Azbubu
Honorary Master
Why? You're a tall white blonde guy. You can have anyone you want.
Or go to Asia. They'd love you there.
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Question of the Day: Do you think Bafana Bafana will win tonight?
Thinking about leaving SA
- Thread starter zll
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Why? You're a tall white blonde guy. You can have anyone you want.
Or go to Asia. They'd love you there.
Lager
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So what is your criteria?
Maybe one of those South American cowboys.
I'm just being melodramatic. I find the selection we have here in South Africa really bad, personally. I think I'm too entrenched within this culture, to find anything about it sexy. I like different.
Azbubu
Honorary Master
Once again, go to Asia.
My white buddy, who's a 4 on a good day, got 25 matches on Tinder within his first 5 minutes. Granted, a lot of them were ladyboys.
Who says I don't like 'em? :3
Frankie_Yale
Expert Member
thread derailed...
G
What kind of EE did you study? (I know Stellenbosch is big on RF)? If your programming and maths background is strong there is the semiconductor and finance industries that often have a surprising need for this skill set.
What kind of EE did you study? (I know Stellenbosch is big on RF)? If your programming and maths background is strong there is the semiconductor and finance industries that often have a surprising need for this skill set.
Nicodeamus
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It depends where in Europe you apply. In general the SA system is out of sync with the rest of t he world. As an engineer you need to be accredited with ECSA to be recognized with the washington accord (which takes between 3-5 years in SA). Europe however it becoming more and more critical against South African qualification - despite what our universities might say.
In general in Europe you do 3 years of study and 1 year of internship. If you want to convert that to a masters then it requires 2 extra years. In SA we do 4 years of study with no work experience (maybe 6 months if you're on a bursary). It is easy for us to get into their masters programmes, but in general SA engineers do not want to do another 2 years of studying.
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
Hardly. All of my friends that went overseas got visa clearance easily (on a SA passports) via sponsorship. The only one I'm aware of that wasn't super smooth was a US one...got delayed a couple of weeks until it cleared.
Obviously depends heavily on the circumstances...but its definitely not "near impossible". All of those instances are under "favourable" circumstances so to speak, but you mention electrical engineering - that should be favourable too?
I keep seeing this on mybb...never heard it once IRL from any of the people I know that moved (about 2 dozen, various circumstances). The *only* IRL mention of this I heard was a person moving *to* SA. (A crazy story in itself...you'd think SA welcomes highly qualified European engineers with open arms...nope)
^^vampire^^
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I think a company will make half an effort to find someone in their local vicinity and as long as they can prove that they tried a bit and they can't find a skilled person they will look abroad.
Someone abroad would
a) have to be very well skilled to get the position and
b) pay to get themselves to that country.
Point b is where I think the company scores because many people already inside the country won't relocate unless it's paid for. I could be wrong however and this is just how I see it.
Nicodeamus
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If you're going overseas via a multi-national then it is easier, however engineering standards do differ (at least with civil engineering). Meaning that the building regulations kinda blocks you.
I've been on both the candidate side and the hiring side of this. It is a requirement (in the US at least), and the position is advertised for several weeks as part of the h1b petition, and all candidates that apply for it are considered and interviewed if they seem plausible. Most of the time the resumes received are so off they can just be disregarded, but we do interview candidates that match on their resume - most of the time they don't make it past the interview (current company hires 0.07% of resumes received). In the rare cases a great local candidate is found, it often makes sense to make an offer to both candidates - these people don't grow on trees (this may delay the h1b, but generally won't result in the overseas candidate not getting a placed).
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I've never even heard of a US company at least that won't pay fully for all relocation (tickets, moving, several months of temporary residence, car rental, misc stipend, housing search pre-trips, and even a rental agent) and visa expenses. I got this, and I was pretty junior at the time. It's such a small expense, it doesn't mak sense to skimp on this.
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
That is true...the various professions are subject to differing degrees of mobility. But to be very blunt here...people should have thought of that earlier. I picked a specific one with favourable international mobility in mind 15 years ahead of actually moving. As did most of my peers.
I think most of the high end professions should be able to cope though...I mean either you can engineer a quality bridge or you can't...regardless of what the [-]wastepaper[/-] paperwork says. Except for lawyers...how those guys emigrate with entirely different laws and interactions between case law....can't wrap my head around that sht. :wtf:
As for multi-nationals - yes that is the ideal route (short of an A grade passport) - by no means a necessity though. I know quite a few people of rather modest ability and circumstances that moved to Europe via raw determination/ignorance of the challenges (admittedly all young and single).
Skilled yes. But pay to get them to that country...not even close for properly skilled. (The preferred approach from what I can see is "Sure we'll foot that 100k bill...but if you don't deliver X years of quality work then that is immediately repayable").
That article about SA's main export being skilled professionals isn't entirely false....
Take a surgeon that did Zuma years in Ga-Rankuwa hospital. Literally years of dealing with gunshot wounds, stabbings, emergency births and sundry wild stuff etc under exceptionally challenging circumstances. Now take this doctor (with modest number of years experience) and stick him into a hospital emergency department in say the Netherlands. Do you think anything walking into that emergency door can even remotely phase this SA doc (who now has full medical equipment & supplies available)? Countries will pay cold hard cash for an emergency surgeon with nerves of steel...and SA is a good place to pick up those.
Thats doctors...but people underestimate just how hardcore the SA crowd is compared to the rest of the world (GP especially). Gauteng professionals roll pretty hard compared to most places (London, NY and sundry US parts excluded)
SA talent looks cheap to the international guys...1) English speaking 2) Integrate well into a western-ish context 3) Hard working (the guys heading overseas at least) 4) Battle-hardened compared to equally priced talent locally
...all of the above fades a bit when looking at lower skilled jobs though....there thing become trickier and passports/visas become more important. IT skill in particular also seem to be exempt from the above...somehow being from SA seems to go against you there from my very limited info (unless your name is cguy
)I've had two relocation experiences, one international to the US, and one within the US. The format that seems pretty standard, is a contract that gives a schedule of repayments based on your start date. So if you leave in your first month, you pay back everything, half way though the year, half of the relocation, etc. I've never seen anything longer than a year, and the only requirement is that you don't leave or get fired - nothing about quality is mentioned, but obviously you don't want to get fired. I've never known of anyone to get fired within their first year - generally, it reflects very badly on the hiring manager if this happens.
SA talent looks cheap to the international guys...1) English speaking 2) Integrate well into a western-ish context 3) Hard working (the guys heading overseas at least) 4) Battle-hardened compared to equally priced talent locally
...all of the above fades a bit when looking at lower skilled jobs though....there thing become trickier and passports/visas become more important. IT skill in particular also seem to be exempt from the above...somehow being from SA seems to go against you there from my very limited info (unless your name is cguy
Not sure why you think it's cheap? People generally get paid the same as locals of equivalent skill.
You're right that generic IT skills won't get you too far (administrators, web devs, etc.) - these are precisely the areas that there tends to be a surplus of talent in, but if you're a specialist or well above average CS-type developer, many companies will want to hire you.
Personally, I haven't encountered any issues with being a SAffer in the US, but I have heard of issues in the UK, Aus and NZ from colleagues.
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Stefanmuller
Expert Member
How is the CA(SA) qualification received overseas, job availability wise? And do are most foreign positions filled within commerce or in private practice (audit and advisory services)?
I read that SA ranked 1st out of 144 countries for Audit and Reporting standards for a third time in a row now. So it seems it should be a qualification that is in demand abroad? Of course you would have to come to grips with foreign company acts and tax laws but if you can handle ours you should be able to handle most.
I read that SA ranked 1st out of 144 countries for Audit and Reporting standards for a third time in a row now. So it seems it should be a qualification that is in demand abroad? Of course you would have to come to grips with foreign company acts and tax laws but if you can handle ours you should be able to handle most.
I want to know what you guys think: I work in business intelligence with a BSc Honours degree in theoretical physics. What's the best course of action I could take to advance myself in such a way that I become employable abroad? Should I focus on getting an MCSE Business Intelligence certificate with Microsoft? Do these actually mean anything? Should I rather go for something like a CFA? Should I wait a bit and get an MBA? Getting back into academics is an option, but it's one that will be exceptionally hard to prove my worth in. Or should I just wait until I have five plus years of experience?
marine1
Honorary Master
You kidding right????