Hello all,
It's been a while since I last posted (at that time I was concerned about the work visa process). I've since been working and living in New Zealand for a little over two years, and my partner and I are ready to apply for residency.
I've a little quandary though, as I'm not sure about my career experience from INZ's perspective.
I'm currently working as a software developer, but have no formal qualifications in software. I came over on the strength of my previous work history, and fit in very well in my company (very few of my colleagues have qualifications, and most of them have residency now--but they got in under the old rules when two years of work experience in New Zealand was enough to get them over the hurdle). I do have a Master's of Fine Arts degree from the US, in the field which my company works in, but not in Computer Science. Most of my professional experience is in tertiary education in the US. I taught programming and game design part-time at the University level for 8 years, three years of that full time as the School Chair for Information Technology (the equivalent of Head of Programme here). Aside from that, though, I only have about 4 total years of actual full-time Software Development work experience before moving here (plus 2.5 years here), and I was hoping to use that towards my points. I saw in the requirements for the Skilled Migrant Category that you need 5 years of experience prior to the years you are claiming for points, if you don't have the relevant qualification for that field.
The question is, does anyone have an inkling of whether experience teaching Software Development at the university level would be considered as relevant experience for this role? I'd rather not try to file for an IQA for my degree if it's not going to help me towards the goal. If it is considered relevant, I can definitely put the whole thing together, just trying to get an idea. I do have enough experience with government agencies to have seen where this would be problematic though (teaching is a completely different discipline, but you have to know the material backwards and forwards for it to be successful, and the teaching experience has always been a bonus to employers), so hoping someone here has experience that they could relate.