I'm currently reviewing a contract and it talks about withholding tax of up to ONE THIRD of income. That's just crazy. This is irregardless of how much you earn!!! Damn France taxation system. I'm not sure if I can even claim it back, but I hope I can. I'll probably still want to sell it in France because of the opportunities it can provide, but still I am quite pissed off at how much tax I will have to pay.
On the other hand, my software's currently being reviewed in Japan to go retail. That will be a separate contract. It will be just fantastically awesome if it happens.. cross my fingers. It's always been a dream of mine to have it boxed on a shelf in a shop. I remember a friend who was sort of saying as a joke so you sell your software in a box about a year and a bit ago, and now it's becoming a reality. Royalty payments for life if it happens. Makes me wonder sometimes why am I even bothered about uni!! And the answer is, I have a point to prove. And because, I can!
Well, back to studying!
Monday, March 27, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Careers Fair
I went to the university careers fair today. I was there late and it was just about to close (which has been the case for the past 3 years) but managed to pick up a handbook called graduate opportunities 2006. I was interested in the graduate employment statistics and here's some bits off it. It's called "Median starting salaries of bachelor graduates in first full-time employment and aged less than 25, in Australia 2004". Numbers in brackets are starting salaries of the different degrees.
Medicine graduates are the ones which the highest employment rate of 99.6% (50K), followed by pharmacy 99.3% (38K), veterinary science 97.1% (36K) and dentistry 96.4% (60K).
From the other end of the table, we have arts and design 56.8% (32K), mathematics 65% (40K), humanities 65.5% (35K) and biological sciences 67.4% (36K) forming the bottom 4.
The median salary was 38K, 39K for males and 38K for females. At first glance I thought these salaries were actually low. And I still feel that they are low. Including taxes it would be much lower!
At the careers fair there were no small companies, only the big (and D U L L, Australian tax office, AusAid, MasterFoods, Ford, blah blah.. zzz) ones. The ones that provide-a-stable-income-so-that-you-may-shut-up kind of company. Why?? I would rather work for a small one than a big one. I walked past 2 companies that actually have purchased software that I've developed. They just have no idea! I suspect most if not all the people who were advertising were minions.
Anyway back to work!!
Medicine graduates are the ones which the highest employment rate of 99.6% (50K), followed by pharmacy 99.3% (38K), veterinary science 97.1% (36K) and dentistry 96.4% (60K).
From the other end of the table, we have arts and design 56.8% (32K), mathematics 65% (40K), humanities 65.5% (35K) and biological sciences 67.4% (36K) forming the bottom 4.
The median salary was 38K, 39K for males and 38K for females. At first glance I thought these salaries were actually low. And I still feel that they are low. Including taxes it would be much lower!
At the careers fair there were no small companies, only the big (and D U L L, Australian tax office, AusAid, MasterFoods, Ford, blah blah.. zzz) ones. The ones that provide-a-stable-income-so-that-you-may-shut-up kind of company. Why?? I would rather work for a small one than a big one. I walked past 2 companies that actually have purchased software that I've developed. They just have no idea! I suspect most if not all the people who were advertising were minions.
Anyway back to work!!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Why you need a university scholarship (from the perspective of an overseas student)
International students bring in heaps of money to the universities in Australia. And then spend years paying back the loans. And I mean years.
As an international student studying a Science bachelor's degree, you will spend approximately 22 K AUD each year on fees alone. This is based on a full time university load of 8 units per semester. Now let's include living expenses, which is estimated at say 15 K. That makes it a total of 37 K AUD each year. And a total of 148 K AUD over 4 years for the full degree uptil honours.
Now let's assume this international student, who is from Singapore, goes back home and finds a job that pays a graduate pay of 2.08 K AUD per month (or 2.5K SGD), which is a best case scenario, in reality this could be as low as 1.66 K AUD (or 2 K SGD) or lower even. Now let's assume the student, now working, gets a pay rise of 83 AUD per month, (100 SGD) each year.
Total earnings after 1st year = 2.08 x 12 = 24.96 K AUD
Total earnings after 2nd year = 2.163 x 12 = 25.956 K AUD
Total earnings after 3rd year = 2.246 x 12 = 26.952 K AUD
Total earnings after 4th year = 2.329 x 12 = 27.948 K AUD
Total after 4 years = 105.816 K
Deficit of 42 K!!
After 4 years that's still well over 40 K short of what they paid for their degree, in fact it will probably take about 2 more years to achieve the same amount that was spent on a degree. That's 6 years of your life. Remember the 105.816 K is the amount that they are paid for and does not take into account living expenses, one will surely not even come close to saving that amount over 4 years. What's my point ? Well if you have a scholarship, the outlook is very different.
Let's say you have a full undergrad scholarship which covers all tuition fees. After 4 years, you only spend 60K. Still a substantial amount but less than half of 148K.
After graduation, and assuming you earn the same amount as mentioned early (but of course being exceptional they will probably get much more), you will cover the costs in slightly over 2 years. That's an almost 4 year difference between not getting a scholarship. 4 years is quite a big difference in terms of money, and time. If you include living expenses this gap will be much wider.
My point is, if your parents are paying for your uni fees, think about them and what they are doing for you. You always want to provide the best for your children. Getting a scholarship, as a son or daughter, will help them (and yourself) immensely. Not to mention bragging rights too.
As an international student studying a Science bachelor's degree, you will spend approximately 22 K AUD each year on fees alone. This is based on a full time university load of 8 units per semester. Now let's include living expenses, which is estimated at say 15 K. That makes it a total of 37 K AUD each year. And a total of 148 K AUD over 4 years for the full degree uptil honours.
Now let's assume this international student, who is from Singapore, goes back home and finds a job that pays a graduate pay of 2.08 K AUD per month (or 2.5K SGD), which is a best case scenario, in reality this could be as low as 1.66 K AUD (or 2 K SGD) or lower even. Now let's assume the student, now working, gets a pay rise of 83 AUD per month, (100 SGD) each year.
Total earnings after 1st year = 2.08 x 12 = 24.96 K AUD
Total earnings after 2nd year = 2.163 x 12 = 25.956 K AUD
Total earnings after 3rd year = 2.246 x 12 = 26.952 K AUD
Total earnings after 4th year = 2.329 x 12 = 27.948 K AUD
Total after 4 years = 105.816 K
Deficit of 42 K!!
After 4 years that's still well over 40 K short of what they paid for their degree, in fact it will probably take about 2 more years to achieve the same amount that was spent on a degree. That's 6 years of your life. Remember the 105.816 K is the amount that they are paid for and does not take into account living expenses, one will surely not even come close to saving that amount over 4 years. What's my point ? Well if you have a scholarship, the outlook is very different.
Let's say you have a full undergrad scholarship which covers all tuition fees. After 4 years, you only spend 60K. Still a substantial amount but less than half of 148K.
After graduation, and assuming you earn the same amount as mentioned early (but of course being exceptional they will probably get much more), you will cover the costs in slightly over 2 years. That's an almost 4 year difference between not getting a scholarship. 4 years is quite a big difference in terms of money, and time. If you include living expenses this gap will be much wider.
My point is, if your parents are paying for your uni fees, think about them and what they are doing for you. You always want to provide the best for your children. Getting a scholarship, as a son or daughter, will help them (and yourself) immensely. Not to mention bragging rights too.
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