Fellow Melbourne (though originally from Asia) IT professional here. I too have struggled with AU IT industry a lot since arriving here 10 years ago. AU is a service-driven economy and IT market reflects it i.e. most companies don’t cares much about inventing, creating or innovating and there’s little incentive to think outside the box in this domain. On the flip side, life is easy and as long as you’re not too aspirational or expect high level of technical aptitude from management or recruiters, adjusting is possible. I guess this may sound like a dream to some and a nightmare to others - it’s all about your perspective, objective and expectations and isn’t that different to the rest of the world (US and perhaps pockets of Asia excepted). I’ve been told it’s all about “playing the game” but have to admit that, just like the author, I find it to be a hard mental work. In addition, looking at my peers who seemingly don’t have these worries as they work in other industries, makes you question your career choices.

If you’re hungry, restless and the IT industry culture status quo shock is too great to stomach, migrating to US (managed to work across both continents for a bit of perspective) is pretty much the only option :(