A Programmer's Experience Sharing on Overseas Job Hunting

It has been a long time since my last post, as I have been very busy with work and family. I only roughly translated some content before and haven't fully posted it yet. Quite ashamed!

I have been in the United States for a year now (arrived in mid-February 2015), and I would like to share my experience with everyone.

Instead of diving too deep into the minutiae (I talked too much about details when I graduated, which seems quite superficial looking back now), what should I focus on? I would like to cover two main aspects first:

1. Destinations: Which countries can you actually go to, and what are their respective pros and cons?
2. Methods & Strategies: How to target those corresponding countries (with a focus on the US and Canada).

Overall, public education abroad is free. As long as you have legal status (or even illegal status), your children can enjoy free public education.

Japan

Jobs in Japan are relatively easy to find; you can connect with people more frequently on LinkedIn. Many companies there have branches or headquarters in the US and are quite open-minded. Japan is facing a severe shortage of IT talent, and the compensation is decent. Last time, a Japanese company's HR emailed me offering an annual salary of $160,000 (USD) with free room and board, along with opportunities to be stationed in the US after a few years of work. I don't know much about the naturalization process in Japan.

Hong Kong & Singapore

These two places have a certain demand for IT talent, but overall it is not exceptionally strong—it really depends on the right opportunity. You can look for jobs through headhunters (one of my high school classmates relocated there through an agency). In Hong Kong, you can apply for a permanent identity card after working for seven years. Singapore seems to have changed its requirement from two years to five years recently.

Europe

Europe feels the most like the countryside, meaning life pressure is the lowest, the work pace is the most relaxed, and there are various labor protection mechanisms. Naturalization rules vary by country, but generally, it requires about five years of work, and it is relatively straightforward to get citizenship. Europe can be somewhat exclusive, making it harder to secure interview opportunities from overseas, though it is still possible. Aside from LinkedIn, each country has its own local job boards, so explore them based on your interests. Due to language barriers (except for the UK), my wife was reluctant to go. The UK's immigration policies have changed recently, making naturalization less favorable.

Oceania

Oceania is also a very laid-back place. It used to be my top choice. Oceania mainly consists of two major countries: Australia and New Zealand. Both countries offer skilled migration, investment migration, and entrepreneurship migration programs. You can check their official immigration websites. There are two main ways to go to Oceania: get your PR (Permanent Residency) first, or secure a job from overseas first. Choose based on your situation. Getting PR is actually easy, but the degree verification process for these two countries is quite troublesome. Plus, since I am slightly older (which deducts points), I calculated that by the time my degree was verified, my age would exceed the limit, so I gave up. I also tried applying for jobs directly and got an offer in New Zealand, but it required me to go alone first, and my wife and child could only join six months later. It wasn't very family-friendly. The boss was also Chinese. Businesses in Oceania are highly exclusive and often don't count overseas work experience. Securing an interview is very difficult unless you have a niche technical skill that happens to be in demand there. A well-known job board in Australia is Seek.

North America

North America is the most open place, making it the easiest to land overseas interviews. It mainly consists of the United States and Canada. Among them, Canada's skilled migration is relatively easy—as long as you secure an offer, your points will be sufficient. Landing PR without a job offer is harder and reportedly takes a long time on the waiting list. However, Canada's immigration policies change year by year, so keep a close eye on them. Canada's work visas don't have a quota cap, making them relatively easy to obtain. A massive number of US companies set up branches in Canada to hire talent. Working in the US from overseas requires an H1B visa, which has an annual quota; last year's lottery selection rate was just over 30%. Therefore, even if you secure an offer, you still need good luck to win the lottery (though many companies will let you stay in Canada first).

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For more information about coming to the US, feel free to join the TG group: https://t.me/joinchat/FGEdbNfWnmfF5FI8