> The larger tech companies in Melbourne and Sydney are giving $120k+ AUD total comp to grads

Which larger tech companies?

I'm self employed and have worked 100% remote for around 5 years, so am a bit out of touch. However, I have close friends in senior positions at major tech companies in Melbourne (REA, Xero etc.) and $120k for grads sadly does not align with what I've heard from them, closer to $70k (AUD) for a grad seems to be the norm.

> closer to $70k (AUD) for a grad seems to be the norm

Which by all accounts is a fantastic wage for someone fresh out of Uni -- nothing to sneeze at. Don't get discouraged keep at it, you'll get there.

It's absolutely nothing to sneeze at when comparing yourself to the rest of Australian society. Certainly got to be thankful to be in the industry.

However, it's a surprisingly weak effort by Australian tech companies to attract high quality talent. My first full-time software development job, almost 10 years ago and without a degree, was $70k. That was at your run-of-the-mill medium sized enterprise consulting firm.

Not REA, they offer really low.

I'm talking about Atlassian, Canva, Google, AWS, IMC, Optiver.

> The larger tech companies in Melbourne and Sydney are giving $120k+ AUD total comp to grads.

That's some nonsense. Could you drop some names for 'Graduate X' which has that kind of pay scale?

With that being said, it's quite possible to earn 150k+ within 4-5 years in Melbourne. Just be smart about it, listen out for what technologies are trending because inevitably they will be the most numerous and with the highest chance to score a well paying role -- especially if you have your ahead of the influx of developers in X language.

By all accounts I'm not especially talented and I have done so.

PS. If you want $$ learn Salesforce, the money which comes along with knowing that system is freakin craziness.

Not nonsense at all. I answered with a list of companies.

I got offered $150k+ at Zendesk Melbourne out of uni, but that was a special situation. But also I literally did get that offer so no, 120k is not "nonsense".

You just stated that it was an exceptional circumstance and now we're saying that it's normal. You played your cards right and got out on top, that's great - congrats.

I can tell you however, that is not a normal run-of-the-mill pay-scale for a Uni graduate.

Yeah it's not run of the mill, but great graduate candidates can absolutely get $120K+, so it puts into perspective the salary of the thread's OP, who had like 5 years experience.