China Job Advice

[Federico]

Hello friends,

I need some suggestions about my job situation.

I worked in Italy for more that 10 years in IT, like a technician for home users and small offices: hardware/software assistance, pc assembly, small lan management…

Now in China, many people said to me – you can’t do this! many worker are more cheap than you! So I’m trying trader side, but this isn’t my way…

Really I can’t use my technology experience in Chengdu? I don’t believe, this city has a big computer technology side.

I need some idea because now I’m really confused, but more important, I must take every months income for my family..

Thank you and have a nice week!

[Eric]

There are a lot of people in china that do this… however, everything is… china-quality.

So you could take a chance on maybe marketing yourself as not-china-quality?

[Vincent]

I can imagine it’d be really hard to compete with those Chinese computer technicians. Why would anyone choose your services over theirs?

Maybe you’d have more luck looking for a job as some kind of IT-manager in a foreign company based in Chengdu. But that won’t be easy either.

What are your other skills?

[GAVVIE]

Hello Federico. How about placing an ad on this site explaining to your prospective customers what your capabilities are. Do you go to them or do they go to you? I am sure there are many people who will support you like me.

I seem to remember that you were thinking of opening an eatery, specializing in Italian dishes. What became of this? You could maybe do both and then see which way the wind blows.

[Brave Chengdu]

@Federico I can only share my experience – in line with what Vincent says, my company had terrible trouble hiring a competent IT manager for our 200 user office of a foreign multinational.

But we needed someone with experience of working in that kind of environment. I think you’re experience is a little different.

In the end we brought out a Brit on a full expat package. But that was a few years back.

I think the kind of home/small office skills you describe are readily available here at Chinese prices. I don’t think many buyers would appreciate the quality of service your 10 years experience would bring.

Maybe you could join the staff of some muti-national, maybe accept a Chinese rate. With the idea to build your large user base muiti-national skills, and move into a management position later. though your level of Chinese might be important.

it ‘s a little bit of a long term plan though, don’t know if that starting position would cover your family’s living.

[Charlie]

IT tech work for foreigners is mostly a dead-end in China unless you have your own business that caters to high-end clients, you have a highly specialized skill set, or you work in a managerial or creative capacity with Chinese people underneath you. Being an IT tech overseas is a relatively marketable skill, but in China the market is flooded with them. That’s exactly the kind of work that Chinese workers tend to excel at, as well.

If you buy ethernet cable at Computer City, the person splicing the cable to the length you determine might be a 60 year old grandmother who makes 1,500 yuan a month. You obviously do not want to be competing with that, but this is the nature of the market here.

Last year the lock button on my iPhone broke so I found someone to fix it. I watched him take the entire iPhone apart and troubleshoot the issue for about 15 minutes before identifying the problem, replacing the part, and painstakingly re-assembling the phone. Seriously, have you seen how tiny the screws that hold together an iPhone are?? The cost was 50 yuan. In the US you can make a lot of money repairing iPhones but that would be a totally untenable business for a foreigner in China. The market is really different here, which can either be to your advantage or disadvantage depending on how well you know how to exploit its unique features.

[yesmaybe]

I worked in a small foreign office in Beijing, with a local LAN, half a dozen pcs with English Windows. They were Acer I think, we bought them from an Acer sales rep and he helped install them as part of the deal (not the LAN, not sure how that was set up). But any problems, we’d phone him and he would come to the office and fix it, whether a overheating fan, driver update, graphics card, etc. His call out charge was ¥100 so just parts on top which he sourced from his local shop at honest prices (although I expect he made a little on them as well). He would often lend us a part, fix the other card or what have you and bring it back a few days later.

Sometimes I wished he would use more genuine parts, or know his way around the system in English a little better, not install extra software in Chinese on the hard-driver, or ghost partitions, but for the price we paid, the system was always working and no complaints. I guess he had a regular salary / commission from the pc store he worked at and so these occasional calls were a little buckshee for his cigarette habit, or what have you.

I think if you were in Beijing and could source the parts so quickly and were two or three times the price of our Chinese friend then our little office would have been happy to know about you. But probably not the Chinese secretary who liked to control the petty cash and ensure we always had a bargain. She never understood ‘you get what you pay for’ mentality. And even then you would probably still be struggling to make ends meet.

I suggest you try to upsell yourself to an IT company, whether foreign or local. Somebody like Candis (http://www.candis.com.cn/) or a Chengdu equivalent) that use foreign staff to help their image and increase their prices.

[Federico]

Thank you guys!

Some consideration/question:

– I know trading side is better(I have a food Ltd. in Hong Kong)

but maybe I make mistake, is really not easy find business in the begin

– Open another Ltd. company in Chengdu is important for now?

– Wines, Water (for babies), Oil there are a good choose?

– I and my wife rent a big house in JinJiang, early we open a Guest House with 8-10 bed, we can have a little business? it’s difficult take papers from governament office?

– And we have a big terrace, is a good idea prepare some lesson for example about tai chi, yoga… with some teacher?

– About my IT experience, I checked that quality of job is different, because chinese worker want do fast or don’t know which is better way. I know I must use a normal price for the service, but maybe I can provide for example a quality assistance with europe style (my little dream is open a shop with high-end assembled pc and assistance)

– Or maybe I can connect with some website like Tom’s Hardware China or Tencent, for some relationship?

– I know I must improve my english (Charlie are you correct my post? thx) but maybe is better if I take a chinese lesson!

Someone said to me Mandarini Club it’s ok…

– This is my CV

Another time thank you…

il Fede

[Federico]

Sorry, here’s my English CV

[Author]

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