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Why China Can't Lure Tech Talent (bloomberg.com)
China may have been hoping to attract tech talent to its nation, but it is unlikely that people in the tech industry will move there. A columnist at Bloomberg explains why: The biggest problem is government control of the internet. For a software developer, the inconvenience goes well beyond not being able to access YouTube during coffee breaks. It means that key software libraries and tools are often inaccessible. In 2013, China blocked Github, a globally important open-source depository and collaboration tool, thereby forcing developers to seek workarounds. Using a virtual private network to "tunnel" through the blockades is one popular option. But VPNs slow uploads, downloads and collaboration. And it isn't just developers who suffer. Among the restricted sites in China is Google Scholar, a tool that indexes online peer-reviewed studies, conference proceedings, books and other research material into an easily accessible format. It's become a crucial database for academics around the world, and Chinese researchers -- even those with VPNs -- struggle to use it. The situation grew so dire this summer that several state-run news outlets published complaints from Chinese scientists, with one practically begging the nationalist Global Times newspaper: "We hope the government can relax supervision for academic purposes." The cumulative impact of these restrictions is significant. Scientists unable to keep up with what researchers in other countries are publishing are destined to be left behind, which is one reason China is having difficulty luring foreign scholars to its universities. Programmers who can't take advantage of the sites and tools that make development a global effort are destined to write software customized solely for the Chinese market. The author has raised several other reasons to make his case.
I lived in China for a year. I loved it. I love the culture, I love the country side. Even the pollution can be handled with a decent apartment with good window seals and air scrubbers. They people are fine (let's face it, all countries have great people and terrible people). But, the reason I, as a software engineer, won't go back: no green cards and you can't own property or start a business. Maybe when your 25 years old, the lack of unfettered internet is the worst thing you can think of. But, as you get older, you become more risk adverse. Why would I invest a life in a country where I cannot be granted permanent residence, even if I marry a citizen? I wouldn't; that's foolish.
I am not sure they are really trying too hard in the first place. I speak Mandarin (have been studying for many years), have a good resume and appropriate technical background, and spent substantial time in China to have a general idea of how things are - yet I have never been able to attract interest of any Chinese company.
I am in a situation very similar to you and have been actually interviewing to some Chinese companies and also know people working in those. I am very confident that China is actually trying to lure tech talent from abroad, but they prefer people who have worked in big companies and do not speak Chinese. The reason for the first is that they are very interested in the information they can get from their competitors and use for their advantage, and the reason for the second is that their own company internal information is all in Chinese and they don't want these same employees to leak that to their foreign competitors.
So to put it short, they want to leech information out of their competition by hiring their ex-workers in any ways possible, but at the same time make sure that they are not leaking out anything. And the fact that you speak Mandarin and understand the Chinese culture to some extent makes you a unattractive candidate. It's much safer to hire Chinese candidates for the basic jobs and hire foreigners (who speak no Chinese) to the positions where they have serious need to catch up.
I would love to find out I'm just making this all up as a big conspiracy theory, but I have a bit too much stories and examples to support my assertion...
Same here. I have a strong telecom background. Lived in Shanghai with my wife for 3 year. Looked for a job for the 7 months. Nothing.
I ended up teaching English at a private school and private lessons. I made 3 times what doing that as what I was paid as an engineer in the states.
There was some downsides, to be sure.
1. Stalkers. Seriously, some of those girls were certifiable. Never imagined I would have to deal with that.
2. The environment is dirty. You walk down the street and it looks nice and tidy. Looks past the bushes and you can see where all the garbage went.
3. The air is pretty dirty. I would run every day and I would be blowing black out of my nose the entire day.
4. The crowds are not for everyone. Seriously, it is crowed on the metro. And loads of the people do not know about deodorant.
5. Naked capitalism. People in the US like to think that they live in a capitalist society. Bullshit. You don't. China, is the most capitalist place I have ever been. If you were on fire, someone come over and try to sell you a bucket of water. They would never through it on you though. You would need to pay someone else to do that. It is pure capitalism without regard for anything else. That is the reason their environment is so F'ed up.
Having said that, I enjoyed living in China. I do not think I could ever live there again purely from the health point of view. But, by and large the people treated me well and I had a lot of fun. For now, I think I will stick to Germany.