How realistic is it to work up the career ladder in Taiwan?

When you’re in your 20s and just starting out in your career, gaining valuable experience and earning around 55 to 65,000 NTD a month while living in Taiwan is pretty awesome. A lot of people on this forum complain about that typical salary, but when you’re carefree, young and living in a country with low living costs, you can’t really complain. However, I feel like now, in my 30s, it just doesn’t cut it, as I think about getting a mortgage, put money away for retirement, etc. But more importantly, it’s crucial for me to know that I’m able to move up a career ladder and do more demanding things in exchange for the effort I put in and not to get bored. But I’ve come to the depressing conclusion that there just aren’t much opportunities for foreign professionals for career progression in Taiwan, particularly if they don’t speak excellent Chinese (which, frankly, mine will probably never be). I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, as my current work contract in London comes to an end, and I just wonder if it’s really worth going back to Taiwan, as much as I love it there… :frowning:

What do you think? Am I just being pessimistic?

If you are a subject teacher (not an English teacher) and get certified, you can definitely climb the career ladder. With a certification, you can get $120k a month and work up from there.

As with any career, it takes dedication and effort. A lot of people complain about how hard it is to get certified and it isn’t worth the effort. Well, I’m sorry. If you think career advancement isn’t worth the effort, don’t complain that you can’t get a raise. That’s the way life works in any field and any country.

As for speaking excellent Chinese, that’s also a matter of dedication. It takes about 10,000 hours of study to reach fluency. If you just study 1 hour a week, expect to get there in about 192 years (i.e., never). But if you study for 5 hours a day, you can get there in about 5 years (which is what I did).

It’s all based on how badly you want to make things work.

EDIT: I’ve written quite a bit on certification options elsewhere on these forums. Ask or search if you’re interested.

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I was probably being needlessly negative when I said I’ll “probably never” have “excellent” Chinese. I don’t really know why I said that, because that’s one thing I do actually put the effort into.

I work in IT and did so for a couple of years in Taiwan after teaching English. Some of my foreign colleagues, such as my manager, would often complain about a “glass ceiling” that exists in that field for foreigners in Taiwan. I don’t know if it’s true or not and I didn’t really give it much thought while I was there, but it is the case that there definitely wasn’t much scope for progression for foreigners in that company and I rarely see jobs advertised in the field that pay over 75,000 NTD max (for very experienced candidates).

I would definitely consider moving into IT teaching though, now that you mention subject teaching. I never considered that before.

Thanks for your reply!

There are ways to get reasonable pay but you have to have a unique skill or a good network of contacts. Chinese fluency is not always required.
There are shortages in certain areas of skills needed now. I wish I could find someone to write Code for BMS ( Battery Management System) for Li-ion phosphate Batteries , with experience. A good person in this field could potentially earn at least 300,000 NTD a month.

Glad my reply was of assistance.

One thing I’ve noticed is that most expats don’t plan their careers very well. If you get on a plane with no idea what you’ll be doing when you arrive, don’t call that good career planning. I, personally, believe that the “glass ceiling” is more due to improper planning.

One possible career choice would be to get certified in teaching highschool and look at computer science courses. There are some highschools in Taiwan that offer CS courses, although not a lot. I firmly believe that certification is a must, and you should get certified in your home country. In other words, think your career through before flying back to Taiwan. If you go about your career in a haphazard manner, the results will be fairly random.

As for Chinese, I just wanted to clarify that while it’s very possible to reach fluency, you won’t ever speak at the level of a native. I can conduct business and debate politics… but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to win against my Taiwanese friends when it comes to word games. But if you’re satisfied with reaching that level, it’s a very achievable goal.

You cannot work your way up the career latter in Taiwan, or at least not to any good salary. Someone above mentioned with certification you can make 120k, but that is still crap/insufficient if you want to buy a decent place in Taipei.

You said you work in IT, you work in an area you can do remotely? You can make good money if you can either find a UK employer who pays UK salaries, but allows you to work remotely or you can line up your own overseas clients.

OP is talking on non teaching jobs, right? It is harder for foreigners than locals to claim up the career ladder in a local company. Often their positions are excluded from the ladder. I think they often do that by changing jobs or starting own business, as many locals also do.

My experience has been that it’s possible. I can speak okay Mandarin, but I don’t feel that was any kind of deciding factor.

When I first came to Taiwan, I worked at a patent law firm with only a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. After six years, my salary had gone up, I was leading a small group of “patent engineers,” and I was also involved in training a few people. There were a few other foreigners at this company and I feel that helped a lot. Now, with years of experience under my belt and a license that can be used by firms here, I’m working at a company where I don’t see any more moving up for various reasons (not all bad/unreasonable). I’m actually fine with that.

Which schools pay 120k a month besides Taipei American School?

Not that I’m an expert, but I see people doing very well here who open their own biz for consulting or other ventures. This is probably true in any country, but I think it is very business friendly in Taiwan.

My school pays STEM teachers more than other subject teachers even though they insist that they don’t / not supposed to, so I don’t want to mention the school’s name.

PM me if you really want to know, are certified in teaching STEM, and looking for a job.