Author Topic: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice  (Read 20440 times)

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Offline EEVblog

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #75 on: September 12, 2017, 11:19:00 am »
Anyways... tommorow I have my first interview in Australia at Rode Microphones. I'm very excited :box:
Rewatching Dave's videos on microphones.
Gonna nail it.

Not hard to nail when you have half a dozen in-depth technical videos from the former head designer at Rode!
Good luck. Nice company to have on your resume.
Who got you that interview?
« Last Edit: September 12, 2017, 11:21:17 am by EEVblog »
 
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Offline ^_^Topic starter

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #76 on: September 14, 2017, 01:27:38 am »
I've got it myself.
They posted an Embedded Software Engineer job on Seek. It said citizens/PR only, so I wrote them an email with resume, asking if they have anything else, and they called back the next day. A bit weird.
Looking at their webpage the day before, it was clear they have plans for new (more "digital") products.

As for the interview, I did well.
« Last Edit: September 14, 2017, 06:41:59 am by ^_^ »
 

Online Brumby

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #77 on: September 14, 2017, 03:37:15 am »
Certainly don't start pointing out any silliness you might feel occurred during the interview - whether you get the job or not.  If the interviewer asked something bizarre, they may have had good reason or they may have had a brain fade in the moment.  Either way, your response is far more important than their question.  Be professional.  This goes for any other elements of the interview.

It is probably wise to not get too talkative - you never know who reads this forum.  It might be your next potential employer.
 
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Online Brumby

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #78 on: September 14, 2017, 03:40:48 am »
Remember - even though you have given no direct identifying information here, there are enough dots for somebody to have a good chance of connecting them...
 

Online Brumby

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #79 on: September 14, 2017, 03:51:04 am »
Oh .... and did you enjoy yesterday's weather?

It is typical of a moderate Summer's day in Sydney.  Some days will get hotter and you will look forward to a day as 'cool' as yesterday.

If you caught any of the news last night about some bushfires around the place, it is an example of what you are likely to see many more times over the next few months.

And ... yes ... we do have idiots that actually set some of these fires on purpose.  We don't really have "lynch mobs" in Australia - but when one of these characters is identified we can get awfully close.  Fortunately, the authorities take arson in the bush very seriously - and will go to extreme lengths to find someone guilty of it.
 
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Offline ^_^Topic starter

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #80 on: September 14, 2017, 07:06:57 am »
Remember - even though you have given no direct identifying information here, there are enough dots for somebody to have a good chance of connecting them...

They'd know instantaneously who am I (by reading the text below for example :D ), and I don't mind as we're talking very positively/excitedly about the company here :)

Oh .... and did you enjoy yesterday's weather?

Duuude... I've set out in long sleeve shirt, nice pants, 4kg notebook in a bag, and a backpack full of electronics...
3 trains, 1 bus, and 2km by foot. One way.
Thanks for reminding ::)
 

Online Brumby

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #81 on: September 14, 2017, 08:46:43 am »
Remember - even though you have given no direct identifying information here, there are enough dots for somebody to have a good chance of connecting them...

They'd know instantaneously who am I (by reading the text below for example :D ), and I don't mind as we're talking very positively/excitedly about the company here :)
That's OK then - but just be careful.

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Oh .... and did you enjoy yesterday's weather?

Duuude... I've set out in long sleeve shirt, nice pants, 4kg notebook in a bag, and a backpack full of electronics...
3 trains, 1 bus, and 2km by foot. One way.
That's quite a trek - even for Sydney.  You'll be a public transport aficionado by Christmas!  (No snow, though.)

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Thanks for reminding ::)
Always glad to help!  :-+
« Last Edit: September 14, 2017, 08:49:00 am by Brumby »
 
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Offline Halcyon

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #82 on: September 14, 2017, 08:58:04 am »
Best get used to the weather, Summer isn't far away. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, I don't mind the hot or cold. Then again, I wasn't schlepping around with a heavy bag. The wind today had a bit of a bite to it.
 
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Offline ^_^Topic starter

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #83 on: October 02, 2017, 09:15:31 am »
I got the job!! :-+
Hope for long-lasting cooperation :)
Moving to Wentworth Point next weekend. Area seems nice (park, promenade, river), 1h ferry trip to Opera (:popcorn:) or train from Rhodes.

The location was optimized for commuting time. It's just 5km: 60min by foot, 35min by bus(es), 20min by bike, 10min by car.
I guess bike it is, just like you guys mentioned before, haha!
Though I'm surprised that I didn't see lots of bikers around Sydney.

Is it traditional to bring food on the first day?
I've made protein chocolate balls with a friend and saved many for the occasion. Plan is to make cookies as well.

Except work, I've visited robodino makerspace (http://robodino.org/space) one day.
I think it's a great place for lab-less person :)
I've also found this (http://makerspace.org.au/book-classes/).
You pay a lot for classes (and monthly subscription) but get to learn new stuff (like ceramics). Will give it a try.

Thank you all for posting in this thread!!! :-+
Looking forward to next EEVblog Sydney meetup hehe >:D
 

Online Brumby

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #84 on: October 02, 2017, 03:23:50 pm »
Congratulations on the job!  Hope it's all you expect.

I trust you're not getting too used to the weather we've had lately.  It's been far too mild and far too dry.  Summer is going to hit hard in a few weeks - and mother nature is behind on the rain.  Expect that to catch up sometime.

Oh ... and 20 minute travel time by bike is going to be fairly consistent.  The 10 minutes by car is not going to be nearly as regular.... Traffic, you know.
« Last Edit: October 02, 2017, 03:25:30 pm by Brumby »
 
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Offline VK5RC

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #85 on: October 04, 2017, 10:37:24 am »
Great to hear re the job.  :-+
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 
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Offline Halcyon

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #86 on: October 04, 2017, 11:29:16 am »
I got the job!! :-+

As Dave would say "Winner winner, chicken dinner!" (Why isn't there an icon for that?, below is a template for anyone good with Photoshop).

 
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Offline EEVblog

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #87 on: October 04, 2017, 01:30:58 pm »
I got the job!! :-+

W00t!
The Rode mics one?
That will look good on your resume.
Pro tip (so I've heard), avoid the owner and you'll be fine  ;D
What will you be doing?

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Hope for long-lasting cooperation :)
Moving to Wentworth Point next weekend. Area seems nice (park, promenade, river), 1h ferry trip to Opera (:popcorn:) or train from Rhodes.
The location was optimized for commuting time. It's just 5km: 60min by foot, 35min by bus(es), 20min by bike, 10min by car.
I guess bike it is, just like you guys mentioned before, haha!

Yep, should be an easy and safe bike ride.
Newington Armory is nice detour, and you are also a stones throw from Olympic park which is quite nice. You could walk to the events and footy matches. Always heaps of stuff happening there.

 
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Offline EEVblog

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #88 on: October 04, 2017, 01:33:19 pm »
Yep, should be an easy and safe bike ride.

Just realised you'll have to cross Silverwater Road. Yuck.
 
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Online Brumby

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #89 on: October 04, 2017, 11:00:26 pm »
I wouldn't be too worried about crossing Silverwater Road on a bike - there are lights with pedestrian crossing at a number of points.

Travelling along Silverwater Road on a bike, however, would be quite a different thing ... and something I would strongly recommend be avoided at any time of the day.

Even though riders of pushbikes have the same rights (and responsibilities) on the roads as other vehicles, many Sydney motorists consider them obstacles that need to get out of their way.  Even a bike rider in a marked bike lane cannot presume they are any safer than on a normal carriageway ... unless that bike lane is on an independent bike path that is physically separate from mainstream traffic.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2017, 11:05:42 pm by Brumby »
 
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Offline ^_^Topic starter

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #90 on: October 22, 2017, 08:36:49 am »
What will you be doing?

I'm a firmware guy.
Company's great, enjoying it a lot :-+
Can't say more :)

BTW some agencies called after 3 weeks of silence LOL. And some didn't respond at all.
I'm also really surprised, that there's such a big "focus" on C++ and Linux in embedded. Even if they want bare-metal C guy.
My little theory is agencies want to get best generic candidates and it might not be what company really needs.
It seems to me one needs to learn "how to BS" and kind of self-marketing when going through them.
 

Offline IDEngineer

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #91 on: April 10, 2020, 05:56:51 pm »
Saw this thread bubble to the surface again and had to comment....

We visited Sydney about ten years ago in the midst of a longer trip. Figured "Eh, just another big city" so we were only there for a couple of days.

DANG... we could have stayed two weeks! We quickly fell in love with it and would love to return someday. We had no schedule at all, yet every waking moment was packed and we didn't touch 1% of what we learned was happening.

My personal favorite was Luna Park. I'm a sucker for amusement parks anyway and my (then) 5YO son and I had an absolute blast. There's this one indoor space that has "alpine slides" (think wooden whoop-de-doos) and a huge rotating wooden disk in the floor where the goal is to be the last one flung off by centripetal force (I won!). Meanwhile my wife and in-laws went to some kind of street market and said they didn't touch a quarter of it in half a day.

We went to Sydney with low expectations and were totally blown away by how diverse and beautiful and fun it is. You'll love living there. I'm kinda jealous, actually.
 

Online Brumby

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #92 on: April 11, 2020, 06:21:46 am »
My personal favorite was Luna Park. I'm a sucker for amusement parks anyway and my (then) 5YO son and I had an absolute blast. There's this one indoor space that has "alpine slides" (think wooden whoop-de-doos)
Been a while since I've been there.  Did you go on the regular ones - or the kamikaze ones (where the first 10 feet or so are vertical  >:D )

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and a huge rotating wooden disk in the floor where the goal is to be the last one flung off by centripetal force (I won!).
I never won on that - mainly because I wasn't fast enough to get to the centre.

You would have liked it better when the original Big Dipper was running.
 

Offline IDEngineer

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #93 on: April 12, 2020, 02:29:18 am »
Been a while since I've been there.  Did you go on the regular ones - or the kamikaze ones (where the first 10 feet or so are vertical  >:D )
We went on everything. As I recall, the big ones were against the wall with a sort of diorama of snowy scenes on the wall behind them. You climbed pretty much to the ceiling to start on them.

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I never won on that - mainly because I wasn't fast enough to get to the centre.
Neither was I, and I would have felt bad shoving little kids out of position. But they didn't know how to maximize friction, and as they'd skitter away I'd reposition toward the center. Basically a war of attrition. And darned good fun too!
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #94 on: April 12, 2020, 10:57:15 am »
Been a while since I've been there.  Did you go on the regular ones - or the kamikaze ones (where the first 10 feet or so are vertical  >:D )
We went on everything. As I recall, the big ones were against the wall with a sort of diorama of snowy scenes on the wall behind them. You climbed pretty much to the ceiling to start on them.

Unfortunately they built big apartment blocks literally meters away from the big dipper, and surprise surprise, the new residents complained about the noise. And surprise surprise, they won, and they had to remove the big dipper.
It's a real sore point in Sydney culture, a few moron developers and residents ruined the original Luna park.
 

Online Brumby

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #95 on: April 12, 2020, 11:25:47 am »
Unfortunately they built big apartment blocks literally meters away from the big dipper, and surprise surprise, the new residents complained about the noise. And surprise surprise, they won, and they had to remove the big dipper.
It's a real sore point in Sydney culture, a few moron developers and residents ruined the original Luna park.

It's still a sore point.   >:(

The problem came from the park shutting down after the Ghost Train fire in 1979.  The original Big Dipper was demolished, along with other attractions.  It then had a series of shutdowns for various reasons, but in 1994 a steel roller coaster was installed.  In that 15 years, there was no noise, so when the new residents were exposed to the noise that had previously been there for more than 60 years, they whined ... and won, causing one of those shutdowns.

IMHO, that wouldn't have happened if the Big Dipper had been running all along.  Mind you, I believe the development units would have sold for far less.
 

Offline GlennSprigg

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #96 on: April 12, 2020, 12:13:31 pm »
I'm happy for you!!  I think it was the "A-Team" on TV years ago, that always said..."I love it when a plan comes together!!"  :)
I'm originally from Adelaide, but now out from Perth for over 8 years. I KNOW all the good work opportunities are in the Eastern States, but other things factored it for me. Like cost of housing!!  and travel distance!!  A (cheap?) house in Sydney, costing say $800,000 where you travel say 1 + 1/2 hours or more to work/City was excessive. The same quality/style house in Adelaide would be about $300,000 to $400,000 and travel time would be typically 30 mins now!  And the extra $400,000 stays in the bank!!  8) But we go where the need is, I understand.  :(

Regarding 'interviews', I found it funny at times, what the interviewer wants/needs to hear.  My background was in commercial/industrial electronics in private/civil companies & organizations. Once, I went for a job with a Government/Utility position, and they had their own way of talking about or referring to certain technical systems, that 'seemed' unfamiliar to me.  An hour later, I said... "Oh!, you are talking about P.I.D. (Proportional, Integral, Derivative) action & controls... why didn't you say P.I.D. !!"  (They had some other stupid names!).  I then went on to drawing various schematics to explain it all, including various computer controlled 4-20mA systems. They were most relieved. The next day they rang to offer me the job, but had since accepted a tech job with Honeywell. (Security, Banks, Prisons, HiRise HVAC & access control systems).
Would not have chosen that later, but was very interesting!! (Another story).

I'm too old now, & medically retired and is all in the past now. Hope you have great success in your life!!  :-+
Diagonal of 1x1 square = Root-2. Ok.
Diagonal of 1x1x1 cube = Root-3 !!!  Beautiful !!
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #97 on: April 14, 2020, 12:05:20 pm »
I'm happy for you!!  I think it was the "A-Team" on TV years ago, that always said..."I love it when a plan comes together!!"  :)
I'm originally from Adelaide, but now out from Perth for over 8 years. I KNOW all the good work opportunities are in the Eastern States, but other things factored it for me. Like cost of housing!!  and travel distance!!  A (cheap?) house in Sydney, costing say $800,000 where you travel say 1 + 1/2 hours or more to work/City was excessive. The same quality/style house in Adelaide would be about $300,000 to $400,000 and travel time would be typically 30 mins now!  And the extra $400,000 stays in the bank!!  8) But we go where the need is, I understand.  :(

One thing that pisses me off is when young people say "I can't afford to buy a house in Sydney!" Bullshit, you just can't afford a house in a posh suburb next to your favorite cafe.  :rant:
But sure Adelaide is MUCH cheaper than Sydney which is crazy expensive.
 

Offline GlennSprigg

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #98 on: April 14, 2020, 12:48:18 pm »
I hear what you are saying Dave, and understand. And I don't think you are referring to me when talking about young yuppies !!  ;D
I guess 'we' (a lot of Aussies) are/have-been 'spoilt' in places like Adelaide.  As a tech in Adelaide for many years, and at times being "On Call" for 24-hr breakdowns in the City, I would often travel in a Work Car between 15 & 30 mins to attend a site. I can't even IMAGINE how a 'tech' would travel say 1 & 1/2 hours to go to a call after hours??  Obviously people would have to be rostered on & stay in the City???  :o

Actually, my BEST (easiest) job was living in a house owned by the company, right next to the factory!!  (10 mins from the City!!).
I was paying $26 / week for a 3-bedroom house on a large block. Back gate to go to work, & home for 'Smoko/Lunch'  ;D
Diagonal of 1x1 square = Root-2. Ok.
Diagonal of 1x1x1 cube = Root-3 !!!  Beautiful !!
 

Offline vk6zgo

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Re: Moving to Sydney soon! & asking for advice
« Reply #99 on: April 16, 2020, 12:28:55 am »
I hear what you are saying Dave, and understand. And I don't think you are referring to me when talking about young yuppies !!  ;D
I guess 'we' (a lot of Aussies) are/have-been 'spoilt' in places like Adelaide.  As a tech in Adelaide for many years, and at times being "On Call" for 24-hr breakdowns in the City, I would often travel in a Work Car between 15 & 30 mins to attend a site. I can't even IMAGINE how a 'tech' would travel say 1 & 1/2 hours to go to a call after hours??  Obviously people would have to be rostered on & stay in the City???  :o

Actually, my BEST (easiest) job was living in a house owned by the company, right next to the factory!!  (10 mins from the City!!).
I was paying $26 / week for a 3-bedroom house on a large block. Back gate to go to work, & home for 'Smoko/Lunch'  ;D

How about 3-4 hours to a country town?

You get there, & you're completely shattered after finishing your normal day, loading the van, driving there, lugging heavy gear out of the van, then getting into it!
That was life working for Telecom Australia's Broadcast Service Centre, back in the late '70s & the1980s.

If we were going a very long way, we usually flew & picked up a hire car on the other end, but on one memorable occasion, we drove overnight, non-stop Perth---Carnarvon.
Glad we had a Holden wagon--- the dear old Hi-Ace would have "got a bit old" on that run.

Lots of 'roos on the road at "stupid o'clock" in the morning in the last few 100s of km!


 


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