How to make $160,000 (or 80 Lakhs) PA as an Immigrant working in IT, New Zealand?
Below is a realistic, step-by-step roadmap to earning NZD $160,000+ per year (≈ INR 80 Lakhs) as an immigrant working in IT in New Zealand, based on true story.
Talking about money is hard, especially working in IT. To add to the complexity imagine that you are an immigrant with no prior experience, you have moved to New Zealand to study. You are pursuing either a Bachelor’s or a Master’s in some form of IT course. It could be business analysis, software engineering, product design or informational technology.
The path ahead seems steep, there is deep competition and so many factors working against you. You are probably thinking how will you find the first IT job let alone earning a 6 figure income.
Here is a guide that can make your dream reality. Let’s walk through this real story of Santiago.
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Santiago was originally from South India. He was a tall, dark and handsome young man. Youth sprouted quite early on and at teenage he was already looking like an adult. While he was completing his Class 10, his parents decided that they will move to New Zealand as a family. He was doing quite well in school and didn’t oppose to the change. He said yes. He moved to New Zealand and completed his high school Class 12 (or NCEA level 3 as they call it here). He got merits in all the subjects and his favourite was Science with Maths. He had the option of either choosing medicine or pursue IT. He made the decision to pursue IT as it seemed a promising career with early rewards.
$0 - $20,0000
He enrolled for a 3 year study program in IT. He moved out of his home and started flatting in university. He studied hard, submitted all his papers on time, worked on his practical assignments and looked for part-time opportunities while studying. What he was doing different from his peers was that he was just not studying, but building his portfolio. An example, was asked to build a website, he coded the website and parallelly created a portfolio. He reached out within the community asking if anyone would like to a hire student to build a website and shared his portfolio. He was converting classroom assignment into real life work projects. His classmates were spending all their time going out every weekend and enjoying themselves, but he knew as an immigrant if he didn’t build his career, his next work visa won’t be issued. He couldn’t take the risk. He knew about delayed gratification.
$20,000 - $86,000
During his final years in Bachelor’s he actively started looking for jobs, but he was strategic again. He didn’t apply for full time roles, he knew as a fresh graduate that was a major risk for any employer. Instead he applied for temporary roles, contract roles. Roles which were short term with no more than 3-6 months. A job that looked not very lucrative, jobs that fresh graduates felt that they were too good for, Santiago was applying for them. One day he found a role which was paying around $45 per hour, it was advertised for 3 months, night shifts, travel included, ability to work long working hours and lift heavy objects. This role was not attractive to most candidates, but Santiago applied for it anyways. He was shortlisted for the position immediately. The employer wanted to have a two stage interview with senior managers, but during his interview they were impressed that they didn’t even ask him for a round 2.
Santiago had carefully aligned his CV and Cover Letter to match the skills, experience and the language that the employer was looking for. Instead of just submitting his application, he showed evidence of his previous work and a clear alignment of how this role fits into his career plan. Such a deep and thoughtful application made the employer want to reach out and find out more about him. Santiago secured the role.
$86,000 - $110,000
Once Santiago’s contract expired, the employer was impressed with his working abilities. Santiago would work long hours, all night, he would travel for work, he was an infrastructure engineer more than an IT technician. He listened to his seniors and followed instructions, he didn’t try to change things, he only gave his opinion when he was asked to. His professionalism and ability to fit within the team, lead him to a renewal of his contact for a year and also offered him a promotion within 9 months of working. As IT Support Technician he was earning $86,000 and suddenly he was at $110,000 per year.
$110,000 - $144,000
Santiago’s responsibility continued getting added day after day, his role massively shifted from being a IT Support Technician - Infrastructure Engineer - Lead Infrastructure Engineer. Now he was not only doing his job, he was training other new engineers in his team. He was starting to become the go-to-person. His team was enjoying working with him, his project manager was happy with his work, his clients were satisfied with the quality of work that he was doing. But what no-one else knew about his big salary jumps was he was doing the work that most people didn’t enjoy doing, the hours were long and brutal, he didn’t complain. Every challenge to him was an opportunity to learn something new, he would learn, train hard and solve hard problems that no-one else knew how to solve. He went to work with no entitlement, no past success or ego. He approached work as everyday, he was grateful. He didn’t complain. He didn’t mope. His mindset towards work was not like an immigrant but like a citizen of the country. He valued time more than money. He kept his circle small and focused. Only quality people. He didn’t wait to be within the 1% of NZ, he was already operating from that mindset. He didn’t wait to be a millionaire to apply the work ethic. He was already showing up as one. He was different, yet subtle. He was loud, but others were cheering for him. He was tactical, he observed more. He learnt how to talk like a kiwi, how to blend into kiwi teams, what impresses kiwi employers. He made this country his own.
$144,000 - $160,000
After working for the same employer for over 4 years, Santiago was now 26. His contract kept renewing every year. He liked being a contractor, not many immigrants like that. He knew that the sense of security comes with a price. He wanted to be a contractor, this came with many advantages and disadvantages. The advantages; his time was valuable, meetings that he was invited in was value based, clear actions and outcomes, he would not get involved the office politics and the team drama. The disadvantages were he couldn’t get paid for sick leave, annual leave, he had to pay huge taxes and file his own ACC. But in the end advantages weighed out. He was promoted again as the SAP Project Lead. He was now flying more often to meetings with senior project managers, CEOs and CIOs. His current project manager started offloading some of his work to share the portfolio. He started managing teams, not just training new staff, he started bringing in new business with the client relationships that he held and secured over the years. All the late nights paid off. During this time, he met a beautiful girl and got married, bought his first home, sixth car. He went from student visa - work visa - residence visa - permanent residence visa. At age 27, Santiago became the youngest, most highly paid individual in his family.
Key lessons from this story:
Santiago studied hard, he knew that if he made a few sacrifices now he would have a comfortable life later
He created his own opportunities and didn’t wait for them to come to him
He did jobs that no-one else wanted to do, this meant he was getting better everyday and no one saw him coming
He used the favour bank cleverly and continued giving without expecting anything in return, but when he did, people felt obliged to help him because he had deposited favours already.
He was solving hard business problems everyday. While most people were distracted and busy complaining, he was busy learning, training and testing.
He kept interviewing to know his worth. He didn’t stop applying for jobs after he secured his role, every once or twice a year when his contract was up for renewal he would apply for roles. He knew his market worth and didn’t shy from negotiating.
He used strategy and careful planning. He used forward thinking. He invested in New Zealand’s top career coach. They would have monthly catch-up sessions where he would learn how to work as a kiwi, how to fit in and get the best work done.
He avoided markets that were too ambitious such as cybersecurity. He knew that most cybersecurity companies are run by word-of-mouth in NZ. Those companies are comprised of kiwis and can easily get 10 - 12 years of security clearance. He also knew that it is every graduate’s dream to look for those roles, but he choose a market that works for him. Instead of chasing his dreams, he got his dreams chasing him.
Last one, he never for once thought of himself as a migrant, he operated as a kiwi. Like he belonged here. That this was home for him. That there was no fall back option. He was paving his path while walking on it. One road that leads to home.
So ladies and gentlemen this was the story of a 27 year old boy who earned $160,000 as an immigrant in IT here in New Zealand. He came from humble beginnings but with the right guidance and planning he was able to acheive in 6 years which most graduates take years.
If you’d like to live a similar dream like Santiago, who had no idea where to begin? You have come to the right place. Book an appointment with my team today, to show you how we can make your dreams chase you.