Exactly. In the US, it’s completely acceptable and common to play hardball and negotiate back and forth regarding salary/benefits/etc. It seems that in Taiwan salary negotiation is not a common practice, as in, companies have a strict salary bracket for each type of position and there is very little room to negotiate (even though they actually ask for salary expectation). Well, I might be wrong, but that’s the impression I got.
Like I said, the offer’s not finalized yet, but the HR rep gave me some rough estimate how much a local sr engineer is paid monthly, and yes, it was subpar to me. Anyway I expressed my concern and they would get back to me with a finalized package (which hopefully would be a better one).
Did I miss it or have you not mentioned what field of engineering? Also is it production environment or R&D, if R&D you can expect higher.
If you’re Mechanical like me, expect even less than NA. Elecs or SW can expect slightly higher. I’ve had friends in Materials that pull in decent, but also some that that get Mech chump change. Can’t comment on civil. The key really is to get the highest title as possible, even though the work probably won’t change.
I am in process engineering (degree in materials science). And it would be an R&D job. My title is going to be Sr. Engineer (資深工程師), which is also my career level here in the Valley.
[quote=“Freakin’ Amazing”]
If you’re Mechanical like me, expect even less than NA. Elecs or SW can expect slightly higher. I’ve had friends in Materials that pull in decent, but also some that that get Mech chump change. Can’t comment on civil. The key really is to get the highest title as possible, even though the work probably won’t change.
YMMV[/quote]
Sorry to hijack the thread, I am interested in how does one find a mechanical engineering related job in Taiwan. Everything I have seen has been for software or electrical and similar. I am currently working for a US firm as an expat but our project is about to end and I really don’t want to go back to the US.
I’m an M.E. living here in Taiwan and went from expat to local back in '99. The average offer then was 60K per month and a ‘good’ offer was 80k. I finally got a job for 100k per month which ended up causing resentment because it was the highest in the R&D group. Two years later I was making 108K.
It was two years of Mickey Mouse escapades though but I learned a lot and now have my own business and factory. That’s the only way to go as far as I’m concerned. Be the boss. Being a boss here beats being a boss in the U.S. hands down because the business climate here is so friendly and the technological infrastructure is so well-developed and accessible for the things that M.E.s. do.
Being a worker here though just isn’t worth the effort.
These past eleven years have ended up being the happiest, most productive of my career and I wouldn’t go back to the U.S. now to work as an M.E. if they paid me.
Bottom line is you’ll bring three unique qualities to the mix here. One is better problem-solving skills, two is better management skills, three is better communications skills. As far as technical skills or work ethic go though you’ll probably be playing catchup here for a while.
Learn to speak Chinese pronto too because finding an English-speaking liaison here who speaks M.E is nigh on impossible.
I have been living in Taipei for 1y 10m now, coming from latinamerica, I am senior engineer in a huge company (telecom), my salary is not low either (even is par with similar position in US as I have colleagues doing same job for the same company), I support my wife and 3 children, and we keep a nice living standard in Taiwan. However I think is not the normal, I have never asked my taiwanese colleagues about their salaries but I am sure they are not really happy, some of them are as skilled (or even more) than me, but their culture makes them to keep silent (in fact that is also my culture, but that is another story.)
Then my perception is, if they really need you they will pay as high as their policies allow.
I am local, but our company is still keeping many foreigners (senior engineers and few managers) under expat contract, that means much more benefits of course.
I’ve just graduated from a degree in Electronic Engineering and I’ve just come to Taiwan to learn Chinese for 6 months. I’m thinking I would like to find my first engineering job here because it looks like I could get my ‘foot in the door’ and get some good experience here to take back home. I would also like to spend a little longer than 6 months here to learn Chinese a little better.
What do you guys think of this? Any advice that can be given to me?
I’m not having much luck finding a job. There seems to be a lot of jobs out there for Electrical / Electronic Engineers with a couple of years experience, but not much in the way of entry-level roles for a native English speaker.
There seems to be a bit of work out there for technical writers… But I’m not sure that a job solely in technical writing will help progress my career or teach me the things I need to know to get the show on the road.
I’ve just graduated from a degree in Electronic Engineering and I’ve just come to Taiwan to learn Chinese for 6 months. I’m thinking I would like to find my first engineering job here because it looks like I could get my ‘foot in the door’ and get some good experience here to take back home. I would also like to spend a little longer than 6 months here to learn Chinese a little better.
What do you guys think of this? Any advice that can be given to me?
Andrew[/quote]
I managed it. But I was lucky. I was hired based on my english speaking skills. I think you should take politbureau’s advice and think about business. I sometimes think where I’d be now if I had taken that path (not that its too late)
I’m Oble, a Filipino Civil Engineer. May I know if you know foreign or local based engineering companies in Taiwan that have vacancy (preferably in civil design fields)? Thank you very much.
