Commonwealth Bank

Grads are hired as full-time employees and convert to standard Software Engineers at either 12 / 18 months depending on capability. I believe in future years it will move to only 12 months. There is a promo process and you must show strong development but I don't know of any case where someone didn't convert.

Based on the experience of others in previous cohorts and peers in my team, I can see a clear path to promotion to Senior Analyst and Manager, once I roll off the graduate program. In addition, the graduate program gives you ample opportunity to acquire mentors that can help assist you and put in contact with people who may be able to help you achieve you goals.

The program is an 18-month program with the possibility to roll off the program at the 12-month mark. Rolling off will be into an engineer role—for example, I'm a graduate software engineer, and post rolling off, I'll become a software engineer. There are many opportunities to fulfil your career at the bank as there are so many different teams you can rotate with, from full-stack engineering to cloud, AI, and so much more.

At a broader organisational level, there are certainly opportunities for progression. However, within the graduate program this hasn’t been the message conveyed. There appears to be a shift toward levelling the playing field, which, in practice, seems to limit high performers from reaching their full potential or pursuing their career aspirations. Compounding this is a growing emphasis on standardisation—an approach that certainly doesn’t support those who don’t fit neatly into that mould. It’s a somewhat challenging dynamic to navigate so early in one’s career.