His much younger Chinese wife probably agrees. I feel bad for the guy though thereās a lot more to that story. 
I know bank workers in Taipei , forty somethingļ¼ i think (actually I know for a fact ) the wife is getting 30k a month, he is probably on 50 or 60k a month . They do it because of the benefits and the pension (cos bank jobs are similar to govt jobs here) after twenty five years or whatever. They live in a house in daan which would cost at least 20 million to buy, they have no car and keep their expenses to a minimum Taiwan job market is really weird in some ways .
They do sound spot on. At my first gig there was an engineer that had worked for the company 13 yearsā¦ he left his payment slip on the floor one day and my colleague picked it up and said 35kā¦
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Thats big money
This baffles me all the time, ohh I make 45k and my wife 35k I cry so much but live in 15M+ condos.
They donāt cry about it, the wife was very happy to āget into the bank with guanxiā for the 30k/mth job .
A lot of very weird things in Taiwan due to inherited money and low property taxesā¦ Half the property is on a mortgage they will sell it on when the kids finish high school, but they got tonnes of money to 'get on the ladder ā from their parents. This is also what kills the job market hereā¦ many people just want a stable job will not push for more money.
There must be other benefits, First Bank downstairs private parking lot has 5 Benz GLC SUVs parked with R plates (means leased or rented) and I see old school guys driving them and you see they are not the typical benz drivers, more like Cefiro drivers but maybe the bank gave them a nice set of wheels!
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Another screwed up thingā¦ my mother in law was looking at houses around the 30 million NTD range in New Taipei that house was renting out for only 39,000 NTD a month!
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30M in New Taipei City? that is over priced AF.
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Seriously, people are insane about houses. Real value probably closer to 18 million and depreciating as population declines and the concrete buildings age here
The lower level staff get cheap interest on loans which is attractive for many I guess. And they have social clubs and activities but I think by far the biggest reason is very low expectations of regular bank staff here , finish on time and you will not be laid off when you get older or there is a recession (because most banks are actually part owned by the govt).
Yeah top management in many banks probably make big money and very cheap loans and the directors families are all loaded of course. Not referring to first bank here but āHelp approve a construction loan and maybe some of the money could ātrickle backā in the form of cheap apartmentsā . Some banks bank management give and take hongbaos to rise up the career ladder . You need to buy your position, that is a very real thing here it is not well known outside of Taiwan. Foreigners donāt know this but itās one reason you wonāt get to VP level in many organisations (and in fact it happens in public schools as well I know of a case no bullshit ). .I think this is a useful example to explain how very different Taiwan is from the US in that way (in the US having the right MBA is often the way forward , nepotism of a different form)
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oh yeah, I know a few other stories, the government is even worseā¦
Taiwan is very corrupt, but somehow corruption here works, unlike Latin Americaā¦
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Make a list of the pros and cons of both jobs/locations.
Make another list with ranking of your priorities/principles/expectations/aspirations.
Follow your insight/intuition/wisdom.
Already did, but wanted input from different perspectives since I am not from the US and maybe others have already been through a similar situation.
There not much Singapore has to offer for me in the way of jobs. Most people I know who moved there work in the financial industry or architecture firms. My job involves developing physical products that have some software elements. All the opportunities I see myself doing now or in the future are in Taiwan, China (this might change lol) or USA.
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So your offer was between TW and US for 100k NTD vs 100 USD/annually? If US do you get to pick the city? Are you working remotely /from home for both jobs
Why donāt you move to the US but keep your connections with Taiwan and China. Thatās where most stuff is made anyway. Taiwan is an easy place to move back to if you want.
This is my experience as well. When I moved outside of the US 3 years ago I was the first person on my team to work remotely. Now my boss works in one European country, his boss works in a different European country, and I work in Taiwan without much issue. It may be harder to stay or advance remotely, but I find the old rule applies regardless: make yourself indispensable.
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No, since I am doing quite a lot lately and have some new products in the pipeline, I requested to get my salary raised and told them someone doing what I do usually gets 100-120k NTD a month. and that I do not want to waste my time here if they are not willing to pay that.
The US topic came up since she said after 100-120k it will be difficult to justify my salary in the Taipei office so I need to start thinking about my long term plans and that I would be more valuable to the company if I move to the US within 2 years and that she would prefer I donāt go to our current US office since nothing much is happening there, I donāt need to be physically present there and can actually open up an entire new small office wherever I think its appropriate.
Part of my job was traveling to the US every other month for product intros, demos and training, but obviously due to covid-19 everything was halted. I was actually looking forward this year to measure the waters and see where I would prefer moving to.
Which country are you from? Taiwan would be fun for a few years but US would be a better choice overall if you can be located anywhere, unless you can come to TW for a few yrs then have the option of moving to US after that would be great. Are you an industrial designer or something similar?
Iām from Latin America, I am an industrial engineer with a human-machine interface specialization.
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