Hello everyone. I have been looking for permanent job here in Taiwan for the past 6 months already. I initially intend to join the semicon indsutry (my master degree is in Chemical Engineering).
Recently, I got an interview with a start up company related to renewable energy. The CEO is Taiwanese. The current headcount is less than 15 and they have been around for just 3.5years. Anyway, I had a nice talk with the CEO and he asked me for another talk so we could discuss more about my expectations and the salary as well.
I know that to apply for a work permit, the min. salary should be NTD 47917, tho, I am also aware that there could be exemptions to that as well. At the moment I have no idea about the current financial state of the company. We might talk about this when we meet next week. What could be a reasonable asking salary for an R&D Engineer post considering the start up nature and field of this company, and of course the risk associated with joining a young company? NTD50k? NTD 55k? The boss told me he will also interview other (local) candidates and I assume they will propably have lower asking salary than a foreigner like me. Based from what I have read so far, usual range for fresh master grad in non-semicon industry is around 40-45k.
*One thing that makes me consider this company is because I am really into renewable energy research.
If you have no experience, asking for any more than 50k at first would be risky, even in semiconductor industry. I’d take the hit and earn less at first, then after a couple years move somewhere else and make big money as an experienced engineer.
Thank you for your reply. Before doing my master’s in Taiwan, I have already worked abroad for 3 years as a Process Engineer. Also, my master research is related to renewable energy as well.
Thank you for your reply. Before doing my master’s in Taiwan, I have already worked abroad for 3 years as a Process Engineer. Also, my master research is related to renewable energy as well. How much do you think I should ask?
In many small TW technology company, the hiring manager will choose based on whose salary requirements is the lowest.
The standard now should be a little more than 48K I think.
$26,400 x 2 = $52,800 x 12 = $633,600
That being said, work permit could be issued with lower salary if you are graduated from any Taiwan university.
If you are coming from North America/Western Europe, definitely should ask higher. Up to 65K-70K still OK. 80K maybe a stretch.
Since in small companies, no bonus is guaranteed.
As a very general matter, the typical professional foreigner educated in North America/Europe makes around NT$75k/month. You have actual international experience. Ask for 80. Don’t accept anything less than 70. There is something wrong with the company if they can’t/won’t pay you that much.
That said, I have seen foreigners wih PhDs in applied physics from Taiwanese institutions accept as little as 55k at a company that sounds similar to the one you are talking to because they did not want to leave their comfort zone in Taipei and wanted to avoid overtime/Taiwan tech company work culture.
I hired two new graduates from local god-knows-what university for R&D Engineer position back in 2019 for 45K a month (36K in the first 3 months per company regulations).
The job mainly computer simulation and some minor testing for small machineries.
If you are ethnically Chinese (South/South East Asian), your main competitors are SEA Chinese that usually have better Chinese than you. And they would lower the market price for the salary.
If you are pink, watch out for the Chinese speaking big nose. If you see one as your competitor for interview, might as well leave.
If you are black, brown, same suggestion if you are pink.
I’m starting to appreciate that, despite what I consider to be a pathetically low salary to me, qualified teachers are paid better than qualified engineers in this country…
That’s an interesting observation. The ceiling for English teaching is a lot more limited long term, but for starting out, you can easily make 60-80K per month putting in the hours.
The main issue is you tend to get sucked down the path with diminishing returns to do anything else. English teaching generally doesn’t have enough transferable skills for Western home-country jobs. Well, it wasn’t for me, at least. That’s fine if you love English teaching and the Taiwan lifestyle, though, but not a good idea if you are have aspirations to pursue a different career.
It just amazes how little locals earn, though. Sure there’s a fair number of intangibles which might make it worth it. But for me, the amount of effort and time locals will devote to cram schools and tests often doesn’t seem worth it. It’s awfully risky, too, starting a business.
I would say 45k is way too low. I made more as a research assistant in a university lab just fresh out of my master’s and now as a PhD student with some teaching gigs. If you are working full-time doing research for a private Engineering company, you should be paid more, at least in my opinion.
According to this, Taiwanese chemical engineers with an MA make between NT$46k and NT$64k per month. There is really no reason that a Taiwanese employer will pay someone above market just because they are a foreigner absent artificial reasons like work permit salary requirements. Those don’t apply to foreign graduates of Taiwanese universities.
But foreign experience is often highly prized in Taiwan. If yours is relevant, I still think you should be asking for more than this range. If the offer comes back in this range, you will at least know that this is probably around market.
Can I have the link for this? I’ve read this a couple of times in other threads as well but cannot find the reference at WDA website. Or are people referring to the new “point system” basis for work permit application where the potential employee must have at least 70 points?
Having no guaranteed bonus is also one of my concern. Normally, a TW company will have lower basic salary than, say, Western companies. But they compensate in terms of bonus. And as you say, small (and start up) companies might not be able to offer that.
Wow. I’m not aware that they have extended it to 2 years. When I graduated last year, the ARC extension is only for a max of 1 year. Does this new policy apply to int’l students who graduated before 2024?
It’s true that semicon equipment suppliers hire foreign grads w/o experience for 60-70k/month. However, I have come to realize that it is harder than it seems. The priority is: Taiwanese who can speak English > Taiwanese > Foreigner who can speak 中文 > Foreign graduates.
Exactly. And though the cost of living in Taiwan is relatively lower than in the West and other East Asian countries, having no source of income for a year while looking for work is not easy. Unless one is willing to work in a cram school (under the table, because you cannot apply for a work permit under job-seeker ARC) in the meantime. A thing I hope I won’t need to do.
I got around 50k per month in my first job here with not a massively different background and that was over 2 decades ago . And I remember thinking it was terrible because my friends in electronics were getting up to 100k with bonuses and some teachers I knew were up to that figure with two jobs
60k is the lowest number if you are from a good uni. Even then that’s too low, I’d tell them 70k-80k though they might not accept that. All total guaranteed comp.