areas in I.T. which is protected from being destroyed like web development, networking (routing and switching) and system administration. There is a massive demand for experienced security consultants. In regards to pay, typically people I know start on about $85k + super and go up to about $180k + super. Anything above $180k seems to be more like a CISO. For example, in 18months I have gone up $20k.
work-life balance- flexibility to do job
In my position I am on call for 1 week every 6 weeks, but general work hours are 8-4pm or 9-5pm. A big factor on work hours depends on business requirements. For example, does the business run 9-5pm, or is 24/7, and is it global? If the business is 24/7, then it can mean a few very late nights.
what certifications or skill required to start in IT security.
I spent 6 years at Uni and have a Diploma, Degree and Masters. To be honest, I am only where I am because of good timing, a staffing change, government elections, and good old share luck.
The majority of quality certificates in Security come with a catch of either you need show you have security experience in the industry or the exams can only be passed with experience in the industry (or a crap load of study).
The main certificates I would recommend are CISSP, CISM, CISA - not because they are amazing but more so because they widely known by recruiters. Other certificates I would recommend are vendor certs from Check Point, Palo Alto, Bluecoat, Sophos, Splunk, and F5.
I think the best Security Admins that I know have a range of skills, but the best have a background in either networking or as system admin.
estimate salary range for 4-5 years experience in IT security/admin job
This can range greatly, I know some people who have minimal change from year 1 to year 5, and I know other people who have 70-80% increase. This is more about opportunity, networking, negotiation skills, team/social skills, and probably not so much technical. I know some people who early $80K who are technically significantly better than people who earn $180K. But the people on $180K (who are generally consultants) may lack in technical skills, but excel in networking, negotiation, and social skills.
A bit part of security is negotiation and manipulation - but that's business in general.
Age: Mid 30's
Job: Locomotive Driver
Industry: Transport
Location: Melbourne
that job sounds pretty cool!
It's awesome mate!!
Age: early 20s
Title: broke student
Industry: education
Location: Sydney
Age: 40
Current Title: Rapper
Industry: Music Industry
Location: New York
So just to clarify… are you actually broke or is all this just a marketing stunt???
Of course I'm broke, why else would I be on Ozbargain.
Stop spending your money in the candy shop and in da clubs
And aim higher… "50c" just screams failure.
What about "$100 bill", or "Bullion". Now that's success in a name! :)
Age: Early 20s
Title: Full-Time Student/ Part-time Real Estate Agent
Industry: Real Estate
Location: Sydney
Age: 24
Title: Junior Solicitor
Industry: Legal Services
Location: Perth
Age 20
title: Logistics coordinator
industry: freight
Just to contrast against the fancy titles going on up in here…
age:33
title: storeman
industry: automotive
location: perth
Storeman? You sound more like a Scarce Automotive Resource Co-ordinator / space engineer.
The thing managers don't tell you is that the reason they get paid so much is because they get to make up their own job titles. ;)
Yyyyeeeeeaaaah but … The self-massage of corporate titles really makes me gag. An honest day's work with honest dirt on my hands and honest dust in my lungs. I'm just a storeman.
Honesty? You'll never make management with that attitude!
Knifing your workmates in the back and climbing over their corpses - that's how it's done.
@Styff: sigh…
…"I will strategically move to a 'yes' by synergising mutual resources straight to deliverable status."
Hand shakes and pats on the back all round as I become department coordinator.
Age: Early 20's
Role: Graduate "Accountant"
Industry: Financial Services (I guess)
Location: Bris
Someone who looked through my post history might get a better idea of what kind of stuff I do.
Care to elaborate on the quotations on your job title?
I work in Insolvency, which doesn't involve me doing a great deal of actual accounting. I've been there for about a year and a half (grad since this year) and I'm starting CA next semester, already enrolled!
Ah, all the best! FIN or MAF?
@excelsior: MAF, I've been advised the whole time that it's best to do the courses with groups of people that you are doing the same. All the grads in Insolvency are doing MAF this time around so I figure it's a good bet.
Late 20s
Copier Tech / Software Solutions Speciaist
Brisbane
Good Salary + Car + Fuel / Parking Card and Phone provided
Pretty easy work fixing Canon, Lexmark, Xerox and HP MFD / Printers
Software is the latest trend with copiers and scanning into legal software and myob seems to be the in thing these days
Deal with Therefore UniFLOW and Papercut / Equitrac
Also Ezescan and Ecopy
Been doing it since I finished highschool
Qualified Microsoft / Cisco Tech on the IT side of things
Age: Early 20s
Current Title: Technician
Industry: Audio/Visual
Location: Sydney
First job after moving from a small town. Low pay considering the work I do, but as a first job I can live with it for now while working on personal projects and thinking of what's next.
Age: Early 30s
Position: Firefighter
Industry: Whichever is having a bad day
Location: South East Melbourne
Calling bullshit on half of these comments, so called specialists and professionals who then come to ozBargain looking to save two or three cents here and there - leave that for the tightarses who don't have high paying jobs
Enough with the snide assumptions man. You do know that wealthy people also like to save money. My partner is a very frugal and a well-off individual, and she doesn't like giving extra money when she doesn't have to.
A lot of the time these 'professionals' look for savings for more costly items like fridges, computers, airfares etc.
I'm not trying to add fuel to the fire, but cDNA is right. That's a bit of a generalisation because I do know many individuals who do alright for themselves but are mindful of their spending. We all have our wants too, and for some they might feel like it's an arguable indulgence so perhaps saving a bit of money would ease their guilty conscience.
And besides, I am an accountant after all. It's literally natural for me to want to be mindful of spending and save a bit here and there :P
I agree with you mate.. A lot of hero's in here. Supposed to be something along the lines of the working class on ozbargain but according to this post is seems like ozbargain was created to cater for high society on a budget/tightasses
^finally someone who gets it. Call it a generalization all you want, but if i made a professional's salary you think i'd give half a shit over what's on special at Woolies next week or what 10 year old obsolete electronics are being cleared off at Dick Smith or ordering some rubbish pizza for 25% off?
Hell no!
I don't condone throwing your money around like a spastic nonetheless but if you're loaded what's a few cents here and there…??
How do you think people get well off in the first place ?, cash disappears pretty quick if your not savvy.
That being said, people who spend 24k on a watch or make 200k a year probably need to think a bit more about those less fortunate and less about business class tickets.
@Tasmaniac: I dont know how they get well off - that's for them to know, and they probably won't tell you either. If you earn it then that's awesome and i think that's the right way, others can be born into rich families, win lotto or even do bad business to get what they have. Either way, you don't become loaded from buying clearance stuff at Masters, decade old batteries from Dick Smith and doing free udemy courses - as good value as all those things are.
Or maybe OzBargain was created to share bargains and deals irrelevant of what class people are.
it's like my site manager at work banging on about some minimal saving he's getting on some crap (usually food item) he's buying. I honestly think he says these things to relate to us peasants on the front line receiving our base salary's but realistically it makes me sick someone on so much money could be such a tight arse but that's just my opinion
That's what it should be in an ideal world, but then you've got those heroes here who come to show off what they earn and what watch they wear - have you read half of these comments today
@PAOK11: That's true and those types honestly give me the shits as well! I bet that behind the scenes you wouldn't see him lining up at Aldi to buy their cheap version soft drink either right?
@JV159: I don't get it guys.. Since when saving money is exclusively to "poor" people? A dollar is a dollar regardless to a poor or a rich person. I have to admit, I am not a high income earner like most of the people here but I also do not get annoyed or jealous when people are better off than me. By reading their comments, only makes me wanting to strive harder and achieve more in life. Maybe you should reflect on yourselves as to why you are still where you are now instead of complaining all the time.
@ykwon10: Don't imply that people who earn less don't try hard enough especially when you don't know them. My deal is what's with all the high strung big earners on a website that would attract the attention of penny-pinchers?
Obviously if they didn't do some saving here and there they wouldn't live as comfortably as some of them say they do, i'm not saying they don't.
@JV159: Please don't get me wrong. I am not implying people who earn less don't try hard enough. I am just saying instead of spending time complaining, why don't do something/work harder to earn more? ie: work a second job, study another course, improve ones knowledge and skill, etc.. Nobody stops you from achieving what you want except yourself.
Ye funny that, never heard him mention ALDI once. I wonder why haha. As for the watch thread I stay well away from what watch people on ozbargain are wearing on their wrists, not my concern really between paying off my credit card & saving for a house I'm lucky to buy a rubber bracelet let alone a expensive watch.
@PAOK11: Since when going to Aldi is a benchmark deciding if a person is savvy or not? Maybe no Aldi around his place? Maybe he shops at local market? Plenty of possibilities really..
Regarding your current situation, everyone has their own battles in life mate. Not disclosing hardship doesn't mean they did not work for it. Same goes to you.. You might one day own a Rolex for that matter. You never know..
Mate you said yourself your not on a high salary so why are acting like the defence attorney for these people. Just today he said the money goes in then it comes right out ?? Like really, for me it does but I'll tell you right now If I was on his salary there would be funds available.
@PAOK11: No I am not. I am just being fair here and speaks the truth. I refuse to continue arguing with you on this matter if you persist. Anyways, good luck with your future endeavours and I do sincerely hope you will make it one day and sit on the other side of the fence instead.
yea me too mate… your a nice guy :)
It's not about being poor or rich - it's about only paying what you need to buy something.
Regardless of whether you're rich or poor, who in their right mind would want to pay more for exactly the same thing?
as a student studying a degree and working retail while living with family I don't whinge of deprivation or like to flaunt what i do have. Heck i dont even tell people what i earn per hour and its really nothing worth bragging about. There is NO benchmark of rich and poor based on where they choose to shop, but any sensible person with two shreds of class and self esteem doesnt need reassurance about how great their wristwatch and financial situation is from people who frequent (let's be honest) a website for tightarses. Chuck me a thumbs down if you want but its true…
don't get me wrong… I'm happy to have a constructive argument without giving people the thumbsdown or whatever.
noone's really showing off or bragging that much here - the thread has simply asked users what their occupation is and what they do for a living. You've taken some users' occupation titles and assumed that they earn a lot of money simply because they are specialists or professionals.
You're saying that you're a student who works in retail while living with your family - ie, you probably support yourself and spend the majority of what you earn on yourself only.
Some of the users here might have high incomes, but they will probably also have family members to support - elderly parents, wives, husbands, kids. They do not always get to enjoy all of their income themselves.
Dare I say, the amount of disposable income one of these so-called high income earners will have after all that is probably not much different to what you have to play with.
There's one very important point I need to make - if someone is on a high income, there's a pretty good chance that they have worked very hard to get there - hence they value the money they earn.
I don't believe in going around rubbing achievements in other peoples' faces, but they have every right to enjoy where they're at.
PS: I used to think like you when I first started working and I was on minimum wage. I used to look up to these guys on much bigger salaries and think ".. if only…". Many years later, I'm there.. and it's no different..
Now I just look up to the guys with even bigger salaries and still think.. ".. if only… ".
My point is, no amount of salary is ever enough.
Age: Mid 20s
Current Title: Longhaul Airline Pilot
Industry: Aviation Transport
Location: Hong Kong (Aussie expat)- visit Australia 3x per month where do my shopping
Any hint how to get economy class upgrade for free on CX?
Use credit card points! Otherwise l It's all based on loyalty status with their frequently flyer program.
Typically upgrade people but their "local" customers! Promotes people coming back.
Was it hard becoming a pilot? I hear of a lot of people trying to break into the industry.
Hasn't been easy- started when I was 15yr! Lots of including leaving Australia as not much work for low hour (new) pilots
You come back and do your shopping in Australia?
Aren't the range and prices much better in Hong Kong?
You can't buy Winnie blues in honkers
The prices in actual stores for electronics are actually more expensive for name brand items. There are only two big electonic companies owned by the equivalent of "Coles and Woolworths" - so it's always priced fixed. Imagine the Australian Market before JB came in. Sure I can buy shitty copy stuff from markets but that is crap. Ironically EBay doesn't deliver to Hong Kong
Mainly buy food- as everything is imported into HK and hence not as fresh or more expensive. Bought $900AUD worth of butcher meat on my last visit to last me 6mnths up here
duplicate
Age: Mid 30s
Current Title: Bookkeeper
Industry: various, mainly construction, non-profit
Location: Bris
Age: 33
Current Title: GP Registrar
Industry: Health/Medicine
Location: Western Sydney
So much diversity here, it brings a tear to my eye.
Yep, definitely great to see people of so many different backgrounds and all walks of life.
How are you finding your position? Are you looking to specialise in a specific field?
I love my job. General Practice is now seen as a specialty, in the sense that you cannot simply move from being an anaesthetist, for example, to a GP when you're sick of anaesthetics. I also like the continuing relationship with my patients and their families.
I did intend to become an Obstetrician, but I found I forgot general medicine, such as managing pneumonias, fractures etc. Pay is not that great - which is why I'm on OzB!
Ah yes, I did hear about that. I'm not too familiar with the med field but my brother in law is currently a GP. He's still trying to get into cardio, but man I hear it's a cut-throat world out there.
If you love your job regardless of pay, I'd say you're doing it right! Kudos.
Move to the eastern suburbs. My GP earns well over $200k.
I think the government still gives GPs incentives to take in medical students. There's a way to earn some extra cash. :)
Hello fellow GP reg!
I have the view that GP pay is pretty poor compared to surgeons but quite decent compared to the rest of Australia
If you're a bit unlucky you dont get much as a reg but I'm pretty sure once you establish as a GP you'll be in the top 3% of earners in Australia.
Age: 26
Location: Northern Sydney
Not gonna lie, I'm on Ozbargain for the thrill of finding a good bargain
It's also a relaxing getaway from all the studying lol
What people have to do to get into a specialty changes these them for the worse in my opinion because it's so damn competitive.
When I talk to my friends still in the hospital system pretty much 100% of the topic is medicine, it just consumes their whole life and most don't even realise it.
And then all that extra effort, stress and time on your knees makes some of those doctors quite jaded by the end of training.
That's my 2 cents on the current status of specialty training.
Hopefully it gets better with more training positions and consultant jobs in the future
As someone who's from Western Sydney, I daresay pay in a clinic in Northern Sydney would be more than in the West. The culture of bulk billing is stronger in low SES areas, and bulk billing means decreased income. I'd expect you'd get paid more once you do more and additional training and get access to additional MBS numbers.
Did you guys see the press coverage of Owler and the president of RACGP today about the Coalition's war on bulk billing? Seriously predict Owler will run for office at some point.
Oh the pay in training is okay because luckily I have a good practice
A good GP is so important to find and I think a good GP probably deserves to be paid more than a specialist for what they can do to change people's lives. However it's impossible for medicare to determine the difference between a good and bad GP so they lump GPs together.
It will be shame if bulk billing becomes exception rather than the rule. What could've been prevented with a simple early consult may be left until late. But similar to previous governments, policies in healthcare have generally been reactionary rather than visionary.
Age: 28
Current Title: Financial Analyst
Industry: Telecommunication
Location: Melb
Age: late 20s
Title: strategy and m&a manager
Location: Sydney
Spent the start of my career in professional services before making the transition to client side. Life is much better and pay is astronomically better (to the point I am yet to work out why they pay me so well)
Mind me asking how much? Not exact amount of course..
Age: 30
Current Title: Jenkem connoisseur
Industry: healthcare
Location: Parking Lot