Like the title implies I’m developing a bit of wanderlust. As much as I love Denver I’ve started thinking seeing more of the world would be cool. And as I have no permanent ties right now I guess it’s not a bad time to check out my options. So I wanted to gather some data from the non-North American element.
I’m a pretty typical computer nerd, Oracle Unix c++ etc. Basically what is the Economic climate for technology-jobs where you live? As the internet bubble crashed and things got much tighter here, did the rest of the world tighten as much in the Technology area as well? I’m not looking for job offers or anything, but more like “Hell yes, Companies over here are creaming their pants for anybody who can recognize a computer”, or “God no, DBAs are living on the streets, and there’s no way you’ll get a work permit unless it falls out of your butt.” I also only speak English which limits things a bit.
Why not take some vacations to various places like the UK & English speaking Canada for starters. Then check out other countries for the heck of it? Wanderlust!
What’s my country like? Well, it likes beer of course!
OK, I’m not in IT, so I can’t comment on the employment situation there, but our economy generally is not doing too badly at the moment compared to many other places.
Australia is a cool place (well, I like it, so that doesn’t say a great deal), but it can be tough to get permission to work here. We have “working holiday” visas for young people (<30) which are fairly easily obtainable for people from Commonwealth countries, Japan, and I think a few other places. Not sure about the US though. Also, bear in mind that if you make it here, you’ll be paid in Australian dollars (Pacific Pesos).
But we speak English (kinda), the beer is cold, the women are gorgeous, and the sun is shining.
Australia sounds like a good idea. We already have accepted our quota of yanks:rolleyes:
running for cover, ducking and weaving
Tech work available in Australia :
for Oracle -> some work available,
C++ -> not much work available at all. Too much competition.
Unix -> Solaris / AIX -> reasonable amounts of work available (if you know your stuff) but not much for SCO.
We aren’t crying out for or in great need for people with these qualifications, unlike a few years ago.
(The above stuff was provided by Mr Goo -> Unix dude)
I suggest working in Europe (partly because our currency is crap) and perhaps popping down to Australia for a holiday after that travel bug has sunk its fangs into you 
Hope that helps !