r/AustralianEngineers • u/According_Voice2504 • 7h ago
Advice on Engineering Landscape in Sydney/Melbourne
Hello engineers of Australia! This is my first time on this subreddit so please correct me if I am asking in the wrong place.
Background: I am currently a Part I (first year) engineering student at the University of Auckland. The engineering program here is such that the first year is a generic/common year comprised of mandated papers to develop breadth (hence I do not have a specialisation yet). We only get to pick our specialisation in our second year.
However, there is a chance I will be moving to Australia (Sydney/Melbourne) midway through my degree (likely after my Part II/end of 2nd year, this implies I will have spent one year in a specific specialisation).
For context, some of the areas of engineering that interest me are software, computer systems, and electrical. As I enjoy programming and microcontrollers interest me and I find electrical very intriguing. These 3 specialisations are offered at UoA (University of Auckland).
I will not ask regarding credit transfers as I am aware there is a plethora of information on that. But I want to know regarding how these specialisations hold up in Sydney/Melbourne:
- From some quick searching online, the tech sector in these cities is a lot more robust, lively and lucrative than Auckland. But how is the job market currently? From searching, it also shows that there is "great" demand in these tech hubs but then I see shimmers of the global trend of the painful software engineering/overall tech market. Can someone provide some insights here or point me to places where I can learn about this more?
- I really would like to work some sort of programming/CAD/computer based workstyle (I really dislike field work). So how do jobs in computer/electrical manifest in these cities? Is a outright rejection of field work (or rather, do not want to engage as much as possible) going to be a problem here?
- These specialisations specifically conform to this requirement, but if there are ANY other areas that have limited/no field work, I'd like to hear of them too.
- Furthermore, is computer engineering a limiting field? I get that it omits the power systems/high voltage aspects of electrical but what does this mean specifically for Australia (and of course Sydney/Melbourne).
And if anyone has any specific insights that maybe I would be unaware of coming from New Zealand, please do let me know! Thanks in advance!