Mark Feaver

Thinking about moving from perm to contract in the NZ dev market? Here’s how it actually works 👇 How people really land their first contract? -> Recruiters they already know -> Ex-employers calling them back Cold applying almost never works. Who contracting actually works for? 👌 -> 5–10 years’ experience -> Strong backend/ full stack engineers -> Auckland enterprise = .NET land Think: -> C# / ASP.NET / .NET Core -> Microservices -> Azure -> Middleware & integrations (RabbitMQ, IBM MQ service bus, etc.) -> Not heaps, but a decent amount of mobile development. Large enterprise and banking environments in Auckland are consistently contractor-heavy in this stack. Timing (this is the most important bit) ⏲️ -> Best time: straight after redundancy, immediately available -> Worst time: quitting a safe perm role in a tight market hoping something turns up. Money 💴 💵 💶 -> Typical rates clearing: $80 –$125/hr -> These rates usually require sole contractor setup -> PAYE costs more for the employer → noticeably lower take-home -> Expect 4–10 interviews a year as normal churn If the market slows, you can be without work for 6–12 months. (I have someone on my books who has contracted for 12 years within NZ enterprises, and unemployed since 2024) P.S. - Contracting pays more because someone has to carry the risk. That someone is you ❤️ If you are considering a move like that, come chat.

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At the risk of sounding arrogant, I'm going to write this post bluntly because the point is that important. I've spent about 8 years building software engineering teams in startups. I'd argue I'm one of the best in Australia at it - hiring software engineers and assembling fantastic startup engineering teams is something that I really excel at. And yet, even from that starting position, over the last 6 months I've been relearning - almost from the ground up - what a good software engineer is. That will continue for at least the next year. If you haven't meaningfully changed how you assess - or even define - what a good software engineer is in the past 6 months, your definitions and assessments are outdated. Startups are in pole position to adapt and carve out an advantage. But that also means they'll be punished most for failing to adapt, and you need to be adapting now. This is only half the problem though. When you do hire engineers who are excellent by the new definition, they require a company that's ready and set up to receive them - and most aren't. That means product, design, and the entire roadmap and the speed in which it's executed changing to accommodate what's now possible in engineering teams. It's a business-level shift, affecting how the entire company operates, not just a change to your hiring process. This has knock-on effects to funding, growth expectations, salaries, metrics, and more. Everything is changing, and it's changing now. It will continue to change, probably even more rapidly. But this isn't about predictions. It's already happening. First movers realised this 12 months ago. I realised it 6 months ago. The vast majority are yet to realise it. You should be realising it by the end of this post.

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The $175K DevOps Unicorn Myth Is Killing Your Team Confession that might sting: I keep seeing brilliant DevOps engineers walk away. Not because of money. Not because of tech. Because they’re asked to be everything to everyone. No? The brutal truth in NZ right now: We’re asking DevOps to be: • Kubernetes wizards • Security experts • Cost-cutting pros • On-call heroes All for one salary. Then we act surprised when they burn out or jump to Australia for 40% more. What’s actually broken: • 88% of job ads demand Terraform. • But only 15% of candidates have real production-level Terraform skills. So everyone chases the same tiny pool of “perfect” unicorns. Meanwhile, strong engineers who could learn in 3 months with mentorship get overlooked. The retention pattern I hear from tech leaders: They describe their DevOps team as a “revolving door.” Common reasons? → Roles written for breadth, not depth → 24/7 on-call with no backup → No growth paths What the smart companies do differently: 1. Stop hunting unicorns. One NZ bank hired a Python-strong engineer with basic K8s and trained them up. Retention jumped to 18 months vs the 11-month average. 2. Fix on-call. An Auckland fintech built proper SRE practices (error budgets, post-mortems). Turnover dropped 60% in 6 months. 3. Create specialization paths. Let engineers choose: Infra, Security, or Platform. People stay when they can go deep, not just wide. The economics driving engineers away: • 28% of DevOps pros in NZ are considering overseas moves. • Australia is absorbing 90% of ICT migrants with salaries at AUD $180–220K (vs NZ $130–150K). But it’s not only about money. It’s about escaping the “do-everything” trap. The opportunity hiding in plain sight: Instead of chasing unicorns: • Tap platform engineers moving from dev • Tap sysadmins ready to learn IaC • Tap cloud architects hungry for DevOps These hires + training = loyal teams. Challenge for you: Look at your DevOps JD. If it lists more than 3 skill buckets, you’re part of the problem. Fix is simple: • Pick 2–3 core techs that matter most • Build growth paths • Train instead of demanding perfection • Implement real SRE practices Why I’m sharing this: Because I’m tired of watching brilliant engineers burn out. And of hearing “we can’t find good DevOps people” on repeat. The talent is here. The demand is real. The approach is broken. Want to see which Auckland companies have cracked DevOps retention? → DM me “retention” and I’ll share what they’re doing. Because the best strategy isn’t chasing unicorns. It’s creating environments where good engineers become great ones. P.S. If you’re a #DevOps engineer nodding along: you deserve better than being “everything.” Those better roles exist, you just need to know where to look. ♻️ If this hit home, repost so more leaders stop chasing unicorns and start building real DevOps teams.

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6-12 months ago, companies would want to know that you were open to AI use. Now, as a Senior, Staff or Principal Engineer, it's a fundamental requirement. Generally speaking, the startups and scaleups we work with (who naturally have the most capable engineering teams in Australia) won't consider Senior+ engineering talent that isn't using AI to achieve more. Most of them think about AI usage in 2 ways, with most also wanting to see evidence of both in anyone they hire at this level. The 1st is that it's now a non negotiable expectation for senior engineers to be using Claude, Cursor, or similar to move faster. It's not a preference anymore. They'll test for it during interviews, sometimes obviously, sometimes through technical challenges that are essentially impossible without AI help. But make no mistake, your ability to use AI *is* being tested. These companies have seen what their best engineers are doing compared to a couple of years ago, and the improvements in are truly too good to ignore. Some engineers may feel that AI slows them down... They would say that if you're slowed by AI, that's a skill issue, and a you problem - one they aren't interested in hiring. To be clear though, if you're using AI to write code in languages you don't know, or to architect systems you couldn't build yourself is *not* what they want to see. The best engineering environments view AI as an insanely fast working, incredibly stupid assistant. If you can't explain step by step how something needs to be built, you should never ask AI to build it. The 2nd is that they want you to think about how AI can improve the product and the customer experience. Truth is, the best engineers have always had a product mindset anyway - but again, it's becoming non-negotiable now. AI, and every new and improved model released, opens up new opportunities for companies to improve their product, or to increase the value they provide to their customers. As an engineer who's close to the code and the technology, the expectation is now on you to spot these opportunities. Again, if you can't do it, it's viewed as a you problem, and ultimately someone else will end up being hired. This is why when most engineers talk about a 'bad market' with 'no opportunities', you'll hear of other engineers getting inundated with huge demand and multiple offers. There are now engineers who can do these things, and engineers who can't. The former gets hired. The latter does not. Also, if you're still comfortable with hiring the latter - good luck I guess...

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🚀 Tech Stack Trends in Australia 2025 Here’s what I've been seeing the most so far this year Frontend - React continues to dominate. Next.js is quickly becoming the default for full-stack apps. Backend - Node.js, Go, and Python are all heavily used, however, I'm finding a lot of businesses wanting more Python developers right now. Databases - PostgreSQL is the go-to to but MongoDB and DynamoDB are also common. Cloud & DevOps - AWS is the most widely used. Docker, Kubernetes, and serverless frameworks are also now standard. What does your current stack look like compared to this? Am I on the money?

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“We stopped chasing unicorns. We build them.” That’s what a Melbourne tech leader told me this week. Their team gives junior devs: 🧠 Training budgets 🕐 Time to explore AI tools 💼 Real projects to apply them on They’ve made upskilling part of their retention strategy. Not just talk. Action. Here’s what they’re seeing: - Lower attrition - Higher engagement - Long-term capability built in-house But let’s be real… Not every org has the time to wait 6–12 months to build that. Sometimes, hiring externally is the only way to compete now. So what’s your take? Are we still chasing unicorns, or growing them? #AI #Upskilling #Recruitment #HiringStrategy #Retention #MelbourneTech #Leadership

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🔥𝐓𝐎𝐏 5 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐈𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬🔥 I’ve worked with hundreds of software engineers, placing them in startup, scale-up, and enterprise teams here in Australia. People don't always quit because of their manager, but when they do, I'm on the frontline, so I get their uncensored thoughts and feedback about their management team. Here's the TOP 5 frustrations I hear on repeat, and how engineering leaders can potentially avoid them: 1. Invisible Engineer Syndrome The team does the work, but they get no credit. ➡️ Don't take the spotlight or forget about them. ✅ Give credit and praise your team every opportunity you get. 2. "Just A Quick...." You’re Devs are in deep flow, solving problems, and you drop in with “just a quick....” ➡️ Don't interrupt focus for 'quick' tasks. ✅ Protect your team's focus as if it were sacred. 3. The Meeting Vortex You book meetings to plan more meetings, and stand-ups last way too long. ➡️ Don't fill calendars and stop your team from being productive. ✅ Audit meetings and cancel or downsize as many as possible! 4. “Just A Button....” You're non-technical (or a bit out-of-touch) and expect tasks “shouldn’t take long.” ➡️ Don't make unrealistic promises to stakeholders that negatively impact your team. ✅ Ask your team before you commit, and trust and respect their judgment. 5. The Dangling Carrot. 🥕 You promise promotions, pay rises and new projects, but never deliver them. ➡️ Don't make false promises or lie about shiny greenfield work coming up. ✅ Be clear about feedback, promotion targets, and if it's BAU, just say it's BAU. Number 5 is the most common one I come across. Does anyone have any others that they would add to this list? #SoftwareEngineering #Leadership #EngineeringManager

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Australian mortgage brokers. Email is a very inefficient way to collect documents. You know this. - Yet here's your VA in another email thread: - Sending reminder emails. - Checking if files came through. - Following up again. - And again. Chasing documents doesn't make you money. That's not growing your business. That's just necessary noise. Document collection needs a person. But that person should be overseeing it. Not doing the heavy lifting. Free up your VA for the work that actually matters. -------------------- I'm Guy. I've built a document collection tool for Australian mortgage brokers with Farzan M.. It streamlines your doc collection process if you're using Salestrekker as your CRM and want to scale. #mortgagebroker #homeloans #brokertools

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The best Engineers don’t wait around, so neither should your hiring process. In the current Adelaide talent market, speed isn’t just an advantage, it’s the difference between securing top talent and losing them to a faster competitor. What the data tells us: - 10–14 days, that’s how quickly top engineers are typically snapped up once they start looking for their next role Indeed - Companies that streamline hiring cut time-to-hire by 37% and boost quality of hire by 22% LinkedIn Talent Insights - Engineering roles remain some of the most in demand on SEEK, meaning slow hiring isn’t an option if you want the best. Our advice to clients: Fast doesn’t mean careless. It means building a process that’s structured, decisive, and candidate friendly. Clear role expectations, and empowered hiring managers = faster hires without compromising quality. In recruitment, the fastest employer doesn’t just hire first, they hire best. As a business you only get one change to make a first impression, so be swift to secure the right engineers before the competition does. #engineers #recruitment #adelaide

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Kia ora network. If you are wondering what the rise of AI actually means for software engineering, this recent piece from O'Reilly is well worth a read. The guts of it is that software engineering day jobs are shifting. Writing code from scratch is no longer the main event. Instead, developers are stepping up to manage and review AI generated code. AI is a fantastic tool for churning out boilerplate, but it can still be a bit of a loose unit when it comes to accuracy and making things up. Here are the main takeaways from the article. First, reviewing and validating code is now your new baseline. Instead of writing every line, your day-to-day job involves catching the hallucinations and making sure the output is actually solid before it gets anywhere near production. Second, because the grunt work is handled, the big picture is more critical than ever. We need to focus on system architecture, security, and solving real business problems rather than just memorising syntax. Finally, while having almost anyone prompt an AI to build a quick prototype is fun, real production systems still require the hard yards. Proper testing, scaling, and robust engineering principles are what stop the whole thing from falling over. At the end of the day, the fundamental skills still pay the bills. The tools have changed, but good design and clear requirements are what keep projects on track. Link to the full article is below. Keen to hear what developers think. Are you finding your role shifting more towards code review and architecture these days? https://lnkd.in/etrWuXf8 Next week: I'll talk about commercialisation, we are seeing the startup landscape balloon with iterations of the same solutions, the winners will be those who are market led and who have commercialised beyond "check out my cool thing".

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How to Showcase Your Product Management Impact to Recruiters and Hiring Managers In a sea of talented Product Managers, what makes one profile stand out over another? It’s not just the job titles or big brand names. It’s how clearly and confidently you demonstrate impact. If you're navigating the Australian financial services job market, here’s how to sharpen your story: 1. Quantify Everything You Can Vague = forgettable. Concrete = compelling. Instead of “Improved user onboarding journey”, say “Reduced onboarding drop-off by 27% in 3 months”. Did you grow revenue? Cut costs? Lift NPS? Say it, and back it up. 2. Set the Scene What problem were you solving? What constraints did you face? Context helps hiring managers understand the scale and complexity of your achievements. Think: before, during, after. 3. Speak to Your Stakeholder Savvy Product in financial services isn’t just about features. It’s about navigating risk, compliance, regulatory and customer experience—often all at once. Share examples of how you aligned diverse stakeholders or worked within tight governance frameworks. 4. Highlight Product Lifecycle Experience Have you built from scratch? Scaled a product? Sun-setted something legacy? Be clear about where you’ve added value—and where you want to grow. 5. Tailor for the Role You Want Your CV and LinkedIn profile are not static. Tweak the language, emphasise the wins that are most relevant, and make sure your story is aligned to where you’re headed. Final tip? Don’t just tell us what you did. Show why it mattered. **** Hi, I’m a Senior Recruiter at Parity Consulting where we connect top tier talent with business leaders in their Product, Marketing, Comms, Digital, Transformation, and Data teams who will exceed expectations and drive growth. I personally specialise in Product, Governance and Data recruitment. If you’re in this space, I am always happy to connect.

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My charity uses software provided by a big tech company that makes around $200k every single minute in profit. We’ve been grateful for their non-profit plan that provides us with a limited number of free premium licences. Imagine my surprise when I was told that on the 24th February this year, this big tech company were discontinuing those free premium licences for charities and non-profits. Those users who currently have a free premium licence will either have to move to a free basic licence (and not be able to use the apps locally) or start paying for a standard licence at a reduced rate. Some EVP probably pitched this idea to the board and got it approved. They’re not making enough money on sinking billions of dollars into cloud-hosted AI for users that never asked for it in the first place, so apparently they need to start charging charities to use the software instead so they can keep giving business customers free access to their AI-enabled services and maintain the number of active users. Charities that rely on grant funding and / or donations can struggle with unexpected costs. It means making hard decisions about what not to fund instead. It ultimately means we won’t be able to provide services to people who need them so we can spend that money on software from a big tech company that makes more profit every minute than we see in revenue in a year. Corporate Social Responsibility used to count for something. Either for the kudos of supporting charitable purposes or just for the tax deductions. Either way, attracting charities and non-profits with free licences and then once they are committed turning around and changing the subscriptions to make money from them seems like a the opposite of CSR to me. Short-term we have no choice but to suck it up. But I’ll just say that rubbing charities and non-profits up the wrong way is not a great publicity strategy. And we have long memories. #charityIT #nonprofitIT #charitycashcows #CSR #ESG #techbros

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"We want the best engineers, but we can't test them. We might upset someone." This conversation happened twice last week… Both clients were hunting for great engineers. Both frustrated with hires who can't deliver. Client A: Paying top tier salaries, Monday to Friday Day shift, great benefits. My advice: Test them. You're offering a premium package. You can afford to be picky. Client B: Below market salary, weekends & nights, high turnover expected. My advice: Skip the testing. You may not be fortunate enough to be too picky with your available talent pool. Here's the brutal truth: Skills testing only works if you're in a position to say no. Still paying £35,000 for a night shifts?  You take what you can get can. Paying £58,500 for a day shift with no weekends?  You can demand they know the difference between good and great. Michelin starred restaurant: Test your chefs. Fast food chain: Train on the job. Both approaches work, but for different situations. The companies getting this right match their hiring standards to their offering. Premium package = premium candidates = testing makes sense. Basic package = basic requirements = hire fast, train later. The ones getting it wrong want champagne engineers on a beer budget. Then wonder why there is a high turnover. Bottom line: Align your recruitment strategy with your offering.

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