Working with Australians
In my career, mainly as a contractor, I‘ve worked with many people from outside the UK, as well as having worked in several foreign countries. Here are my opinions on working with Australians
Aussie IT Workers
I have to say that I have never worked with an Aussie that I disliked. I‘ve worked with quite a few of them.
They like to play hard and work hard. They are here to earn a bit of money and have a bit of fun.
They also like to take the opportunity, while they are in the UK, of doing things that people from here wouldn‘t normally get round to doing.
Business and Pleasure for IT Australians
Most people who live in the UK, after work or at the weekend, would probably go out for a drink or a meal, or maybe the cinema or the theatre.
The Aussies, like the Kiwis and South Africans, will go further afield to places well outside London at the weekend, e.g. for a Medieval Barbecue at a castle or to a big rugby or cricket match.
The also love their Barbies (barbecues, not the little doll for girls) and if you get invited to one it is not the usual limp affair if we have one here, but a proper outdoors party.
Hard Working IT Contractors
Their attitude at work is to get their heads down, work hard, don‘t get involved in office politics, and leave it all behind when they go out of the door at close of play.
I worked for one boss, at Honda in Chiswick, who said that he always hired Aussies when they came for an interview, as he knew that they would always work hard and not cause him any problems.
Bottom of his pile were ex-teachers, who he said weren‘t used to hard work, and who usually spent a lot of time chatting. I only ever worked with one ex-teacher, so can‘t classify them all like that, but he certainly fitted into my old Development Manager‘s description.
We used to call him, ‘Another scone vicar?’
I‘ve never come across an Aussie contractor who used to be a teacher, so I can‘t say which instinct would be the strongest.
Australian’s Attitude to his IT Contract
There was one Aussie who worked for me as a contractor, who was more than a little unpopular where we worked for his outspokenness, but I got on quite well with him.
I came to work at lunchtime one day and he was no longer there. It seems that he had secured a contract in Paris, but needed to start in two weeks time. My boss told him that he was on a month‘s notice here and that he had to fulfill that.
‘Don‘t be ridiculous’ said the Aussie. ‘You can‘t hold me to that’.
‘Yes, I can’ said my boss.
IT Contractor sacked on the Spot
‘I could easily stand up on this desk and piss in your face, and then you would have to let me go’ said the Aussie.
My boss said nothing, but I‘m told he was a little taken aback, as this particular technique had never been used on him all during his career in the UK.
‘Do you want me to prove it?’, said the Aussie standing up.
It seemed that he didn‘t, and he was out the door by the time that I had arrived.
Leaving Your Contract Early
We have people writing in, and I see people on other contractor boards asking the same thing, asking how they can legally get out of their contracts early.
Here is a prime example of how to do so, with a known success rate of 100% – although perhaps our female readers may want to try something else.
If there were Aussies at work, I normally socialised with them. They often said that I should come to Australia some time and left me with their addresses. I always intended to do so, but never quite got there.
I would give the Aussies a definite top mark as people to work with.
If you‘re a bit of a skiver, though, you wouldn‘t want too many of them working where you worked.
So, that’s my experiences of working with Australians? What’s yours?
