From the UK to Australia: How I Found an AI Internship as a Graduate Software Engineer

I’m originally from the UK, and I moved to Australia as an international student to study computer science. My focus was software engineering, but I was always more interested in AI and machine learning, even though most of my experience at the time was academic rather than professional.

By the time I was close to graduating, I knew I wanted to work abroad for a while — not just for the job, but to see if living in another country actually suited me. Australia felt exciting, but also expensive and uncertain, which made the decision feel a bit risky.

The hardest part was the uncertainty. A lot of AI job listings seemed to want people who were already experienced and already had full working rights.

At the same time, I was trying to make sense of everyday costs — rent, transport, groceries — and asking myself whether I was making a smart decision or just chasing an idea that sounded good on paper.

I seriously considered a few different paths:

I went back and forth between a few options. I could return to the UK and look for graduate roles there. I could stay in Australia and apply for any software job I could find. Or I could narrow my focus and try for AI internships, even if that meant starting smaller than I’d imagined.

1. Return to the UK and look for graduate roles there
2. Stay in Australia but apply broadly to general software roles
3. Focus specifically on AI internships that were open to graduate students and visa holders

I chose to target AI internships and graduate programs in Australia, instead of jumping straight into full-time roles.

Internships felt like a realistic entry point:

• Companies were more open to training graduates
• Visa requirements were clearer for short-term roles
• It gave me time to evaluate cost of living, work culture, and long-term fit

In the end, I decided to focus on AI internships. It felt like the most honest entry point.
Internships gave companies space to train graduates, and for me, they offered a way to gain experience without pretending I was already a senior engineer. It also gave me time to understand what working and living in Australia actually felt like, rather than committing too early.

I stopped trying to apply to everything and became more intentional. I reshaped my CV to highlight the AI projects I’d worked on, even the small ones. I built a simple portfolio to show how I approached problems, not just the final results. I also spent time researching post-study work visas and compared living costs across Australian cities before deciding to stay in Melbourne.

I secured an AI internship with a Melbourne-based tech company, working on data pipelines and model evaluation for a real product.

After starting the internship, I successfully transitioned onto a post-study work visa, allowing me to stay and work in Australia legally after graduation.

“The internship wasn’t just about getting experience.It helped me decide whether Australia was actually a place I could see myself living.”

Looking back, I learned that internships aren’t just for learning skills — they’re also a way to test a country before fully committing to it.

Understanding visas and living costs early made a huge difference.I learned that working abroad isn’t just about landing a role. It’s about testing a lifestyle, understanding costs, and giving yourself room to adjust instead of forcing everything to work immediately.

If you’re a graduate thinking about working overseas, try not to put so much pressure on yourself to “get it right” immediately. I definitely did that at first — I felt like if my first job abroad wasn’t perfect, then the whole move would somehow be a failure.What I slowly realized is that moving countries isn’t just a career decision. It’s a life experiment. You’re testing the work culture, the pace of life, the cost of living, and how you feel being far from home — all at the same time. That’s a lot to figure out in one go.

Starting with an internship helped me more than I expected. It gave me structure and real experience, but without locking me into something I didn’t fully understand yet. I could see what day-to-day work in Australia was actually like, how teams operated, and whether the lifestyle matched what I had imagined before moving. It also gave me time. Time to understand visas properly, time to manage my finances, and time to adjust emotionally. Those things matter just as much as the job title, but no one really talks about them when you’re planning to work abroad. If I could give one piece of advice, it would be this: think in phases, not end goals. You don’t need to solve your entire future with your first role. You just need a next step that’s realistic, sustainable, and gives you momentum.

An internship, contract, or graduate role might feel “small” at first, but it can give you clarity — and clarity is what actually helps you make good long-term decisions.