90 is the new 70
I’m not a English teacher.
I come here as a research scientist (biochemist) - no teaching - we speak English in discussing science.
You can try finding work other than teaching English.
That’s what he’s looking for - a job that isn’t teaching.
Here’s what I think. You’re wasting away potential earnings right now. You can’t be that young as you’re married. How long is a few more years with her family?
Job market is actually good right now in the US, you miss this chance who knows what it’ll look like.
You don’t like teaching but that probably the highest you’ll earn as a none mandarin speaker in all honesty with a degree in business unless you start one yourself.
So if you decide to teach you’ll hate it for a few years which is also not a good situation for the kids you’re teaching.
If you decide to learn Chinese while working. I’ve heard it takes at least 3 years to be anywhere near fluent enough to work if you work hard at it. So that’s 3 more years you lose if not more.
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I’ve seen English polishing / editing / copywriting jobs advertised.
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Try Wallace editing if you can stand academic editing.
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Wait. What’s your job when you were in US?
He’s a young guy probably starting out ?
Anyway Taiwan has been tough work wise for a long time.
You can apply to local companies through 104 and 1111. There’s usually quite a few jobs, pay can be a bit low but probably not actually less than a regular deal school job. Get the wife to help with the CV. After a few years easily more
Andrew is correct though you will be sacrificing earnings and savings here . I have a pretty good income now but I’m trying to save and makeup for those years that I didn’t.
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If the OP has a master’s or 2+ years experience in writing or editing, publishing is about the only other option for those without management or technical skills. LiveABC isn’t a bad option. I worked there for a year, but I couldn’t stand sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day. It wasn’t a bad place to work, though manager’s vary. The head manager of publishing was a great person, and I’m sure if I’d asked he would have moved me to a different department if I’d planned to be there long term. They have a large staff, and that’s one reason for the frequent job ads. Most of the people I knew worked there for several years. It’s a very professional environment compared with most teaching jobs. They also have a buxiban with the same name.
They don’t actually pay that well though, do they? I saw one of their ads somewhere and it was 8:30 to 5:30 for NT$60,000. You can make a lot more doing freelance editing and can set your own hours.
You wouldn’t make more than that starting out though would you ?
That’s a decent salary if you’re young and single. He’s married now. Different priorities.
What’s the wife doing in all of this?
Are you technical? Reskill, coding bootcamp… become a web developer or something in tech, working remotely perhaps.
When I first started out, I was doing teaching part time and working freelance part time, so I was actually making around that, probably a bit more. I did this for a year or so before freelancing full time.
I know that when I saw their ad it worked out that I was making a lot more freelancing than I would working at their company–with less hours.
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Not the best in the world admittedly.
I can tell :^)
I thought I’d hate teaching too. As long as you’re not stuck with the little shits all day it can be alright, albeit tiring. The smile of kids can make your day.
But if that fails, how convincing a trap do you make? There’s a lot of money to be made in the field…
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What do you do, if I may ask?
I’m an editor. I work with a lot of independent authors as well as a number of websites.
Hmm, what skills do you have? what were your undergraduate studies in and what work did you do previously?
If you’re in a technical field, the language barrier is not as big of an issue, but knowing Chinese to a decent level will always be favourable.
For me, I work in a foreign company in a Finance role and it was my experience, certifications and skill set that got me my role, and luckily my so-so Chinese isn’t a big of an issue since most of my work relates to foreign subsidiaries outside of Taiwan.
The horror!
Actually there’s plenty of editing/tech writing/marketing copywriting work out there. Doesn’t pay great but it’s a means to an end.
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