[joewandy]

Hi all,

My first post after lurking here for 1 month or so ... :yes

I'm a 26-years-old Chinese Indonesian who have been living in Singapore for the past 10 years (since my teen-age). I completed my bachelor degree in Computing from the National University of Singapore 2 years ago and have been working since then as a web developer (Java/J2EE) in a local company and another MNC. I have also obtained my Singaporean permanent residence.

With only 1 year+ remaining until the completion of my bond with the Singaporean government (due to them sponsoring my undergrad study), I now have to begin evaluating the possible path I could take for the future. In total I'd have 3 years of working experience before I'm ready to leave Singapore.

Right now the move to either New Zealand or Australia with the long term purpose of getting PR appeals to me. However searching around in other forums, I found a lot negativity against asians moving to New Zealand. Some choice quotes:

Your chances depends on your skin colour. If you are of Indian descent, you may do OK here. If you are of East Asian descent, your chances are "slim to none". Skin colour is a major factor here. Also, the main excuse you will hear will be "You don't have NZ exerience". If you browse the forums you'll see that popping up quite frequently. Be prepared to take a massive hit to your career. You may have to get a job as a technician to start off with and work your way up from there.

and

Arriving here, I discovered that looking for a job is a horrendous nightmare. The place is littered with sob stories from Filipinos with qualifications comparable to yours who couldn't land a job even after more than six months. Don't be duped by the NZIS fluff, New Zealand is not the racial Garden of Eden it is made out to be. I might be exaggerating the role of racial discrimination in this country but it is a factor in assessing our job prospects in this country. Take a wild guess who occupies the bottom rung of the racial ladder here.

I am looking for the opinion of (especially) those who work in IT whether above comments are accurate representation of the reality of job market in NZ. If the situation is that bleak in NZ for migrants of asian descent, then I'd probably set my goal to Australia instead.

Thank you very much for your reply !!

[cappuccino]

I can't talk for the whole of New Zealand, only from my experience in the IT company I work for in Wellington.

We are quite small with only a staff of 11 and out of these 11, we have 2 Filipinos, 1 Fijian, 1 South African, 1 German, 3 from UK, 3 Kiwis. There is no racial tension in our office and as a team, we are one big happy family despite coming from such diverse backgrounds.

Good luck with your plans.

[AndyR]

Good luck with your plans!

[joewandy]

Thank guys. I didn't know Expat Exposed is a rather 'controversial' topic in this forum. I'm now reading the (very long) past discussions in this forum about EE...

Does anybody else have experiences to share working in a multicultural IT environment?

[dusk]

hello. afraid I can't offer an opnion on the subject, but best of luck with your plans/decisions

[JandM]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.:)

I don't have specific experience to offer. We certainly met some lovely people from a wide range of racial backgrounds when we were in and around Auckland last year, and there was no tension.

(However, I appreciate those not concerned don't always see what happens out of public view, and that places away from large centres of population might not be as relaxed.)

I wish you all the best with your plans.

[kowhai]

Hi Jowandy

I have read your thread on the " other " web site. The chap who constantly writes all the negative comments has a huge chip on his shoulder and I honestly have to wonder why he is still living in the country.

Im sorry I can't offer you any really helpful advice . I would like to assure you though, that we NZers are a fairly decent bunch - yes I am one.

I have a very dear friend from Singapore. Both she AND her large extended family have been very successful in NZ. My friend wouldn't live any where else - her only gripe being the lack of decent dim sum restaurants outside of Auckland !

All the best with your decision making .

[Moorf]

Our friends here come from a multitude of backgrounds and where OH works I think there are about 3 Kiwis, the rest being from Japan, South Africa, UK, Korea and Germany, amongst others.

You might also want to contact Shagen from this forum - he is Malaysian and now lives on the North Island - he's been here for a good 3 years now I think....

EE can't be ignored in all respects, because there are genuine posters there... "that guy" who is completely negative, no matter what, has an attitude that I think even his fellow forumites don't particularly like... there's always one!

[Familyofmonkeys]

where OH works I think there are about 3 Kiwis, the rest being from Japan, South Africa, UK, Korea and Germany, amongst others.



Same here for OH...and it is one of the things he likes best about his current work environment.

[joewandy]

Thanks guys! I find people in this forum to be very helpful. :nice1

You'll see more postings from me if I made up my mind to send an EOI next year ... For now, I just got to save up more money first !!!

[ellenmelon]

I'm no help to you Joewandy but good luck with your decision making! Read as much as you can from lots of different sources (that includes expat exposed as much as it pains me to say it! lol ;) ) and go into the process with an open mind. You will be challenged moving here but, as a kiwi moving back here after time away, I've found I've learnt the most about myself being back then I ever did while I was away.

[Moorf]

Good luck Joe and keep us posted :nice1

[Tia Maria]

OH is in IT in Auckland and in his office he has English, Chinese, Brazilian, South African, Indian etc etc.

I also think that that any race issues that do happen in NZ would also happen in OZ.

Cheers

Tia

[ellenmelon]

I also think that that any race issues that do happen in NZ would also happen in OZ.


QFT (quoted for truth!) :yes

[joewandy]

Thanks for the replies everybody. Facing racial issue is pretty much par for the course in my life, being born and raised in Indonesia throughout my teenage years where chinese is a minority group comprising about 2% of the whole (mostly muslim) population. It's an 'adapt-or-perish' environment ;)

Reading around, the impression I have is that getting the first job would be the particularly difficult part, and things would become easier afterwards.

[CJ22]

I imagine the quality of your spoken English would be a big factor also.

[joewandy]

Hmmm I would think so. Speaking fluently is not a problem, but 'fixing' the asian (and particularly, Singaporean) accent might take some work though.

[JandM]

Being aware of any such thing is a huge step towards overcoming it. You sound as if you have a very determined and positive attitude.

[miep]

My last IT project team (a large .net development) had chinese from China, S'pore and Malaysia, Filipino's, Dutch, Germans, Brits, Kiwi's and even an Australian:D working happily together. As Welly is less "Asian" than Auckland you may find less prejudice here and there's a shortage of all kinds of IT people here.
Most people get the "no recent Kiwi experience" thing said to them regardless of where they're from, I certainly did.
Good english seems to be much more important that what you look like and if you manage to tone down the Singlish a bit you should be fine.

Good luck!

[ellenmelon]

heck, even i, a kiwi got the "no recent kiwi experience" line. and im still in minimum wage territory! one prospective employer however saw that i had been overseas as a good thing because i was more settled/wasnt going anywhere fast like most people my age who had not long graduated uni and wanted to see the world.

[Lambuel+Ruby]

Joewandy ---

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

-Ghandi:clap

[pkj]

Hi

I am a Singaporean working in Auckland for the last 3.5 years... ...and have made quite a lot of kiwi friends... ... and I have to say, kiwis are a great bunch of people! The (nasty) minority are usually those who are ignorant (not very well educated/travelled).

Many large companies, esp MNC, even intentionally recruit asians (local born or expats) bcos of the acknowledgment that Asia will be the future engine of growth.

Read this http://www.beca.com/content/Source/16138/NZ%20EEO%20Diversity%20Award.pdf

Asians are also (in general) perceived to be honest and hardworking (sometimes too hardworking)... ... although, I'm not suggesting this to be true (because I know many competent kiwi engineers) but I have an angmoh kiwi friend who told me that he only recruit asian IT programmers because he said"a kiwi will say that he can do it, the asian will mean it."

[Hesh]

I am an Indian working with a MNC. The team I have here is a real mix-n-match. 2 Indians (including me), 2 UK, 1 Malaysian, 1 Czech, 1 Chinese and 6 Kiwis and personally, I haven't seen any problem of racism.

[Zeeta]

Hi

best of luck with your decision!
I can't say I haven't seen traces of dislike towards Asians, but from what I know Australia has much more of it.

Things I've heard here in Wellington:
- one recruitment agent telling me they don't like putting forward applications from Indians because in their experience Indians don't fit in the Kiwi work environment;
- a nurse of Sri Lankan origin, but living in NZ for almost 2 decades, saying she won't get promoted to being head nurse because people at her hospital are not comfortable having a dark skinned boss;
- people talking how violence is on the rise because of Asian immigrants;
- people talking how number of road accidents is on the rise because Asian immigrants drive aggressively.

Having said all this, I still think NZ is not a racist society. I've travelled in USA and most of Europe and seen much worse of it than here.

There could be instances when you'll feel your application is rejected out of fear from your different work culture or out of prejudice, but I think this will be an exception and definitely not the rule.