How I Landed My First Software Engineering Job in Australia: A Guide for Aspiring Mobile App Developers and Engineers
Starting a career as a mobile app developer in Australia can be a daunting journey, especially for immigrants and expats. In this blog, I will share my personal experience on how I secured my first software engineering job within just one and a half months of arriving in Australia. From job search platforms to technical interview tips, this guide will be particularly helpful for anyone seeking a job as a mobile app developer or professional app developer in Australia.
My Background and Job Search Strategy
Before transferring to Australia in 2023, I had already accumulated 3 years of enjoy as a software engineer in Sri Lanka. My history consists of a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems from the University of Colombo School of Computing, and my tech stack ordinarily revolves around ReactJS, AWS, and NextJS.
Upon arrival in Australia, I began applying for jobs through important structures: LinkedIn and Seek.Com. Interestingly, most of my responses and interview invitations came from Seek.Com, a platform that is widely utilized by small and medium-sized tech corporations in Australia. Many of these groups don’t have an active LinkedIn presence, so that they publish their openings on Seek.Com as an alternative. This become a critical getting to know for me, and I endorse anybody seeking out a process in Australia, especially cellular app builders, to keep each LinkedIn and Seek.Com profiles up to date.
Tailoring Your Job Search
When filtering job openings, I noticed that many agencies in Australia require a minimum of three years of revel in for software engineering roles. Since I already had revel in in ReactJS, AWS, and NextJS, I centered on jobs that matched my ability set. However, if you lack experience in certain regions like SQL or NodeJS, don’t be discouraged.
Here’s a tip: work on small tasks using the technologies you lack revel in in, and add them to GitHub. This manner, when you observe for a process, you could exhibit your paintings to ability employers. Open-supply initiatives on GitHub are another remarkable manner to illustrate your capabilities. If you are making use of for cell app developer roles in Australia, building projects in popular frameworks like React Native or Flutter and sharing them with recruiters can drastically improve your possibilities.
The Interview Process
Now, permit’s speak approximately the interview technique. For most corporations I implemented to, the interview journey started with an initial telephone call, often with the HR branch or a recruitment business enterprise. This first spherical become particularly approximately verifying my experience and technical stack.
If the call changed into at once from the hiring company, it generally concerned a technical lead or senior engineer asking in-intensity questions about my previous initiatives, demanding situations I confronted, and how I solved them. For mobile app builders in Australia, those cellphone interviews can also include questions about app-specific issues like mobile authentication, app speed, and performance.
Almost all companies desired to know how I approached real-world issues and the way my technical solutions addressed the ones issues. Since I had actual project enjoy, those questions had been clean to deal with. If you’ve got palms-on experience in software program engineering, you’ll discover that you gained’t need tons coaching for those types of questions.
Technical Interviews and Domain-Specific Questions
For technical interviews, the content often varies based on the domain of the company. For instance, if you’re applying to a company focused on mobile app development in melbourne, expect more domain-specific questions about mobile development frameworks like React Native or Flutter.
For example, one company I interviewed with requested specific questions about JavaScript promises, async capabilities, and Typescript usage. Another enterprise within the payments industry asked greater backend-orientated questions on APIs, authentication, and token control. Depending on the domain of the organization, you may be requested technical questions related to mobile app overall performance, web page loading speeds, or cell-precise challenges like server-aspect rendering and SEO optimization.
Preparing for Data Structures and Algorithms
A common situation among job seekers is whether or not data systems and algorithms (DSA) questions might be requested at some stage in technical interviews. In my revel in, not one of the businesses requested very superior or tough algorithm questions. You can avoid delaying your process packages whilst ready to master complex DSA problems. Most corporations hiring for mobile app builders or full-stack engineers in Australia awareness extra on practical capabilities related to their tech stack as opposed to excessive-degree algorithm demanding situations.
Here’s a useful tip: after you’ve passed the smartphone interview and are shifting directly to the technical spherical, it’s an amazing idea to e mail the interviewer and ask about the structure of the technical interview. You can ask if there can be stay coding, records systems, or set of rules-associated duties. Most organizations replied with information about the interview format, which helped me better put together for the next steps.
Final Thoughts and Advice
To sum up my journey, here are the key takeaways that helped me land my first job as a software engineer and mobile app developer in Australia:
- Use Both Seek.com and LinkedIn: Seek.com is an underrated platform, especially for small and medium-sized tech companies in Australia. Keep your profiles on both platforms updated with your CV and certifications.
- Don’t Worry About Missing Skills: If you lack experience in certain technologies, build pet projects and showcase them on GitHub. This demonstrates your ability to learn and adapt.
- Be Ready for Domain-Specific Questions: Technical interviews often focus on the specific domain of the company, so do some research and prepare accordingly. For mobile app developers, expect questions around mobile performance, optimization, and frameworks.
- Ask About the Interview Structure: Don’t hesitate to ask your interviewers about the structure of the technical interview. It will help you prepare and understand what’s expected.
- Don’t Wait to Master DSA: You don’t need to be an expert in complex algorithms to start applying for jobs. Focus on practical skills and problem-solving related to your field.
With these steps, I hope you too can achieve your goal of becoming a mobile app developer or professional app developer in Australia.