Working in Singapore

Hello,

I know that there is a huge R&D initiative in Singapore, with
government subsidised science parks and active recruitment of top
professionals from around the world. These facts are a real incentive
to go and work in Singapore, but I'm wondering if any of you have first
hand experience of working at DSP in Singapore... in particular,
salaries, working conditions, working hours, resources, etc.

Cheers
Porterboy

<porterboy76@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1133277189.317044.42590@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Hello,
>
> I know that there is a huge R&D initiative in Singapore, with
> government subsidised science parks and active recruitment of top
> professionals from around the world. These facts are a real incentive
> to go and work in Singapore, but I'm wondering if any of you have first
> hand experience of working at DSP in Singapore... in particular,
> salaries, working conditions, working hours, resources, etc.
>
> Cheers
> Porterboy
>
From what I have heard the food is great but it's all money money money! If
you are American you may like it because
it's quite a capatilist society. No Gays allowed by the way - I think they
have a law against it! It's a bit cramped too.

McC

porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:

> I know that there is a huge R&D initiative in Singapore, with
> government subsidised science parks and active recruitment of top
> professionals from around the world. These facts are a real incentive
> to go and work in Singapore, but I'm wondering if any of you have first
> hand experience of working at DSP in Singapore... in particular,
> salaries, working conditions, working hours, resources, etc.

I've not worked there myself, but have visited several times and have
had students work there (some Singapore natives, some Australians).

I think the opportunity level there is quite high. It will be very
different from what you're probably used to, though. I suspect prices
are relatively high, and it's a cramped place (so lots of people,
pressure on rents, etc).

The Economist says that if New York's cost of living rates 100, then
Singapore's rates 107 (or  so) -- so it's expensive (Londone rates 130,
Sydney about 112).  This is from Spring 2005.

Ciao,

Peter K.

"Peter K." <p.kootsookos@iolfree.ie> wrote in message
news:1133278640.211991.40540@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
>
> porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> > I know that there is a huge R&D initiative in Singapore, with
> > government subsidised science parks and active recruitment of top
> > professionals from around the world. These facts are a real incentive
> > to go and work in Singapore, but I'm wondering if any of you have first
> > hand experience of working at DSP in Singapore... in particular,
> > salaries, working conditions, working hours, resources, etc.
>
> I've not worked there myself, but have visited several times and have
> had students work there (some Singapore natives, some Australians).
>
> I think the opportunity level there is quite high. It will be very
> different from what you're probably used to, though. I suspect prices
> are relatively high, and it's a cramped place (so lots of people,
> pressure on rents, etc).
>
> The Economist says that if New York's cost of living rates 100, then
> Singapore's rates 107 (or  so) -- so it's expensive (Londone rates 130,
> Sydney about 112).  This is from Spring 2005.
>
> Ciao,
>
> Peter K.
>

Yeah, the living expense over enjoyment here is extremely high, place is so
cramped
a small room costs 20% of a DSP engineer's monthly pay, food for another
20%.
It's really nightmare if you have wife/kids or parents to come along.

Opportunity isn't as good as the IT bubbles, but for fresh graduate, it's
difficult. Pays
are low, working condition is undoubtedly good, but working hour can be
problem
for west since overtime is a norm.

The currency here is weak, after deducting the living expense from pay, you
will see
how much you can save in US$.

Most of the jobs advertised are conditioned with sigaporian citizenship
plus the salaries for DSP engineers aren't attractive at all.
Accomodation is expensive  and living expenses are high there. The same
is true for Hong Kong. A  DSP software engineer with 2 years of
experience will be offered some where about 20,000 $HK/Month.  Guess
how much you can earn in Singapore.

Gold

I have to say I'm surprised at these responses, I was expecting glowing
tales of the promised land. Does no-one have any positive experiences
to relate?

porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:

>I have to say I'm surprised at these responses, I was expecting glowing
>tales of the promised land. Does no-one have any positive experiences
>to relate?
>  
>
Have you been reading their marketing brochure, and actually believing 
it? :-)

Regards,
Steve

Well, yes actually...
http://www.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/

porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote:

>Well, yes actually...
>http://www.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/
>  
>
Not long ago people in Singapore seemed very gloomy about their 
prospects. Lots of engineering people seemed to be loosing their jobs, 
as work moved to China. Two years ago several people told me how 
relatives in Singapore were told "relocate to GuangDong or bye bye". 
Large government ventures like Chartered Semiconductors were not doing 
too well. So far, it hasn't turned out as gloomy as many people 
expected. When I was there this year, the engineer's mood seemed to be 
more optimistic than last year. A lot of Chinese engineers are working 
in Singapore, so the flow of jobs doesn't seem to be an inevitable 
migration to China. Its hard to see what Singapore's future really is, 
though. I've lived in Hong Kong for 15 years. When I came here a lot of 
advanced work was going on. Most engineering has now moved to China. 
However, apart from some notable exceptions like Hua Wei, I don't see 
much advanced work happening in China. It seems like the advanced work 
has just disappeared from this area, and engineers mostly fit kit 
solutions into boxes. I suspect that is probably a pattern in Singapore too.

Now, it may be that none of the above is very relevant to you. If you 
are looking at opportunities in research institutions, those can be 
pretty disconnected from the real world. :-) The Singapore government 
does still seem committed to pull in work considered high value. Some 
years ago they were giving very sweet deals to companies to do DSP work 
there - a lot of that semiconductor design rather than application work. 
I guess they are still prepared to pump cash into things like DSP.

Regards,
Steve

porterboy76@yahoo.com writes:

> Well, yes actually...
> http://www.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/

Don't be too putoff by the responses here... I think many of us had
our opinions altered by the IT boom.  Add to that the general tendency
of engineers to be more realistic than the average (marketing) person
(both go with the job description), you could have expected a muted
response.

Ciao,

Peter K.