Go West, young man, go West, Horace Greeley once said. Better yet, go to Australia today, young man or young woman, if you are a software developer. The lure is even higher if you are proficient in CISSP, C++/C/C, Java, J2EE, Network security, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP or Seibel software applications.

The Australian Government on Thursday added those job categories to its Migration Occupations in Demand List . Applicants with expertise in those categories are fast-tracked and given bonus rewards, according to the Australian Visa Bureau (AVB).

Oonagh Baerveldt, AVB spokeswoman, indicated there is a shift away from offshore outsourcing to having development work done in Australia.

"Australian IT is moving away from parachuting contractors in " the industry is moving towards having agency offices in the cities where work is being done," Baerveldt said in a statement. "It's not okay for a lot of coding to be done overseas anymore."

Demand for software developers is increasing due to new large government projects, particularly in Canberra and Adelaide.

"Network security is an increasing issue in Australia," added Baerveldt. "Coupled with the fact that C# and Java programmers are in such high demand, there's never been a better time to go to Australia if you're in IT."