

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)?
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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/](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.

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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.

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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.

------
vicbrooker
If you're interested in startup internships and you're in Melbourne the guys
at [http://www.tinalleybeta.com.au](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 ;)

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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](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/](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.

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atomroflbomber
[http://au.gradconnection.com/](http://au.gradconnection.com/)

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

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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](https://techmeabroad.com/search/au/all)

Hope this helps

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fungi
Generally it should be part of a recognosed training prog.

[http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/unpaid-work/work-
experience-a...](http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/unpaid-work/work-experience-
and-internships)

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

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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.

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

seb at [http://subscribility.com](http://subscribility.com)

We're in Sydey

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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/](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.

