Imagine you were born in Poland into a lower middle class/middle class family.
Despite your parents having good jobs, their combined income is around 24-30k USD annually, depending on exchange rate. Wages are shit, life is pretty tough - a survival compared to Western standards.
You're a fresh graduate. Every idiot in the country has a degree because it's state-funded and because of the social and family pressure to get a degree. If you'll be lucky enough to get a job in a very competitive market, you'll probably get around 700-800 USD/month and won't see much increase over the next few years.
On that wage, you can rent a room or small studio and barely make it through a month. Forget about saving up for that new smartphone or that decent pair of leather shoes.
Basically your country is a joke, not just economically but socially and politically. Bureaucracy is rampant, taxes are huge, IRS is very invasive, public health care is terrible. Most of young people are fleeing the country, mostly to Germany, UK, Norway, Denmark and the like, where even waiting tables buys them a much more comfortable lifestyle.
You want out and you wanted it yesterday.
Upon the graduation you spend your last semester on an exchange in China.
You're amazed by the adventure and opportunity there, you developed connections, both professional and personal.
You've always wanted to eventually be an entrepreneur and had ambitious plans to earn shitloads of money and lead a location independent lifestyle.
But mind you, at the same time, you haven't had the luck to grow up in a 1st World and enjoy the privileges of it: being able to earn fair wages, being able to drive your own car by the early twenties etc.
Therefore you've always craved the comfort of living in a developed country and having more security as well as some 'luxuries'.
It's a little conflict between 2 cravings: one for adventurous, go-all-in ambition, the other for some comfort and security which you never experienced as an independent adult.
Then it comes. You're about to graduate and you win the Green Card lottery (1% chance of winning). You've always dreamed about moving to US in your teens but now come to think of it, you might have idealized it too much back then. After all, the days of American Dream are pretty much gone.
You can choose A - pursue the Green Card and move to USA:
-with no family or friend connections in US what so ever
-with about 3-4k USD of personal savings and your family being able to give you maybe another 3-4k at best
-with next to native, perfect English
-with decent soft skills but no technical (IT) skills
What would you do, start at the bottom of corporate ladder? Get a blue collar job?
Would life be tough as an immigrant? Would it be easy to make friends who have similar ambitions as you?
It takes 5 years of continuous residing in US on a Green Card to be able to apply for a citizenship.
Or you can choose B - go back to China and get your hustle on:
-teach English on side, being able to earn at least $20-25/h (a bit risky on a business visa but doable)
-hunt for a job outside of teaching so you can advance your career/skills
-keep expanding your network (easy for foreigners in China)
-leverage the lower costs of living and fewer working time needed to pay the bills and start some online business/hustle on the side
-get a fire under your ass and pursue the lifestyle of a digital nomad/location independent entrepreneur
Both options come with their advantages and disadvantages.
I have already chosen to come to China and while I can't say I've been doing poor, I'm still going through motions and uncertainties only to establish a more secure stay here (get a full time job with a working visa). So that I can learn some skills and start venturing out into some online hustle.
The job market here is very competitive and as a young and fresh graduate coming from EE, all the odds seem to be stacked against me. I have some work experience, I'm bilingual and speak basic Chinese, yet still - it's tough to find somebody willing to employ me full-time (outside of teaching). And even if I do find someone, it's been more and more difficult to obtain a work permit or any kind of visa for that matter. The government here is making everything increasingly more restrictive and it's a huge pain in the ass - particularly with visas.
So in the land where you push through massive crowds everyday, where personal space, orange juice, cheese and bread (let alone driving a car) are luxuries that come with very hefty prices, where people seem to lack common sense and there's a lot to be easily infuriated about, where I'd have to drive hours outside of huge urban area to enjoy some nature without crowds of people, I begin to wonder - was this the right choice?
And as a foreigner in China you're always 1 step of being deported from country. 1 brawl away. 1 road collision that leads to argument away. 1 Police raid at your office away. 1 boss-turned-enemy away. Even after 5-10 years of legally working and paying taxes, you're just that - a foreigner, an alien, 1 step away of being kicked out. And then, as opposed to your friends from developed Western countries - you have nothing to go back to.
(Whereas if you immigrated to US on a Green Card, you would be a respectable citizen with his own rights and privileges and eventually get the citizenship after 5 years)
So, if you had nothing to go back to, would you seek to enjoy a life in a developed country/US? Or would you get your hustle on in SE Asia/elsewhere despite the risks, uncertainties, stress and lack of comfort that comes with it?
I'm really curious to hear from your perspective.
I find it hard to imagine what my life would be like had I moved to US.
Working hard at a 9-5 before seeing some interesting options? Probably. For 1 year? 2 years?
Struggling to find a job other than working at McDonalds? Maybe.
Has the job market been so bad as I often read?
I know for sure that American women are the last ones I'd date, coming from EE I think I hate the self-entitlement and their attitude even more.
But then again there are some hot chicks among fresh immigrants and many entrepreneurs I know from online seem to still choose to live in US despite many other choices. Including some of the forum members.
Liberals, political correctness - I hate that crap. Would I be immersed by it living in US? Are all of those disadvantages about US enough to choose China/SE Asia instead? - those are the questions I often ask myself.
I could be driving a muscle car through almost empty and endless roadways, enjoying the nature, shooting stuff with guns - things I've been craving for so long. I could be enjoying all the conveniences - 24/7 gyms and drive-thru drugstores. I could have some more freedom. Instead, I'm stuck on a metro with Chinese migrant workers and smelling their breaths and worrying about my soon expiring visa and whether I'll be able to stay here for another X months. Then I have to drive my POS e-bike to a Carrefour 3km away across construction sites and lots of mess just so I can get the ridiculously overpriced oatmeal/<insert basic western food> - those are my thoughts.
But at the same time, I only have to teach 16h/week to earn 2x my monthly expenses, I don't have to be stuck in a cubicle unless I choose to, there's SHITLOADS of petite, sexy and feminine women walking around and eager to connect with a tall good looking white guy like me, there's plenty of opportunity to make money here. Networking is easy, especially with other foreigners. I can talk directly to CEOs and serial entrepreneurs and make friends with them. There's always something happening, there's never boredom. And outside the daily routine, life is pretty adventurous once I step outside the already known here. - those are also my thoughts
Despite your parents having good jobs, their combined income is around 24-30k USD annually, depending on exchange rate. Wages are shit, life is pretty tough - a survival compared to Western standards.
You're a fresh graduate. Every idiot in the country has a degree because it's state-funded and because of the social and family pressure to get a degree. If you'll be lucky enough to get a job in a very competitive market, you'll probably get around 700-800 USD/month and won't see much increase over the next few years.
On that wage, you can rent a room or small studio and barely make it through a month. Forget about saving up for that new smartphone or that decent pair of leather shoes.
Basically your country is a joke, not just economically but socially and politically. Bureaucracy is rampant, taxes are huge, IRS is very invasive, public health care is terrible. Most of young people are fleeing the country, mostly to Germany, UK, Norway, Denmark and the like, where even waiting tables buys them a much more comfortable lifestyle.
You want out and you wanted it yesterday.
Upon the graduation you spend your last semester on an exchange in China.
You're amazed by the adventure and opportunity there, you developed connections, both professional and personal.
You've always wanted to eventually be an entrepreneur and had ambitious plans to earn shitloads of money and lead a location independent lifestyle.
But mind you, at the same time, you haven't had the luck to grow up in a 1st World and enjoy the privileges of it: being able to earn fair wages, being able to drive your own car by the early twenties etc.
Therefore you've always craved the comfort of living in a developed country and having more security as well as some 'luxuries'.
It's a little conflict between 2 cravings: one for adventurous, go-all-in ambition, the other for some comfort and security which you never experienced as an independent adult.
Then it comes. You're about to graduate and you win the Green Card lottery (1% chance of winning). You've always dreamed about moving to US in your teens but now come to think of it, you might have idealized it too much back then. After all, the days of American Dream are pretty much gone.
You can choose A - pursue the Green Card and move to USA:
-with no family or friend connections in US what so ever
-with about 3-4k USD of personal savings and your family being able to give you maybe another 3-4k at best
-with next to native, perfect English
-with decent soft skills but no technical (IT) skills
What would you do, start at the bottom of corporate ladder? Get a blue collar job?
Would life be tough as an immigrant? Would it be easy to make friends who have similar ambitions as you?
It takes 5 years of continuous residing in US on a Green Card to be able to apply for a citizenship.
Or you can choose B - go back to China and get your hustle on:
-teach English on side, being able to earn at least $20-25/h (a bit risky on a business visa but doable)
-hunt for a job outside of teaching so you can advance your career/skills
-keep expanding your network (easy for foreigners in China)
-leverage the lower costs of living and fewer working time needed to pay the bills and start some online business/hustle on the side
-get a fire under your ass and pursue the lifestyle of a digital nomad/location independent entrepreneur
Both options come with their advantages and disadvantages.
I have already chosen to come to China and while I can't say I've been doing poor, I'm still going through motions and uncertainties only to establish a more secure stay here (get a full time job with a working visa). So that I can learn some skills and start venturing out into some online hustle.
The job market here is very competitive and as a young and fresh graduate coming from EE, all the odds seem to be stacked against me. I have some work experience, I'm bilingual and speak basic Chinese, yet still - it's tough to find somebody willing to employ me full-time (outside of teaching). And even if I do find someone, it's been more and more difficult to obtain a work permit or any kind of visa for that matter. The government here is making everything increasingly more restrictive and it's a huge pain in the ass - particularly with visas.
So in the land where you push through massive crowds everyday, where personal space, orange juice, cheese and bread (let alone driving a car) are luxuries that come with very hefty prices, where people seem to lack common sense and there's a lot to be easily infuriated about, where I'd have to drive hours outside of huge urban area to enjoy some nature without crowds of people, I begin to wonder - was this the right choice?
And as a foreigner in China you're always 1 step of being deported from country. 1 brawl away. 1 road collision that leads to argument away. 1 Police raid at your office away. 1 boss-turned-enemy away. Even after 5-10 years of legally working and paying taxes, you're just that - a foreigner, an alien, 1 step away of being kicked out. And then, as opposed to your friends from developed Western countries - you have nothing to go back to.
(Whereas if you immigrated to US on a Green Card, you would be a respectable citizen with his own rights and privileges and eventually get the citizenship after 5 years)
So, if you had nothing to go back to, would you seek to enjoy a life in a developed country/US? Or would you get your hustle on in SE Asia/elsewhere despite the risks, uncertainties, stress and lack of comfort that comes with it?
I'm really curious to hear from your perspective.
I find it hard to imagine what my life would be like had I moved to US.
Working hard at a 9-5 before seeing some interesting options? Probably. For 1 year? 2 years?
Struggling to find a job other than working at McDonalds? Maybe.
Has the job market been so bad as I often read?
I know for sure that American women are the last ones I'd date, coming from EE I think I hate the self-entitlement and their attitude even more.
But then again there are some hot chicks among fresh immigrants and many entrepreneurs I know from online seem to still choose to live in US despite many other choices. Including some of the forum members.
Liberals, political correctness - I hate that crap. Would I be immersed by it living in US? Are all of those disadvantages about US enough to choose China/SE Asia instead? - those are the questions I often ask myself.
I could be driving a muscle car through almost empty and endless roadways, enjoying the nature, shooting stuff with guns - things I've been craving for so long. I could be enjoying all the conveniences - 24/7 gyms and drive-thru drugstores. I could have some more freedom. Instead, I'm stuck on a metro with Chinese migrant workers and smelling their breaths and worrying about my soon expiring visa and whether I'll be able to stay here for another X months. Then I have to drive my POS e-bike to a Carrefour 3km away across construction sites and lots of mess just so I can get the ridiculously overpriced oatmeal/<insert basic western food> - those are my thoughts.
But at the same time, I only have to teach 16h/week to earn 2x my monthly expenses, I don't have to be stuck in a cubicle unless I choose to, there's SHITLOADS of petite, sexy and feminine women walking around and eager to connect with a tall good looking white guy like me, there's plenty of opportunity to make money here. Networking is easy, especially with other foreigners. I can talk directly to CEOs and serial entrepreneurs and make friends with them. There's always something happening, there's never boredom. And outside the daily routine, life is pretty adventurous once I step outside the already known here. - those are also my thoughts