# ACS Skills Assessment - 261312 Developer Programmer



## oceanic_815 (Dec 22, 2013)

Hello everybody,

I am planning to apply for ACS Skills Assessment and I have couple of questions. 

- My work experience:
Graduated from University (4 years ICT) in January 2008
Degree: Master of Informatics

1. ICT Business Analyst
April 2008 - September 2009 (1 year and 5 months)
Duties: user requirements gathering, data and business process models, functional specifications for developers, testing, creating end user documentation.

2. Software Developer
September 2009 - current date (4 years and 6 months)
Duties: interpreting outcome of business analysis, software design, writing and maintaining program code, debugging, unit testing, researching new technologies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total: 5 years and 11 months


I’m planning to apply for 261312 Developer Programmer as my nominated occupation.
ICT Business Analyst is also on the list of offered occupations, under 261111 ICT Business Analyst. Also, both occupations are on the SOL list. 

- My questions:
1. Would they consider ICT Business Analyst to be closely related occupation to my nominated occupation (Developer Programmer)? 

2. If my University Degree is comparable to Australian Bachelor degree, my Skilled employment starts after 2 years of work experience - which leaves me a total of 3 years and 11 months of Skilled employment? 

3. If ACS assess that I have 3 years and 11 months of Skilled employment and I apply for Skilled Independent Visa 189 one year later, will I have total of 4 years and 11 months of Skilled employment? Or do I have to go through the assessment process all over again if I want to add another year of Skilled employment? Assuming that I will work for the same company in the future, on the same position. 

If anybody has been in similar situation, I would very much appreciate any help.


----------



## bond_bhai (Jan 26, 2012)

1. Your "title" doesn't matter. What you actually put in the reference letter/stat dec matters. If it closely follows the guidelines for Developer programmer, they will consider it under that code.
2. They deduct 2 or 4 or in some cases 6 years. If your Degree and employment are closely related, 2 years will be deducted. If its not closely related, 4 years will sliced off. I guess since yours is "Information" science degree it should be ok, you can expect a deduction of 2 years.
3. The assessment is valid for 2 years. I am not sure how it will work if yu have changed companies. If you are working in the same company, you can provide pay slips/Tax returns etc. But, i would let seniors comment on this point.


----------



## chdboy (Sep 11, 2013)

oceanic_815 said:


> 3. If ACS assess that I have 3 years and 11 months of Skilled employment and I apply for Skilled Independent Visa 189 one year later, will I have total of 4 years and 11 months of Skilled employment? Or do I have to go through the assessment process all over again if I want to add another year of Skilled employment? Assuming that I will work for the same company in the future, on the same position.


Bond_bhai has already answered point 1 and 2. I agree with him. Further, let me try point 3:

If you know that your points will not be complete today and thus you wish to apply next year, then I would suggest you to get your ACS also next year. Reason for this is , you never know if the skill codes you are applying under is closed in next 1 year? YOu will waste your money as well as will end up going for another ACS evaluation under new code. 

Regarding added experience after ACS assessment - it is normally considered added to ACS evaluated exp if you have continued working in the same occupation without any gap, change in employers is okay. But you will have to provide documents showing that you have been working even after ACS assessment is done. Proofs can be your monthly salary slips + Bank account statement + Tax returns if any etc.


----------



## oceanic_815 (Dec 22, 2013)

Thank you, both of you guys. You gave me some very useful information. 

What I am worried the most is :will they consider my experience as Business Analyst to be closely related to my nominated occupation - Developer Programmer?

Can anyone, who had similar situation, tell if the next two occupations are closely related:
- 261111 ICT Business Analyst
- 261312 Developer Programmer
You can find them on the list of ANZSCO Descriptions http://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/7641/ANZSCO-Descriptions.pdf

Please share your experiences


----------



## Veenamenon30 (Mar 24, 2015)

*Urgent*

Hi guys,
I am planning to get my degree assessed. I had the following questions:
1. I have done a Masters in business information systems, can i assess my degree under any of the ACS nominated occupations(eg Developer Programmer, systems analyst) if i have experience in those occupations.
2. I will get the experience letter from my employer, as a BA but how does the ACS confirm it. Do they call my employer or only check the letter
3. I work as a contractor i.e on ABN will that be a problem for degree Assessment or PR(Do they cross check)

If someone can help me out with these that would be great. Hope to hear from someone soon.


----------



## KeeDa (Sep 1, 2014)

Veenamenon30 said:


> Hi guys,
> I am planning to get my degree assessed. I had the following questions:
> 1. I have done a Masters in business information systems, can i assess my degree under any of the ACS nominated occupations(eg Developer Programmer, systems analyst) if i have experience in those occupations.
> 2. I will get the experience letter from my employer, as a BA but how does the ACS confirm it. Do they call my employer or only check the letter
> ...


1. A degree cannot be assessed as something else. If it is a BA degree, it will remain a BA degree irrespective of your work experience. You assess only your skills to be closely related to a certain occupation, and to assess positively, they do check if your work is closely related to this occupation, whether your education background is related or not, etc and take decisions accordingly. I would suggest you study the Skills-Assessment-Guidelines-for-Applicants.pdf from ACS website.

2. They may call/ email/ etc if they have to.

3. contractor or employee does not matter. It must be full time paid work.


----------



## Veenamenon30 (Mar 24, 2015)

KeeDa said:


> 1. A degree cannot be assessed as something else. If it is a BA degree, it will remain a BA degree irrespective of your work experience. You assess only your skills to be closely related to a certain occupation, and to assess positively, they do check if your work is closely related to this occupation, whether your education background is related or not, etc and take decisions accordingly. I would suggest you study the Skills-Assessment-Guidelines-for-Applicants.pdf from ACS website.
> 
> 2. They may call/ email/ etc if they have to.
> 
> 3. contractor or employee does not matter. It must be full time paid work.




Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it. I finished my masters in business information management and systems in July 2014 and i started working in a company in australia as a IT Support in September. My employer is ready to give me a letter as a Systems analyst. I will finish a year in this September and planning to go forward with that letter and get my degree asessed. Any comments on this would be much appreciated. Thanks!


----------



## Brzl (Apr 5, 2016)

Any results on it? I am in the same situation right now. Oceanic, did ACS assessed your programmer experience as closely related to business analyst?

Thanks


----------

