This is my first post, so I hope I´m writting the correct things in the correct place… and in a more or less correct English
I came to Taipei about 5 months ago, leaving my sometimes beloved sometimes not Spain, and til now I haven´t had any job offer related with my studies (computer science). The offer it´s from a not so big company, based in USA but with a branch in Taipei which is supposed to grow up this year…
I´m so desesperated with my situation (I came here to settle down), and I said YES to the economical conditions, even knowing that salary was low. But I have realized that it´s not low but perhaps a crap: 50K NTD /month. Is it as bad as I think? should I try to raise it before signing anything?
BTW… the HR girl said that the contract will be for 2 years… is that true? does the government say that I have to stick them for such a long time?
slave labor, but, in the present economy, maybe the best available until you can do some networking.
maybe try to get it down to 1 year, or they insist on 2 years, insist on a bit more NT$
I agree. If it’s two years, they should pay you 60k, or at least 55k. Also,make sure you understand the bonus system. If a company offers two or three months bonus, that is a big upside.
Uhm… they said that there´s one month bonus, and also another one based on performance (and how to measure it…? who the fuck knows…).
So as I read you, it seems that government doesn´t say anywhere taht I should stay with them for two years… am I worng? Nice people these employers…
Also I have one doubt. They are about to tramit my work permit. I gave them some papers including a photocopy of my university degree, but of course it´s in Spanish. They were like puzzled by that, as they were expecting something in English. Is the government office going to accept it like that, or should I get any other certificate from my university?
thank you for all your answers, I hope that they´ll be usefull for other people as well.
You may have to get your degree authenticated by TECO in your home country, if they had any doubts because it is not in English. They also might want to see two years post secondary work experience, since you will not be teaching English.
saddletramp, I´ve already got the work certificates to demonstrate those two years. when you say if THEY had any doubts, you mean the company or the government office? May be I (or they) should contact the Ministry of Labour in order to clarify the situation and chances…
I mean if the government office has doubts. The process is easy enough, just a bit of a hassle since you are now here instead of back home. You might have to ask for some help from family members or friends.
Good that you have the two years experience, I think that would have been more of a problem than a Spanish degree. I actually feel that your degree will not be an issue either, since you are not trying to teach English.
I believe that is about the going rate. I’ve heard of graduates being paid 30-40K. I wouldn’t know about the contract - that sounds slightly odd, probably unenforceable. Does it specify a penalty if you walk away? As the other posters said, ask about your bonus, too. It could be substantial.
Incidentally, the reason programmer salaries are so low is that many programmers here are, in my experience, useless at their job. I’ve seen code coming from huge companies that looks like it was written by a 12-year-old hacker. So you have two options: prove that you’re one of the exceptional ones (who, in good companies, are highly valued) and get promoted, or sit on your ass and just collect your money (like the other 90%).
The problem is, the fact that your company wants you to chain you to the desk for two years suggests they might not be a good company…
50k for a newbie computer science guy sounds about right to me. Face it, they are 10-a-penny here, so you’re not really bringing any unusual skills to the job. Actually, its pretty high, in fact. A local would be looking at no more than NT$30k.
For my job I was told a contract was necessary to obtain my work permit, but there was no penalty for breaking it. It seemed like the length of the contract was related to the length of the work permit.
In Taiwan, Ph.D’s in engineering and sciences may start around $60+k a month before bonuses. Your offer is probably significantly higher than what you’d receive from a Taiwanese company.
Finally I´ll accept that amount… I need a job now…otherwise i think that i´ll get crazy soon
I wonder if the work experience certificates will be accepted… since both of them are just pieces of paper where I printed out what the companies sent to me. did anybody do the same?
Bookmark: the idea of that my offer was a crap comes from another post where some people were discussing about the same topic but a few years ago. They were talking about 60-65K as a normal wage for a person with 3 years of work experience. Perhaps conditions in the past were happier than nowadays´.
I agree with this response. I have programmers working with me that dont see pass 35000. Being a foreigner, you should make a lot more teaching English.
