Hey. How is the job market in Taiwan for a foreigner with a master’s degree in computer science from Europe(Finland in this case)? I actually asked this question a while ago on other site and received very different kinds of answers. Some people were telling that they got their job pretty quickly from sites like 104, but some people said that getting a job as a foreigner is pretty much impossible if it’s not teaching English. One person pointed me here so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’d like to clarify that my Chinese is around HSK 2(TOCFL 2 equivalent I think), and I am actually heading to Peking University or NTU for 1 year in the next September to study Chinese full time as exchange student, hoping to raise my HSK to level 4 at least. People have advised me against going to grad school in China or Taiwan, so I think I’ll just do the master’s degree here in Finland. How would you advice me to proceed if I want to work in Taiwan in the future? Should I look for internships, summer schools or something like that? I’ve spent like few months on both mainland China and Taiwan, and would much rather work in Taiwan.
Why would you want to work here? You won’t earn much compared to working in Europe or the U.S. I think you would have a hard time finding a job just because companies would have to pay you a foreign wage of about NT$50,000 per month, which is about EUR 1300, or EUR 15,500 per year. They can pay a local recent graduate about two thirds of that, maybe less, and the wages don’t rise much over time.
With a master’s in CS, in Europe or the U.S., you should be able to make at least double that, more likely two and a half to three times that as a starting salary, and would be likely to double it after five years.
Well Europe is boring as hell to be honest. Maybe U.S yes, but getting the visa there won’t be that easy either. Maybe mainland would be a better option then.
Mainland China? You’re probably in even worse shape there, financially. U.S. H1-B visas are straightforward as long as you have desirable skills.
You’d be surprised how much fun you can have once you graduate and start earning money.
Actually the wages are a lot better in mainland compared to Taiwan. Also why would U.S employer hire European instead of U.S citizen, that’s pretty tough question. I would be glad to go to U.S, but I fear that it’s not that easy. Anyways Europe is dead to me(I could still probably consider United Kingdom or Ireland) and I am not intending to stay here.
It’s not clear from your post what it is you want to do now. Are you asking about your prospects for a permanent full time job or something to do over the summer while waiting to start your master’s?
It’s not clear from your post what it is you want to do now. Are you asking about your prospects for a permanent full time job or something to do over the summer while waiting to start your master’s?[/quote]
I am talking about a full time job that I will apply to with the master’s degree. Sorry if I explained it badly.
A quick search of these forums will show you that you cannot qualify for a work visa unless the government believes that your job cannot be performed by a Taiwanese person, or that there are no qualified Taiwanese available. I doubt that would be the case for computer science. So unless you have open work rights through some other means, plus two years of verifiable full-time work experience in a very similar job, it will not be possible for you to do anything other than teach the language Taiwan believes the country of your passport nationality speaks.
That’s not to mention how it’s hard to figure why a Taiwanese company would hire someone foreign who speaks little Chinese over an ROC national who requires no visa sponsorship, accepts a very low salary, and is back from abroad with a nice MA from a prestigious university. Expat packages, while famous, are fairly rare in actual practice, and if you get hired on one in Taiwan, it’s generally not on the same favorable terms that expats who are brought in from abroad enjoy.
The 2 year requirement only applies to bachelor’s degree, but it seems that Taiwan is a dead end so I guess I must aim for the mainland and try to apply for an international company or something along those lines. Also the clause in law stating that “your job cannot be performed by a Taiwanese person, or that there are no qualified Taiwanese available” there is a similar one in EU and U.S law, yet people get recruited from the other side of the Atlantic quite often, like when you think about that in practice, there is always a national that can do the same job. There is simply no job that for example European could do and not a one person in U.S couldn’t. The wording is quite retarded “cannot be performed by a Taiwanese person”, what is such a job? Anyways, according to these posts it seems to be pretty hard to get a real job in Taiwan.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Put up a resume and see if anyone bites. “A job a local can’t do” can include something like “has detailed understanding of European market” or “Finnish language skills” or any variety of things – if the employer is willing to help you through this process. It’s hard to find a job here, but not impossible. If you can accept the low pay and long work hours, Taiwan is a nice place for a few years, but don’t expect to have a lifetime of rewarding career opportunities here. 
If you can find an employer willing to pay you NT$48K for a programming job, the employer should be able to get a work permit for you. You are exactly the sort of person Taiwan wants-highly educated and working in tech. Many Indian and a few European software engineers work in Taiwan with similar qualifications. Check 104.com.tw, 1111.com.tw and search for programmer or key words in English. Don’t foregt Craigslist and research the various start up places (Startup Digest etc).
You can easily get hired with a work permit but there’s a work experience requirement, I think it’s one year for a masters. You can be creative about that. You should put your resume on 1111 or 104.
Dont moan before you even started the process, it’s much easier to get a work permit in Taiwan than in Europe or the US.
No experience required for a masters.
Getting a work permit inTaiwan is ridiculously easy with a Masters. There are so few white collar workers in Taiwan
You mean foreign white collar workers, I presume? :eh:
You mean foreign white collar workers, I presume? :eh:[/quote]
obvs. My mistake
Hi Samppaa,
Excuse my writing. I don’t post my opinion much so my thoughts are not always together.
I would like to add my 2cents as I had a very similar situation as you. Things in common: Computer Science (bachelors), studied 1 year mandarin(ShiDa), from western country(though I am asian). I currently work full-time for a small/medium sized web company/startup. I do make well over the mentioned NT50K; the boss has been given me a few promotions/raises/equity in the 1 year I have been there, plus the (normal?) yearly bonus. I hold a ARC that my company applied for which seemed expedited(took like 1-2 weeks). I also had work trips to NA and also paid-for flights for vacation(pretty sure its special treatment). My vacation time is more or less unlimited, though on paper, 2 weeks. I’ve done next to no overtime. Most of the time that I stayed late was when I chose or “forgot” to leave, as a CS person, you’ll probably understand. Pressure/stress? Only from supposed “know-it-alls”. Don’t get me wrong though, I am not lazy. I have a large, if not largest workload in the company, but I get all my tasks done, can’t say the same for my co-workers…
Regarding the work requirement for permit, master does not require work experience. In my case of bachelors, I did have 2 years with proof.
How did I find my job? 104. Searched for my favourite programming language and “web”. Found a few that I thought was OK, got interviews for them. They were all interested in hiring me, but work permit application blocked some of them.
Beware though, there is a alot of ego(?)/showoffness/people who think they know what they are doing but don’t, but that’s where I (and maybe you) come in 
.
tl;dr
If you have skills to offer the company, show it and they will want you, though this is not specific to a Taiwanese company. “A job cannot be performed by a Taiwanese person”. lols, there is ALOT of flexibility there.
PS. I have also considered mainland, but non-work considerations sorta puts me off, though the food news in Taiwan is not good to hear. Everytime I want to eat something, I think to myself “Was this on the news??? I don’t remember, there were so many things reported! I NEED AN ADULT!” ie my gf.
Taiwan is not that exciting compared to other countries and the pollution here is really bad for people like me, I have serious allergies. Anyway with a degree like yours, why bother coming to Taiwan? The quality of life here is not the best.
Some good responses to your post. I don’t agree with all of them but after deciding to move to Taiwan for work after completing a foreign Master’s degree I would say that I feel I made the right decision. Although I am not getting rich, I enjoy my life, live comfortably and am immersing myself in the culture and language. Recently after meeting friends from back home, although they are financially better off most of them are miserable and also not experiencing massive career advancement, some have even been laid off. Although those with exceptional degrees and skills have made a ton of money and quick career advancement.
It has been mentioned before on this forum but if you are looking for a place to start your career, gain international experience, learn Chinese and develop basic business skills Taiwan is a good place. Assuming you come here and find a job not at an MNC, it is not so good if you are looking for career advancement, fulfilling job, development of soft skills, and possibly also development of a business network (although this is strongly related to your Chinese ability). These are just my thoughts and generalizations from my experience and from the information I have read online, feel free to disagree. I also agree that there is a lot of flexibility for the work permit application as most the expats I know, their jobs could be done by any local with a business degree and fluent English (mostly for sales and marketing jobs), although I am not sure if it is the same for programming jobs.
Also it was mentioned before, but from speaking to other expats in the mainland, salary is definitely better and working conditions are arguably better also. Although things like pollution and standard of living are less favourable. One thing to note for the mainland what I have heard is that expat working visa requirements have been made a lot stricter in recent years. I have been in contact with a company in Sichuan province for a project management position and I would need a Masters Degree and 2 years post graduation related experience. Although I am not sure about the requirements for other provinces. Another international company showed interest but they would require me to pass HSK 4 before they could hire me. I’m at TOCFL 3 now but looking at the practice tests HSK 4 seems way easier than TOCFL 4 so I’m not too worried should I decide to make the move to the mainland in the future. Anyway just some thoughts that might help you make a decision. Good luck and follow your heart, not just what some randomers say online!
[quote=“ironlady”]A quick search of these forums will show you that you cannot qualify for a work visa unless the government believes that your job cannot be performed by a Taiwanese person, or that there are no qualified Taiwanese available. I doubt that would be the case for computer science. So unless you have open work rights through some other means, plus two years of verifiable full-time work experience in a very similar job, it will not be possible for you to do anything other than teach the language Taiwan believes the country of your passport nationality speaks.
That’s not to mention how it’s hard to figure why a Taiwanese company would hire someone foreign who speaks little Chinese over an ROC national who requires no visa sponsorship, accepts a very low salary, and is back from abroad with a nice MA from a prestigious university. Expat packages, while famous, are fairly rare in actual practice, and if you get hired on one in Taiwan, it’s generally not on the same favorable terms that expats who are brought in from abroad enjoy.[/quote]
This. I’m an overseas Taiwanese, reasonably fluent in the language (along with speaking English), and graduated with a Master’s from a Taiwanese University. But because I don’t have working rights in Taiwan, it is a bit harder to apply for a job because of the bureaucracy involved.
Also, it seems some of the jobs in my field that want “English language skills” apply the same bias as do the cram schools. I’ve had some firms ask me to send in a picture even though it wasn’t a teaching position.