With the arrival of Australia's new prime minister, technology has been at the forefront of policy and public discussions. 

IT visa applicants on the rise

The future looks bright for IT jobs in Australia.

Recent figures, released by the Australia's Immigration Department, show that from 2014-15 to 31 March 2015 developer programmers represent the largest occupation given visa grants (4.9 per cent), a 39.5 per cent rise from the same time last year.  

These statistics show that Australia is a attractive destination for IT specialists. 

A guiding light

Atlassian is a recent example of an Australian tech company pushing the definition of success.

Started in 2002 by entrepreneurs Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, it now employs 1500 staff, which includes 650 employees in its Sydney office.    

Recently, the enterprise has reportedly filed for initial public offering in the US that would see the $3 billion company expand its activities.

Its not just the company that would prosper. This move could boost Australia's burgeoning tech industry. 

"It could be the beginning of what happened in Seattle when Microsoft listed and all the executives and managers started putting ideas and funds back into the local economy," said Right Click Capital partner Benjamin Chong, in a recent Sydney Morning Herald article.

Good news for a rising industry

Success stories, like those at Atlassian, are essential to building Australia's tech industry. 

Australia's technology sector is on the rise, how can you be a part of it?

A 2012 report, released by Deloitte, compared Australia's start up environment to the US. They compared more than 1,000 Australian companies to over 50,000 US startups. 

Key findings included:

1. Less than 5 per cent of Australian startups are turning into sustainable, global businesses
2. US companies are raising 4.8 times more capital in the early stages and 100 times more when they are ready to expand their operations
3. Sydney remains the largest Australian startup hub – 55 per cent bigger than Melbourne, six times larger than Brisbane
4. Australian startups tend to aim for niche markets 14 per cent more often than entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley

Although there were some promising finds, the study showed that Australia still has some work to do if they are to catch up with the US. 

Central to this is the ability to train IT specialists in Australia through IT software education such as ITIL, Prince2 and Cobit.