i am considering moving to Taiwan.
i am an architectural technician - can anyone give me any info on the architectural job market in Taiwan?
Salary?
Employment agents?
etc…
Hi Skorn,
Are you sure you want to come here for working in this industry?
I’m actually an Oz-registered Architect who came here a few years ago for a break of sorts. My motives were to learn some Chinese, gain some marketing and web-page design experience, and travel throughout Asia. The architectural work I’ve done here has been as a consultant on a casual basis.
My advice would be to try Shanghai (China) while it’s still “hot”. Until the economy here turns itself around, there won’t be much in the way of consistently interesting or challenging design work to be found. Having said that, there are a small number of local and international practices based here that seem to produce good quality work. However, there are many more such practices in places such as Malaysia and Thailand, for example.
Depending on your computer skills, you might be able to find some interior design or even graphic design work. I once got offered a job with a local animation company.
You might also be working on a local wage, which is far less than what you cuold get from teaching, unless you’re working for a construction company like Leighton, in which case, you’d be better off securing a job with this type of crew, while in Oz.
Let me know if you have any questions, as I’d be happy to offer a little more advice. I’m also quite intrerested to hear what other Forumosans have to say about working in a design-related area… some of them may have conflicting opinions to mine, but as I said, I came here for different reasons, but am getting ready for a fully-blown return to the architectural industry.
Cheers,
The Big Babou.
I spent 9 years working at a day job for a CAD software development company. What the Big Babou said is spot on.
The big problem is that the local construction firms really overbuilt. Lots of empty residential places.
Perhaps a good way to guage the job market here is to look at sales of AutoCAD (that’s what a good number of folks use here…at least it was when I was working in the field) and upgrades in Taiwan. Don’t look at Educational Versions numbers. It would also be interesting to see some sales numbers of high end 3D applications and high end render applications. If sales are good (which I doubt) then that might show that companies have steady business and therefore are investing in new and improved applications.
You might want to look at niche markets. Perhaps “specializing” in putting new faces on older buildings and redoing interiors.
Whew, a blast from the past. 
thanks for all the replys. my motivation behind moving to Taiwan is to learn chinese and be near family (my wife is from Keelung). at present i specialise in 3d renderings (check out my website www.as-designed.com - hasn’t been updated in a while but still). do architectural companies in Taiwan use 3d images much? and if so what is the level of the 3d renderings produced?
I’m in the same boat as skorn. My wife is from Taichung and we want to move to Taiwan sometime later next year or early '05. I’m an electrical engineer, but not in the high-tech field. I’ve been working with diesel/gas engines/generators and emergency power applications for 15 years. That’s what originally brought me to Taiwan - installing two large backup power plants for Quanta and GCE. I met my wife while spending about 4 months in Taiwan.
Now I’m in sales and my company is planning on a marketing push into Asia in 2005. I hope to take advantage of the Chinese I have already learned (and keep learning) and represent my company in Taiwan. I don’t know if that will happen, but I could always try something different if that falls through.
Perhaps you can start by being an outsource for companies that need rendering done. Oh yes, most companies use 3D images. You can assume that the quality of rendering here in Taiwan is the same as any place else.
What application do you use for your rendering work?
Let me get this right: you are married to a Taiwanese, and you speak some Chinese? If you are fluent enough to be able to work in a Mandarin-speaking environment, then you should consider to go here and look for a job, if the plum one does not work out.
You should be able to land something in the NT$70k range as an international sales guy for a local firm. You could also try to get a business development gig for a foreign company, but they are hard to find.
You will land a work permit once you get your visa, and you speak the language. You won’t havea problem getting something (apart from English teaching) to do.
When I worked for JE, I was commission only. There was a space of about two years when commissions were rolling in at about $13,000USD a month (usually it was about half that). So there are opportunities for Mandarin speaking foreigners to make a bit of dosh.
What’s JE?
JE Technology…the company that I used to work for.
Let me get this right: you are married to a Taiwanese, and you speak some Chinese? If you are fluent enough to be able to work in a Mandarin-speaking environment, then you should consider to go here and look for a job, if the plum one does not work out.
You should be able to land something in the NT$70k range as an international sales guy for a local firm. You could also try to get a business development gig for a foreign company, but they are hard to find.
You will land a work permit once you get your visa, and you speak the language. You won’t havea problem getting something (apart from English teaching) to do.[/quote]
I’m not quite fluent, need another 1 to 1-1/2 years to get there. That’s about the time I’ll be financially able to afford leaving my company if it comes to that. We’ve already decided on moving, it’s just a matter of if my company wants to utilize me in Taiwan. If not, I am sure there’s something I can do there. It may be hard adjusting to the salary there! My company just was purchased by Eaton (actually a joint-venture between Eaton and Caterpillar) so there’s gotta be plenty of opportunities with them in Asia.
I’m really looking forward to moving. I miss Taiwan, even though I only was there a short time. We’ll be there to visit next summer. I can’t wait!
[quote=“Durins Bane”]
What application do you use for your rendering work?[/quote]
AutoCAD + 3D Studio
Taiwan’s 104 job bank… get your significant other who can read chinese to click away until he/she finds the field you’re looking for work in, it’s a good place to start… whether the company will hire or interview you, that’s another story.