Working Abroad?

dazdaz asks: "I have spent the last 12 months applying for IT positions abroad (Europe and Asia) from the UK and out of it, have had 1 offer and 3 free trips! The offer I had unfortunately was not enough to live on and only came through because a friend had recommended me. For the other 3 positions, I had seriously under-estimated the cultural differences along with the tight competition I ended up as choice number 2 several times. Just briefly: my background is web/internet/unix/sysadmin with contract experience. I am looking at permanent work abroad for the stability and long term career path. I speak basic French, and realise that not 'speaking da lingo' does cut down my chances and will start learning a language when I reach my destination. My question is, do I continue to apply from remote, both directly to companies and through Agency's or should I take the big gamble and goto a country. This is a last resort due to the global economic situation and one that scares me in that it may not pay off and with limited financial resources the risk factor is higher."

"I've also noticed that to work in Asia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan etc you generally won't get a position from remote, you need to either transfer from an existing company or just go there. I've spent some time researching expatriation to each of these country's in preperation, however going there is the real research. There are various specialist expatriate websites that are quite interesting along with a handful of expatriate books to various country's around the world.

So in a roundabout way, I've decided to become a career traveller, start out in Europe (one of Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain) which has a higher chance of success of getting or even continuing my IT career and then then at a later date try the big leap of working in Asia.

I'd be interested in other people's thoughts and ideas, those who plan this, those who have done this. The tight IT market has become quite ugly, even for those qualified, do you give up pursuing a dream or stride on."

Comments

Do you know the language

[Profane Motherfucker]

So you pick countries where they speak French, German, Swiss German, [tons] Asia, Dutch, et al. That's quite a lot of languages. Did you consider that perhaps the reason is that you cannot communicate? Lingua Franca doesn't get jobs. It gets dirty looks.

As for French, forget it. Unless you have a certificate from Alliance Francaise, forget it. That's the golden standard in Francophone countries. Get working. It'll take you about a year to get that -- if you pass their tests. It's not easy, the teachers are not nice.

Actually, if you have some cash, I recommend the Institute International de Rambouillet. They're pretty affordable, and the teachers are decent.

Canada!

[HRbnjR]

I say you should come to Canada!

I think it's time we turned around what we here call the "brain drain"! :-)

I'm not entirely joking either. We may not sound exotic, but Canada is a great place to live! There is a great standard of living (health benefits, etc). We have some fantastic cities too! Out here on the West coast in Alberta, it's a mountain biking mecca in the summer, and Calgary, for example, is only 1 hour from many major ski resorts in the winter. And if you are afraid of the cold, not only are Vancouver and Victoria wonderful coastal cities, they rarely get snow. And thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), I'm assuming it would be as easy for Americans to work in Canada as it was for me to work in America - with a letter of employment in certain fields you get a 1 year TN visa at the airport on the way out (doesn't get much easier than that).

Yeah, and like, we are nice too eh! :-)

Re:Canada!

[PD]

Something he didn't mention: Canada has had more recent waves of immigration than the United States. That means that their large cities are full of people from all over the world. One of the things that makes a city good to live in is a diverse group of people to live with and mingle with. That diversity makes things very interesting. One might say that the diversity of cities that have had large influxes of people from other countries is what separates a place like Montreal from, say, Enid Oklahoma.

Re:They Are Pbly in India

[larien]

Naw, probably more likely they've been outsourced to Glasgow; the chances of finding anyone who can speak English there are pretty remote!

I now patiently await a mix of moderation; I'm guessing +2 funny, -1 offtopic and -1 flamebait. *waits*