[damianandtracy]

I have been looking at the Long Terms skills shortage and my role, IT (ICT) Management is right up there. The thing is they talk of a Level 7 degree AND 3 years experience.

I have plenty of experience, in fact 22 years in IT and 8 of them in management, but no degrees.

What are the rules when it comes to relevant experience. Is a degree critical and should I give up and go to Oz instead. Anyone here managed to get into IT without a degree.

Thanks

Damian

[Mels]

No you don't need a degree. If you need to claim points for a role in the long term shortage list then you need a degree at level 7. If you have a job offer and a good few years relavent experience your points will add up. Have you tried the SMC points guide?

Mels

[mgbridges]

For the EOI my OH as principal applicant had this problem. He is an IT Project Manager which was on the LTSS list but his degree is in Electrical Engineering. Although we claimed points for his work experience (well over 10yrs) on the EOI they ultimately took the points off the total because his degree was not in IT. We even provided a breakdown of the course elements but not enough were IT based.

We got around the problem of reduced points (down to 115) by OH coming out to NZ for a 1 week job seeking trip. He interviewed with several (8 I think) IT companies and came home with 3 job offers one of which he accepted which tipped our points into the automatic ITA level.

So yes you can definitely get into the IT job market here if you have the right experience however to claim points for your experience on the EOI you need a degree that matches up.

HTH
Anneliese

[damianandtracy]

Not all gloom then :)

I have been looking at the points allocation and am a bit unsure of one part of experience:

Bonus points for employment or offer of employment in:

· An identified future growth area, identified cluster, or area of absolute skills shortage 5

* IT Appears to be a growth area, would these 5 points count without a degree"

Relevant work experience:

· 2 years 10
· 4 years 15
· 6 years 20
· 8 years 25
· 10 years 30

* I am assuming this is the w/e mentioned *

Additional bonus points for work experience in an identified future growth area, identified cluster or area of absolute skills shortage:

· 2 to 5 years 10
· 6 years or more 15

* As above IT Appears to be a growth area, would these 5 points count without a degree - this seems to be a duplication *


Thanks again for the info

Damian

[mgbridges]

Hi Damian,

To be honest I couldn't say one way or the other as OH completed our EOI and most of the ITA - I just organised all the photocopying and couriering required. We also did all this stuff in the early part of 2007 and I have to say its rather faded in my memory now! :o

If I was you I'd claim for points even if you are unsure, the worst that can happen is that they take the points away from you. The only thing to then be worried about is if they did take the points away would your total then put you below 100 which I think is the current minimum to get into the 'pool'.

Good luck filling it all in and maybe somebody with a better memory than me will come along soon to answer your specific queries.

Sorry not to be more helpful!
Anneliese

[Familyofmonkeys]

For the EOI my OH as principal applicant had this problem. He is an IT Project Manager which was on the LTSS list but his degree is in Electrical Engineering. Although we claimed points for his work experience (well over 10yrs) on the EOI they ultimately took the points off the total because his degree was not in IT. We even provided a breakdown of the course elements but not enough were IT based.



It seems like alot of these issues are down to the person dealing with you application. OH also works in IT, but his degree was Astrophysics and Masters Earth Observational Science, then back to Astrophysics again. He stiill claimed points for his degrees and this was not a problem.

[damianandtracy]

Thanks for all of the feedback - a great help.

Damian

[djchicane]

I have been looking at the Long Terms skills shortage and my role, IT (ICT) Management is right up there. The thing is they talk of a Level 7 degree AND 3 years experience.

I have plenty of experience, in fact 22 years in IT and 8 of them in management, but no degrees.

What are the rules when it comes to relevant experience. Is a degree critical and should I give up and go to Oz instead. Anyone here managed to get into IT without a degree.

Thanks

Damian

Hi Damian,

I am in a similar situation at the moment, however my EOI changed status yesterday to Decision Successful. So I await my ITA.

I do however, have a job here in NZ. Arrived on a 1 year work visa in April.

IT Manager, (12 years exp. in comparative roles). No Degree.

Will keep you posted on my progress. I was under the impression that the immigration proceess now followed the ANZSCO classification, details here:

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Product+Lookup/1220.0~2006~Chapter~UNIT+GROUP+1351+ICT+Managers

Cheers,

Dave

[DK2NZ]

Hi Damian

Don't know if you have gotten your answer. But based on my own experience you will only be able to claim bonus points for normal work experience in a comparable labour market, if you have no NZ job offer.

So no identified future growth area or area of absolute skills shortage points etc, unless you have a job offer in NZ. Pretty unfair if you ask me...

I have almost 20 years of experience in IT (senior Oracle consultant), but I was unable to claim any extra bonus points due to the fact that I have no degree in IT. NZQA pre-assement rated my IT education level 6.

A friend of mine with the same education tried anyway, and got selected. He was however stripped of these points, and went back into the pool with reduced points. This happened around february this year, and I don't know if procedures have changed since.

My wife and I got selected anyway, since even without the bonus points we managed to get 120 points, and that was enough.

Good luck with your EOI.

/Niels

[adkck]

Hey there,

Jumping in kind of late but thought I would answer...

My hubby and I ran into the exact issue and our EOI is no longer valid as hubby being Principle Applicant. OH has been working with computers for 17 years. He is exceptionally talented in ALL realms of the computer world. From what I understand, there is only a dozen of folks in the USA whom are capable of doing the work my hubby does. Cannot get into details. Drum roll.....


He has NO degree. He has some college but no degree in IT. We claimed all his work experience, his work is on both immediate and long term shortage lists, TONS of experience and talent. So, unless you have a degree in IT, you cannot claim any bonus points on the EOI. If you have government-accredited certificates and diplomas in the IT world, then there is a good chance you will need your qualifications assessed by the NZQA.

I do not think you need a degree in order to get a job in NZ. However, you cannot claim any bonus work experience on the shortage lists without a degree. Like I mentioned before, any certifications or diplomas issues by government-accredited... you have probably need to do a NZQA.

It is really a shame, hubby is incredible with computers, has SO MUCH to offer NZ, and they turned their noses on us because he does not a stupid piece of paper. Anyway, we are not discouraged just a little put off. We will be trying other means. :)

Hope this helps and good luck. :nice1

[thewoodies]

My OH is now an electronics engineer with a degree. But was able to add his work experience points for being a chef (which he did before he re- trained)as it is also a shortage area.

We had to que for ages at the EXPO but once we got to talk to an immigration officer - it was really helpful e.g. which one of us should be lead applicant (we are both skill shortage) they have also changed the amounts of points for partners (who may be skill shortage - not sure but i think it went from 10 to 20 points ?)(OH did all the form filling. Also my OH is a couple of years younger than me which ment he got more points. :laugh)

Have a look on NZ website - you can fiddle around with application before you press send :D

My sister has a similar job to yours so i will watch this thread with interest good luck :cheers

[Ana&Steve]

I have been looking at the points allocation and am a bit unsure of one part of experience:
Additional bonus points for work experience in an identified future growth area, identified cluster or area of absolute skills shortage:

· 2 to 5 years 10
· 6 years or more 15

* As above IT Appears to be a growth area, would these 5 points count without a degree - this seems to be a duplication *

Hi Damian,
We submitted ITA in 2006 with loads of IT experience but no degree, were selected, then deselected and stripped of ALL bonus points because no degree. I don't know if anything's changed, but if you can get that job offer I'm thinking it's your best bet.

[adkck]

Unfortunately, this has not changed. We received an email July 31st confirming we were stripped of ALL bonus points and now we are too short of points to stay in the pool. So, we are going to re-apply as me being the Principle Applicant, however, our points will be considerably lower. I have a Master's Degree but my work is not included on either shortage list. :wah

We are keeping our spirits up and not have given up on our dream.

Getting a job offer in your related field is a good way to go if you do not have a degree. We would do that but our house is on the market so until we get that monkey off our back, we are stuck here. LOL

[Stephen Jones]

Not all gloom then :)

I have been looking at the points allocation and am a bit unsure of one part of experience:

Bonus points for employment or offer of employment in:

· An identified future growth area, identified cluster, or area of absolute skills shortage 5

* IT Appears to be a growth area, would these 5 points count without a degree"

Relevant work experience:

· 2 years 10
· 4 years 15
· 6 years 20
· 8 years 25
· 10 years 30

* I am assuming this is the w/e mentioned *

Additional bonus points for work experience in an identified future growth area, identified cluster or area of absolute skills shortage:

· 2 to 5 years 10
· 6 years or more 15

* As above IT Appears to be a growth area, would these 5 points count without a degree - this seems to be a duplication *


Thanks again for the info

Damian



Damian...

Like you I have a great deal of experience in IT but do not have a degree. I was at the emigration event at Sandown in March and spoke to two people with expert knowledge there. One was a Migration Consultant and one a lady from NZ Immigration.

Both of these people said that even though my skills were in 'An identified future growth area, identified cluster, or area of absolute skills shortage' nevertheless without the degree it was not woryj my submitting an EOI as it would be rejected as without the degree I only score 90 points,

THAT SAID, with a job offer things change and your points then go through the roof. Obtaining one of those, without being in New Zealand, is of course the difficult part.

I hope this helps.

Feel free to ask me to explain anything if this doesn't make sense.

Stephen