Comment by pugz

I'm also based in Melbourne. I would add that all the above is true of maybe 95% of companies, but there are a few exceptions: big US-based tech companies. There are roles for devs that pay AU$250-$550K/year, including the data engineers. Unfortunately, there appears to be zero correlation with expertise and we have the exact same pain zone experience that I had when I was earning a third of this salary at an AU-headquartered company.