Ask HN: Internships in Australia?

[malpiatko]

Many people from Europe use internships as a way of experience the American culture. Such internships are easy to find, as many big companies offer them: Facebook, Google, etc. Do you know any companies that would offer internships in Australia or South East Asia for European students (in my case recent graduate)?

[fekberg]

For what it's worth, Google has an office in Sydney (AFAIK this is where Google Maps was born).

Have you considered looking at a Working Holiday? This will allow you to stay and work in Australia for 1 year, 6 months per employer and can be extended to two years if you work on a farm for a little while. It's also easier to get a sponsored working visa (457, for 4 years) in Australia than in US.

Have a look at http://internships.com.au/ there's a bunch of good information on it!

[malpiatko]

The problem with big companies such as Google who have offices in Australia is that they just ignore your application or will direct you to the European recruiter. Thank you for the info about Working Holiday, I will indeed check it out.

[MichaelCrawford]

Snail-mail them a dead-tree cover letter and resume on good-quality, high cotton content paper.

Google's jobs site provides the postal addresses of many of their local offices. I don't know about Australia but many of their addresses are there. Also, they ran Want Ads in the San Jose Mercury News - scads of them.

I expect this is because Google doesn't work through third-party recruiters. That would cost billions, maybe tens of billions in commissions.

in you cover letter, maybe in your own handwriting on the back of the envelope, point out that you really do want to live in Australia, and hope to do so by working for the likes of Google.

[jpatokal]

Google Sydney's internships are indeed primarily intended at students in Australian universities. However, if you apply for a full-time job that's specifically listed as open in Sydney, and you get it, Google will pay relocation costs:

https://www.google.com/about/careers/search?jl=Sydney,Austra...

Disclaimer: I applied to work at Google Sydney, got the job, and was relocated. (From Melbourne, mind you, but there are people here from all over the globe.)

[fekberg]

Yeah, I can imagine that. They're probably overloaded with applications from all over the world (at any given office).

There are a lot of good tech companies in Australia! Good luck and let me know if you got any questions, I've been down here for almost 2 years on a sponsored working visa, it's lovely and not nearly as deadly as rumored :)

[bbody]

May seem obvious to some, but just a warning. The southern hemisphere's seasons are the opposite to the north's, as are when summer internships happen.

[mceoin]

If you're interested in working in Australia and are a U.S. citizen, there are two visas of particular interest.

J1: Student work/travel visa. You can get a 12 month visa with little hassle so long as you either are a student or have graduated from a university (or recognized equivalent) in the last 12 months.

E3: Specialist worker visa, not difficult to obtain so long as you have a 4 year degree (or 3 years experience equivalent to each year of study for a degree) in a specialized industry, which might also include management, and you are offered a job that pays above the prevailing wage. Preferable conditions to many other visas, 2year renewable visa.

please note: I'm actually Australian living in the U.S.. We have reciprocal visa arrangements with the U.S. so the above is derived from the equivalent arrangement for Australians working in the U.S.

[cylinder]

Sorry but this is completely wrong. There is no "J1" or "E3" visa in Australia. The E3 is not reciprocated at all, Americans must get a 457 just like everyone else. For a J1 style short work/ internship/travel visa there is the working holiday visa (12 months, but can't work at a single employer longer than 6 months). It can be applied for online and is usually approved almost instantaneously.

[mceoin]

Also, while that wasn't a direct answer to your posted question, you can come over on a J1, and then find an internship once you're here.

[MichaelCrawford]

The Australian E3 sounds rather like the TN1 that Mexicans, Canadians and Americans can use to work in each others' countries. It is quite simple, quick and dirt cheap - my ex used it to live with me in Santa Cruz after she was offered a job as a bio lab assistant

For me to get an E3 I'd need a job offer which is possible to do over the Internet however it is much easier if one is local.

But what I could do is come as a tourist, look for work then if I were offered a job, I'd go to New Zealand or Thailand then apply for the E3.

What my ex did, she actually was working at the job for a little while but wasn't getting paid, while I saved up a few bucks. Then she and I went to visit an old friend of hers in Victoria for a few days. Real nice time, real romantic time with my honey.

Then when we flew back, we changed planes in Seattle. When we arrived in customs I pointed out that Bonita needed a TN1.

She had to present her diploma - transcripts would have worked as well but she happened to already have her diploma with her, as well as her written job offer.

The job title has to be on a specific list. At one time it was quite difficult to obtain the actual list, so of course immigration attorneys would SEO the bejeezus out of their websites by putting "LIST OF TN1 VISA JOB TITLES" in their title and h1 tags. IIRC there were only 20 - bio lab technician, chem lab technicial, systems analyst (WTF?).

In general they were all 4-year degree stuff, but not just any 4-year degree. Like a film studies degree wouldn't do.

Canada specifically at least at one time had a visa specifically for "computer programmers", this because coders earn quite a lot more in the US than in Canada.

However my experience is that it's quite a lot cheaper to live in Canada, as well as quite a lot more pleasant.

The reason I choose to live in the US, despite my ardent desire to return to Canada, is that I regard my duty to my Mother Country as being to contribute to the solutions of its many quite profoundly serious problems.

[vicbrooker]

If you're interested in startup internships and you're in Melbourne the guys at http://www.tinalleybeta.com.au might be able to set you up somewhere. Other options are to ask around coworking spaces like inspire9 or york butter factory (Melb) or fishburners (sydney).

non-startups to look into: atlassian, campaign monitor, envato, 99 designs, canva (maybe).

Keep in mind that Australian employment law is a bit anti-internship: technically you can't contribute to a business' productivity without being characterised as an employee. So unpaid interns are, officially, not a thing here.

Unofficially, who knows where a bit of hustle can get you ;)

[becca2721]

Hi everyone

Bec from Atlassian here - I head up global campus recruitment at Atlassian.

We have an internship program in our Sydney office, and we definitely welcome applications from international students. We have had a number of students from Europe (and other global locations) intern here throughout the year. Generally our internship program opens around June, and majority of students complete their internship over our summer (Nov - Feb), however we are definitely flexible on dates (especially for international students), as well as length of placement. You can find out more at atlassian.com/graduates

A few things just to note from my experience recruiting for internship programs (broadly speaking):

- A large number of companies in Australia do not offer internships to international students - best to check online before submitting your application

- You typically need to organise your own visa to enable you to have work rights in Australia. A good place to start to look into visa options is the Australian Government's Immigration website: http://www.immi.gov.au/Work/Pages/Work.aspx

- Most internship/vacation programs run over our summer (end of Nov to end of Feb) and are typically around 12 weeks in duration

Hopefully that has helped you all a little!

[rjst01]

You should consider applying for Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/

[malpiatko]

Thanks, this sound perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. Are you working for them? Do you have a contact to apply directly to?

[rjst01]

I do work there but our HR process doesn't work like that. If you're after a full-time role I can submit your CV but it won't be treated any differently than if you apply through the website.

Our recruitment process for grads and interns is somewhat different and I don't know anything about it, sorry.

[hobos_delight]

Grads were generally an annual intake with interviews held around the start of the year (for the following year).

Interns were generally from the UNSW corporate placement program (though I can't remember the exact name for it).

Atlassian are a fantastic place to work - if you're in a position to apply for them I would highly recommend it.

Source: used to work there, hosted interns.

[atomroflbomber]

http://au.gradconnection.com/

[pinouchon]

You should checkout specialized job-boards for working abroad like http://jobsintech.io (Made the Front page couple weeks ago)

[MichaelCrawford]

I would love to live in Europe again. I lived in Italy for a little over a year when I was six years old. That was quite cool - it was like spending first grade in Disneyland.

Italians are heavily into little kids, they would throw dark chocolate soccerballs at me from their apartment balconies.

I lived in St. Genis France over the Summer of 1993 when I was writing my UCSC Senior Thesis. I'd love to work as a CERN staff member but it is only permitted to citizens of CERN member states. It would not be sufficient for me to marry one, I'd need to hold a member state passport.

I visited Paris and Rome while they are both quite cool I don't think I'd really want to live in either of them.

I've never been to Spain but I'd love to live there, maybe even stay there as I identify strongly with Don Quijote.

When I was at CERN, without a doubt there were three different women I could have - and should have - married, which would have enabled me to stay, eventually to obtain permanent residency, likely French citizenship.

There would have been lots of work for me at places other than CERN. Lots of big american firms like IBM and Google have offices in Switzerland.

But no I was bound and determined to go to grad school, get my PhD. Eventually I lost touch with all three of those fine ladies.

[huhtenberg]

Europe, Disneyland, three whole ladies. Fascinating.

So what about them internships in Australia?

[MichaelCrawford]

I used to work for an Australian astronomer. I've never been to australia itself, but I think the Australian people are quite cool.

Dr. Mould looked and spoke just like Crocodile Dundee.

[chris_wot]

Bugger all. Australia used to have traineeships for trades, but even this is falling by the wayside.

[yitchelle]

They should bring apprenticeship back for specialist employment as software development, system administration etc. I have friends in the Melbourne area that went through the apprenticeship program for motor mechanic, plumber and carpentry who have done pretty well for themselves.

Although the skills learned are very different, but conceptually it should work in a similar manner.

[MichaelCrawford]

What I'd like to see is some manner of On The Job Training.

I mean anything at all - the tiniest little crumb would make my whole fucking day.

At Knowmed Systems, I was paid to read a book then write practice Smalltalk code for my first week. My second week I was working productively, my third week I was just as good at Smalltalk as most of the other coders there.

For the last fifteen years though I am commonly told that the employer wants "someone who can hit the ground running".

The long-term effect of that has, by now, resulted in NO ONE having the ability to hit the ground running. That is one of the real causes of the perceived yet largely fictitious shortage of software engineers.

It wasn't really until after the Dot-Com Crash happened that anyone ever expected ME to hit the ground running.

Before that, while I was generally expected to be qualified, I was regarded as so-qualified because I learned how to write FORTRAN Computational Physics code during my Physics studies. I only had just one CS algorithms and data structures class, however it was quite a good class.

My actual experience is that I really don't need to know a whole lot more than stacks, arrays, linked lists and binary trees, as well as the standard library routines that operate on them.

I think graphs are just dandy but I can't really say I've ever needed to use a graph on the job.

Yes I am very intrigued to study sorting algorithms as well as to puzzle over various ways the I could beat QuickSort - but in my actual workplaces I just call the C Standard Library qsort().

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

Your profile says you have 26 years of experience, I would certainly expect someone with half that much time in the profession to hit most grounds running.

[MichaelCrawford]

No one seems to believe me that even I can hit the ground running.

[julien421]

Hey malpiatko, you should check this page from techmeabroad: https://techmeabroad.com/search/au/all

Hope this helps

[fungi]

Generally it should be part of a recognosed training prog.

http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/unpaid-work/work-experience-a...

[johnymontana]

Check out http://www.theinterngroup.com/ they can set up internships in Melbourne and Hong Kong. Full disclosure: my wife works for The Intern Group.

[tonteldoos]

It depends on what type of internship you're after? Some of the cities are definitely bigger on certain types of work. And being Australia, it's not really like you can work in the 'next town over', unfortunately...

[prawn]

I've hosted four Dutch trainees on five-month placements in Adelaide. They did general web work and also worked on side-project, startup-style web apps. Great experience.

[malpiatko]

Sent you an email.

[Ryders]

Mate - send me your resume, expectations, dates, etc

seb at http://subscribility.com

We're in Sydey

[ajdlinux]

You will have issues with visas - for stuff like internships, many companies insist that you're a permanent resident or an Australian/New Zealand citizen.

[kokey]

Many European countries have a working holiday deal with Australia, that allows under 30s to work in Australia for one year.

[MichaelCrawford]

Soon, but not just yet:

http://www.warplife.com/jobs/computer/australia/

I don't have anything listed there at all yet, however I do have some Australian companies in the OpenOffice spreadsheet that I've been compiling these indexes in.

It would not be hard for me to find lots more but I figure I now know how to proceed with automating a good chunk of it.

If it's urgent I will post what I have by this evening though, then dig up some more.