Expected Salary- Too high?

Work Working in Taiwan
1

Been working in IT for close to four years and recently, I am looking for a job change (CNY is a good time).
The problem is that my expected salary is sounding or being perceived as too high (according to my teammates and the HR of the two companies I interviewed with).

I am currently close to 60k/Month (not counting the bonuses and what all…)and I am expecting a raise of nearly 10% on my monthly income, which would be 5-6k. What I’ve been told is that a figure of 65-70 K is too high for a person with 4 years of experience (which again seems like BS to me). Should I stay firm or is it better for me to be realistic (if i’m not).

2

I don’t think it is too high at all. It is higher than the typical local salary, but not too high for foreign talent. A good English teacher gets $800 an hour. A new one gets $600 per hour.
Perhaps others can comment but I think there will be a flood of talent available right after CNY. And then it will be more difficult for employers to find people.

3

I don’t know what your field is, but most IT places seem to start Tech Writers at around 60K or even more.
Kind of sounds like someone’s bullshitting you.

4

I think 65-70k is more than reasonable for having 4 years experience.

5

Lotta tech firms etc. have lowered salaries for foreign talent from 80K to 60K in recent times. May be supply and demand and a whole lot of ABC/CBC/TBA/TBC types flooding the market.

6

Oh man that was a typical salary 15 years ago.

7

Why are salaries in Taiwan discussed per Month?

This seems so confusing to me because apparently many people get paid for 14 months each year and get bonuses etc., which would make quite a big difference compared to not getting those.

Wouldn’t yearly pay be better for comparison purposes?

8

Most employees in taiwan get less than one months bonus per year, many get none. Its all there in the statistics.

9

Yeah, That’s what I think as well. 65-70K sound reasonable but then again , the HR is bent upon the fact that she is giving me a fair salary and she accepts me to believe that

10

Write code! Make Software and I have no idea about Tech Writers salary! but it does make me feel envious that here i am with 4 years of experience and I am still trying to reach 65k, not fair!

11

ikr, let’s hope I can negotiate something fair for both of us

12

I am being promised 14 moths pay and the HR kept on trying telling me that most of their RD/IT staff make close 16 months since they have some other variable bonuses. My experience of working with Taiwanese companies is that the “variable bonus” part is highly uncertain and should be treated with caution.

13

Yes you should aim for 14 mth basic and they might slip back to 13 month basic. Then you should also go for the variable bonus and yes you are right a lot of companies are cheap on the variable bonus.

Also correct that yearly basic pay is the main concern.

14

What kind of IT work are you doing? Without knowing that, it is hard to know what the salary range should be. I know of some open positions, but it depends on what your skills are.

15

Do you have experience with Cisco’s CIAC?

16

70k per month sounds like an insanely low salary for any college graduate in any field, let alone someone in IT. That’s $26,500 USD per year.

17

It’s not insane worldwide. In fact it’s a great salary for much for the world’s population!

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18

Taiwan IT firms start new EEs from top schools at about 45K/month.
Industry standard.

I guess they didn’t check with you first.

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19

That’s $26,500 USD per year

Thanks for the word of confidence ! That’s a definite moral booster and a kick in the ass that I need.

20

It might be helpful to remember that we’re in a country where Minimum Wage is a hefty US$3.98/hr. AND there are bazillions of people earning just that.

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