I drove up to Bendigo last week to meet a mate who’d recently moved his software consultancy out of Melbourne. What I found there surprised me - and I’ve been working in Victorian tech for nearly two decades.

Bendigo’s having a moment. Not the flashy, venture-capital-fuelled kind you see in the city. Something quieter, but maybe more sustainable.

The Numbers Tell Part of the Story

The Bendigo Tech School’s been churning out coding bootcamp grads for a few years now. But what’s changed is where those grads are going. They’re not all heading to Melbourne anymore. A growing number are staying put or, like my mate, they’re coming back.

Regional Development Victoria’s latest data shows Bendigo’s digital sector employment grew by 23% in the past two years. That’s faster than Ballarat, Geelong, even parts of outer Melbourne.

The co-working spaces are the most visible sign. There’s The Hub on Hargreaves Street, which opened in 2023 and already expanded once. Then there’s Foundry Bendigo down near the art gallery. Both are consistently full. I’m talking proper tech workers too - not just people checking emails between meetings.

It’s Not Just Remote Workers

Yeah, there’s definitely a cohort of Melbourne types who kept their city jobs but moved regional during the pandemic years. That’s part of it. But what’s more interesting is the businesses actually starting in Bendigo.

I met three founders at The Hub. One’s building agricultural software for grain farmers. Another’s doing cybersecurity consulting for regional councils and businesses. The third runs a digital marketing agency that’s somehow landed clients in Sydney and Brisbane without ever opening an office there.

None of them are trying to be the next Canva. They’re building profitable, boring businesses. The kind that actually employ people and pay tax.

The Infrastructure Actually Works Now

Here’s the thing nobody wants to admit: five years ago, Bendigo’s internet was rubbish. Patchy NBN connections, dropouts during rain, the whole frustrating package.

That’s mostly fixed now. NBN Co’s network upgrades to the region finished in 2024, and the difference is real. I ran a speed test at The Hub - 250 Mbps down, 25 up. Not Sydney CBD speeds, but more than enough for video calls, cloud software, whatever you need.

The cafe culture’s caught up too. Plenty of spots with decent coffee and reliable WiFi. Less important than you’d think, but it matters for that “third space” work environment people seem to need.

What’s Missing

Let’s be honest - Bendigo’s not perfect. The talent pool’s still shallow compared to Melbourne. If you need a senior React developer or a machine learning specialist, you’re probably hiring remote or convincing someone to move.

The business services aren’t quite there either. Finding a tech-savvy accountant or a lawyer who understands software IP took my mate three tries. Regional Victoria’s got a lot of accountants who know farming and retail. Fewer who understand SaaS revenue models.

And the networking’s weird. Everyone knows everyone, which is great until it’s not. The tech community’s maybe 200 people if you’re generous. That’s both intimate and limiting.

Why It’s Happening

Cost of living’s the obvious factor. You can buy a decent house in Bendigo for what a one-bedroom apartment costs in Brunswick. That frees up capital for bootstrapped startups.

But there’s lifestyle too. My mate’s got two kids. In Melbourne, he barely saw them - commute, long hours, the usual grind. Now he bikes to The Hub in ten minutes, picks up the kids at 3:30pm, and his stress levels are visibly lower.

The Bendigo council’s been smart about it too. They’re not throwing money at flashy “innovation precincts.” They’re just making it easy - streamlined business permits, co-working space subsidies, connecting founders with each other. Basic stuff, done properly.

What Happens Next

I reckon Bendigo’s at an interesting inflection point. It’s past the early adopter phase but not yet mainstream. The next 12-18 months will tell us if this is sustainable or just a post-pandemic blip.

My prediction? It sticks. Not because Bendigo will become the next Silicon Valley or even the next Ballarat. But because there’s a genuine ecosystem forming. Enough people, enough infrastructure, enough momentum.

Regional Victoria’s never going to compete with Melbourne on scale. But for a certain type of tech business - profitable, sustainable, built for the long term - places like Bendigo might actually be better.

And honestly? After fifteen years in Melbourne tech, watching another funding round announcement for a company that’s never made a dollar, maybe “boring and profitable” is exactly what we need more of.

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Dave Mitchell grew up near Stawell, spent 15 years in Melbourne tech, and now works from Ballarat covering regional Victoria’s technology sector.