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Australian IT Career Insights
Practical, opinionated guides to landing and growing an IT career in Australia — the things your university didn't teach you.
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Company Tiers
God Tier to Avoid — ranked by eng culture, growth & comp
How to use this: Tiers reflect engineering culture, growth potential, and comp — not just brand prestige. A B+ company where you own a real product beats an A+ company where you resolve tickets for 3 years. Context matters.
God Tier / SSS
Elite quant trading and deep-tech product companies. Extremely selective — top 1% CS only.
Comp
$150k – $250k+ AUD (grad)
Culture
Small teams, research-heavy, performance-driven
Growth
Fastest track to principal / researcher roles
Who thrives
Competitive programming backgrounds, top-ranked grads
S+ / S — Premium Product
AU-native unicorns and high-growth global scaleups with genuine engineering culture.
Comp
$100k – $160k AUD
Culture
Strong eng culture, internal mobility, good L&D
Growth
Clear IC ladder; meaningful product ownership from year 1
Who thrives
Strong fundamentals grads who want to build real product
A+ — FAANG-adjacent
Globally recognised brands with strong AU engineering presence and RSU packages.
Comp
$120k – $180k + RSUs
Culture
Structured, process-heavy at scale; excellent brand on resume
Growth
Excellent — huge scope to move teams internally
Who thrives
Grads who want FAANG brand + solid distributed systems exposure
A — Strong Mid-tier
Good companies that don't get enough credit. More relaxed than FAANG, still product-focused.
Comp
$90k – $130k AUD
Culture
Flexible, collaborative, product-depth focus
Growth
Good — cross-team movement common
Who thrives
Grads who prefer product depth over raw prestige
B+ — Large Tech / Enterprise
Solid engineering orgs with structured career ladders. Slower culture than product cos.
Comp
$85k – $120k AUD
Culture
Bureaucratic at times; structured promotion paths
Growth
Predictable — clear levelling system
Who thrives
Grads who want structure and a clear promotion timeline
B — Traditional Enterprise
Large companies where IT is a cost centre. Good for stability and visa sponsorship.
Comp
$70k – $100k AUD
Culture
Slower pace, legacy codebases, political promotions
Growth
Slow — tenure + certifications drive advancement
Who thrives
Grads prioritising stability or 482 visa sponsorship
B− — Body Shops & Bank IT
Outsourcers, big-4 banks' internal IT arms, and second-tier consultancies. Go in eyes open.
Comp
$60k – $85k AUD
Culture
High utilisation, limited ownership, contractor churn
Growth
Limited — plan to use as a 2-year foothold then move
Who thrives
Grads needing an immediate visa pathway or first-job foothold
Avoid
Watch for these warning signs regardless of company name.
- No public engineering blog or tech content
- No L&D budget or training support
- "Unlimited PTO" with no one taking it
- Majority contractor / outsourced workforce
- Salary quoted inclusive of super without disclosure
Comp
Often below market, verify carefully
Culture
"Work hard play hard" on Glassdoor; no code review culture
Growth
Minimal — high burnout, high turnover
Who thrives
Nobody — move on quickly if you land here