China Romance
Expats in Asia => Working In Asia => Topic started by: Axiom on December 08, 2010, 03:31:09 pm
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I am finally getting my sh*t together enough to move to China. Passport? Check? Plane Ticket faire? almost check, about $200 more to go. But as I prepare to go to China to teach for a while, I am curious.... Is there any likelihood for a foreigner to find a job OUTSIDE the teaching field? I'd really like to get into programming/IT/Flash Design but I hear that they will hire foreigners last? Would I have a better opportunity finding a Western based company and applying there?
Teaching will be fun for a while... but computers are my first love (well, next to the Tingers. But she already knows how much of a nerd I am.. so it's cool) so I know sooner or later I would like to get back into software development.
Questions, Questions, Questions...
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I'd really like to get into programming/IT/Flash Design but I hear that they will hire foreigners last? Would I have a better opportunity finding a Western based company and applying there?
Your exactly right , that what my LaoPo says about Shanghai . Their Residence People always come first , then .. People (chinese) from other Cities before any western Guy has a chance .
So .. a Western Co. that operates in China is the best bet . I'm no expert here , so let see what other's think .
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Axiom,
It looks like you maybe set right now.
Later as you move forward and you still have a itch in the tech area, let me know.
We are setting up shop a Joint Venture in China - and may have a tech need that you maybe able to help us with.
So keep us in mind as you move forward.
Alton
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Will do.
Like you said, first I need to get over to China, get myself situated to a new culture and start making some $$$
Once that is done, I know the itch will return.
I'll definitely keep you in mind.
And thanks!
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I've been wondering about this as well. My background is in Finance/Accounting/Managment. I have experience in a multinational retail organization as well as in manufacturing. There seem to be quite a few expat positions but I speak no Mandarin. I've been wondering if I am employable in Shanghai? I'm sure I could teach, but business is what gets me excited.
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Halfpint , whilst you are getting organised do an online TEFL course , there are a few on here that are already doing or have finished it and it is not that expensive and then you have something that is recognised in China so even simple partime employment is feasible then you have time to look around , regards Sujuan and Robert .
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Axiom
Why not combine the two and teach computing in China. A fellow teacher friend of mine's husband does just that in Tanjin. He gets an apartment and 15,000rmb per month for working 4 hours a day. She's off at the end of her contract at my school in a couple of weeks to teach fashion design, so it's not just teaching English here.
Halfpint you could well be in great demand teaching business studies too! and of course teaching business English is not to bad either,lots of well paid private work doing that. Good luck to you both :)
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Wow Todd,
Thats just awesome! How the heck did she land that gig? I could teach Flash, Photoshop Illustrator etc Did he have any teaching degree? Does he speak any Chinese? How did he land that job? I'd much rather teach something like that to be honest... I have a thousand more questions after I read your post... that need answers now :P
Thanks again for giving me different ideas on how to get my 'foot in the door' in China :)
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Axiom, you are most welcome,
The couple I'm talking about are both registered high school teachers from the Philippines and have been working here for the last 3 years. They taught English to start with and then he moved to a private language school that wanted a computer studies teacher. I'm not sure if he had any qualifications in that area. Neither of them speak Mandarin and to tell you the truth they are paid less than US/UK teachers are. She has just signed a contract for 2 years to teach fashion design and she does have a degree in that subject.
She got that job by putting a CV together and registering with all the teaching sites she could find and then they found her. Why not put that you are looking for a job teaching computing in the "Beginger" looking for work section and see what happens. Heres the link
http://www.thebeijinger.com/classifieds/employment/Looking-for-Employment (http://www.thebeijinger.com/classifieds/employment/Looking-for-Employment)
If you are thinking of teaching in another area of China look for other on-line newspapers. I know the Shanghaiist does the same and there are plenty more out there.
Best of luck.......
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Axiom, there are plenty of companies looking for people skilled in programming (php, flash, C and .net) in Shanghai and Beijing, moreso they preferably look for foreigners natively speaking english or well spoken/written english.Most of these companies are either foreign or internationally operating Chinese dot com companies. You can find new ads for recruitment almost daily if you check online, start with echinacities.com for example. But dont expect to find many of these jobs outside of Shanghai or Beijing, atleast i have almost not seen any, but around here there is plenty. I have had several offers since i got here but i have no interest to convert to an Z visa from my long term F visa at this point, besides i have my own business also and have long term plans to establish office here in China.
However, one thing that differs alot in China (and most Asian countries) compared to many western when you apply for a job. Grad papers means ALOT. Even if you are sh*t at what you do. Real work experience and achievements which are often favoured alot higher then grad papers in many western countries might not be here.
Best of luck to u!
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Well, I'd like to live in beijing mostly in order to get used to the culture I would like to live somewhere 'westernized' till I get used to the culture a bit more.
But yeah I live, eat and Breathe Flash and ActionScript 3 so it would be great if I could get a job doing something I enjoy while being with the woman of my dreams.
I do have a bachelors degree in design... so hopefully that will be enough to get my big western nose/feet in the door somewhere
Thanks again for the link Mikael
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We live in Beijing. Some foreigners dont like it here for different reasons, some love it. I belong to the latter. I wouldnt say that Beijing is that very much westernized, sure city center is just like in most metropolitan big cities but i would say Dalian is far more western style. However it is also far more expensive. If you have a Bachelors degree and a small portfolio i am sure you can find work here within the IT and /or dot com business. Do you have a portfolio or some reference work? I might be interested to ask for your help for some of my business projects 8)
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After a few months, I am back! Working my butt off to get the money together for a plane ticket and climbing over many obsticles (in the past 4 months I replaced almost every part in my computer trying to figure out why it wasnt working as well). Anyway, with excuses under the table... on to bigger and better things.
I don't have a porfolio set up yet sadly. I do have quite a bit of work to show so if you want to see a selection of some let me know your email so I can send them... since some things are games I am not sure if they can be attachments here.
I just purchased my plane ticket today, I will be leaving the USA on May24th!!! whew, this has been a ROUGH past 365 days!
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Great news....welcome to the land of opportunity :)
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Thanks Paul. Like I said.. the past few months have been a straight up climb for me since the place I worked for went belly up before i could save enough money for a plane ticket... but anyway... wah wah... and boo hoo... we all got problems, so i am sure you dont want me to go into details about mine... Safe to say, i still need a job in China, but compared to what i just went through, that will be like falling off a log during an earthquake!
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Maybe this goes under a new thread, but what about foreigners starting businesses in China? Opening a shop or having things manufactured there for export to the West? Does anyone have any experience in these areas?
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Opening a business there is different then having something manufactured and exported. You don't have to be a residence for that. This I am doing in the near future.
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Hi David,
It's a bit of a mine field,opening a business here. They have rules and regulations for everything, it gets especially tricky if you start employ staff. As Vince pointed out, having goods manufactured here for export requires no special paperwork. I source goods for mainly UK companies without too much trouble at all ,although sorting out the required certificates for shipping can sometimes be a headache. If you and a Chinese partner wanted to open a small shop I doubt you would have to face many problems,apart from finding vacant premises that is. The Chinese love to do business and an empty shop is viewed as an opportunity,rent and tax's are low. My wife and I are looking into this at the present time ,so in a few weeks I will be much more knowledgeable! My wife believes it will be simple enough, she already has her own company and is well versed in the whole thing. I am going to sit quietly on the sidelines and observe, it's often the best way here. ;D
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Still looking for Flash work in China.... so I thought I'd post of my stuff here so hopefully someone here knows someone....
A jumping praying Mantis for the company Adrenaline Interactive.
http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01c8e/n/BugBattle_MANTIS_Jump.swf (http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01c8e/n/BugBattle_MANTIS_Jump.swf)
Same mantis running through an attack animation.
http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01c73/n/BugBattle_MANTIS_Swing.swf (http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01c73/n/BugBattle_MANTIS_Swing.swf)
First Flash game I made
http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01dae/n/TheRandomlyRandomGame.swf (http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01dae/n/TheRandomlyRandomGame.swf)
Second Flash Game I made
http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01db2/n/Avoider_GAME1.swf (http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01db2/n/Avoider_GAME1.swf)
NOTE: For some reason, the fonts are screwed up on this page :(
The game I currently working on now NOTE: I havent implemented the door 'dissapearing' code... so just try to walk over them. When they open you will be able to :P
http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01dee/n/DUNGEON_TO_DIABOLIK.swf (http://www.filefactory.com/file/cb01dee/n/DUNGEON_TO_DIABOLIK.swf)
Let me know what you think!
If you have problems opening any of these just let me know.
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Mr A , on echina cities today they have an article about non-teaching jobs in China .
http://www.echinacities.com/expat-corner/non-teaching-jobs-in-china-the-perks-and-drawbacks.html (http://www.echinacities.com/expat-corner/non-teaching-jobs-in-china-the-perks-and-drawbacks.html)
regards Sujuan and Robert .
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Axiom: There is plenty of work for you in Shanghai, trust me!
If you have IT experience, you wont find trouble finding work in Shanghai, Beijing or Dalian atleast. There are plenty of job opportunities for native Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, French and Spanish speaker too , doing LET and SQA for big companies like Nokia, Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, HP etc. Most of them have outsourced their LET and SQA to China and their offices here always needs native speakers for many languages (but primarily: Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, French and Spanish).
However, you are most likely NOT going to score any of these jobs if you are not already in China.
Doing business here .. well, yeah.. it depends a lot how you are going to etc. Me and another swedish colleague here in China are setting up a local business this year. The most common problem with establishing a legal business on mainland as a foreigner is that you must proove that you have money enough to run this kind of business (and this varies from province to province and city to city) but it is rarely below 200.000rmb. Here in Beijing it is more likely 300.000rmb. You dont have to pay this money, you just have to put it in your business bank account. After you are registered and licensed you can use the money. The ACTUAL fee for starting a legal business on mainland is around 12.000rmb. If you are native Chinese you can do this and often without having to show u have 2-300K in the bank. Or .. you can get fortunate like me and my colleague who got acquainted to an English diplomat living here who knows the right people to circumvent the 2-300K deposit. Doing business here on mainland, having the right contacts is very important.
Then there are many pros running your business offshore from HK as virtual office , or physical. However it is no longer possible to establish a HK LTD then conduct all your business in China mainland taxfree as it used to be. You can do this up to 180days legally now, beyond that it is no longer taxfree and you will be double taxed instead. Both in mainland and in HK. There are always ways to work around this legally but then it becomes more complicated and you need to have the right connections.
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Axiom: There is plenty of work for you in Shanghai, trust me!
If you have IT experience, you wont find trouble finding work in Shanghai, Beijing or Dalian at least. There are plenty of job opportunities for native Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, French and Spanish speaker too , doing LET and SQA for big companies like Nokia, Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, HP etc. Most of them have outsourced their LET and SQA to China and their offices here always needs native speakers for many languages (but primarily: Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, French and Spanish).
However, you are most likely NOT going to score any of these jobs if you are not already in China.
Thanks again Mikael, I heard that there was a lot of work for my field of expertise (professional expendable crew member... er animator) and I was even told that I should try getting a job here http://animation.cuc.edu.cn/channel.v2?id=4a4d938129aad3150129ad8eba6b0015 (http://animation.cuc.edu.cn/channel.v2?id=4a4d938129aad3150129ad8eba6b0015) but I think that might be a bit out of my league since I am self taught (plus, i am not sure if my Chinese language skill is up to scratch for going to school in a different country) .... but I might want to take some classes there if I can get enough $$ together (possibilities possibilities).
Anyway, my mind tends to wander this way and that so back to the task at hand. I do know *some* IT, I know mostly ActionScript and Python. I'd chew off my own head to learn things like Java, PHP/SQL and a few others... but I didn't have the money to take them here in the states sad to say. Speaking of, being a (sadly) typical American, the only language I know is English... but I started learning Chinese through Rosetta Stone but no Swedish, German etc.
Not going to find them if I am not in China eh? Okay, that's good to know. That means I wont spend my time and energy spinning my wheels looking for a decent job until I am actually there.
*tips hat* Thanks again (again :P ) Mikael, can't tell you how helpful your insight has been to me in this great upheaval in my life.
Axiom/Dave
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Well you might be able to "score" a job even if you are not here but i wouldnt recommend it, however the likeliness is 100X higher when you are in China. If u apply a job here and get a reply, most companies want to have an interview rather immediately and it is very common that you sign on site the same day you have the interview, provided you pass it.
Get here first, after you have been here a few weeks you will understand how things work here hehe... its a whole different world. I do not think you will have problems finding a job here and if you need any help me and my gf will be happy to help you out. There are LOTS of jobs in the design/3d/animation/fx market here, my GF who is an illustrator just had a few interviews last week for some post FX 3D game companies here and they explained there is always a huge demand for all kinds of illustrators, designers, animators etc .. And i often see ads for AS3 peeps.
So like i said before, just go here ..... and take it from there.
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I've been teaching in Dalian for a year now, heading back next month for my 2nd year (my son will join me and teach at the same School yay!).
It's the way to go. I teach for about 15hrs a week and make enough to get by. I have met many great women and settled on one. Meeting them and dating them in real is good and a wise choice can be made.
The IT job scene here is great and it is not a lot of trouble to find work in it. It's the no.5 IT place in the world and no.1 in China, with loads of foreign companies operating with international staff. English is the business language.
My gf is setting up a business with me, so it's easy. We've just done a private agreement and she has put up all the money.
I am still teaching and spending my spare time in the business (car stuff). When it's established I can give up the teaching and we can have more holidays.
The way that China is growing it's easy to make a lot of money. In a place like Dalian the rate of economic growth in business is around 20%, so you get to grow that much even just sitting around - a free ride.
Westerners have a lot of pulling power here. A fairly normal guy can expect a hot woman, around 15yrs his junior, with enough wealth to support herself and any children she might have.
One thing, Dalian is not as international as it seems. Plenty of Russians and Japanese, but hard to find decent coffee, western goods and so on. English speaking natives are few - taxis will not understand a word of English. It's a lot harder than places like Beijing in that respect. You need a few Chinese friends to help you do things.
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Great post SurfinChina , can see Dalian on the map so sooner or later we will float past there , regards Sujuan and Robert .
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Hello, I'm new on this web site, I'm travelling in China every year since 6 years now and settle and working in China. If you are looking for a job outside teaching, maybe this site can help http://www.fesco.com.cn/495/index.htm (http://www.fesco.com.cn/495/index.htm)
Good luck
Ulric
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Hello, I'm new on this web site, I'm travelling in China every year since 6 years now and settle and working in China. If you are looking for a job outside teaching, maybe this site can help http://www.fesco.com.cn/495/index.htm (http://www.fesco.com.cn/495/index.htm)
Good luck
Ulric
Having looked at this site it looks to me that Ulric is a one off participator whose intention was to highlight a business that he has some dealings with and get another link on here to assist the ranking of it with search engines.
Willy
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Hello Willy, I'm looking often at your website without participating. I like the advice and sharing experience from you guys. No I don't have any intention to highlight about that business and I have no relationship with. You mistaken Willy :P. Just a website that my Chinese girlfriend gave me. If it can help, good, if not, it's ok.
There are many opportunities in China for working outside of teaching English. Just look carefully.
Good luck
Ulric
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Ok thanks for clearing that up. But when a person comes on and makes a first post such as yours was then and we can find nothing about you at all in your profile then we can get suspicious. Me more than most at times!
Willy
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Hello Willy,
Thanks for the comments. I appreciate. I understand your point of view. Living in China since a while and doing everything by myself, find a work, set up business, prepare to marry a wonderful Chinese lady and so one, I forgot the introduction manners :-[. Ok I begin an introduction. I come from Canada, eastern part, so I speak French also. I was a therapist into a big psychiatric hospital and manager of the psychology and behavior analysis department. So my job give me the opportunity to travel often, first in Ukraine and Russian countries to find my beloved but after some years of scamming, I gave up. I decided to choose China. I'm travelling in China since 6 years now, meeting some ladies but only deceptions and decided to settle because I found the most wonderful (sorry guys I really find the one ;)) lady. We was dating for a year now and now the serious step is there.
It's ok as an introduction Willy? :P Have good day all
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It's ok as an introduction Willy? :P Have good day all
It's okay for "Willy" but not for us Mod's! Justkidding
We do like them Janadians here, like Maxx would say and you don't mess with the Global Mod! Welcome Ulric!