Posted by Miguel in Netrepreneurship, Outsourcing | 52 Comments
Is the Philippines still a good place to work?
A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about the exodus of Pinoy techies. I was inspired by a despedida for some developer friends leaving, and college classmates’ reunion last Christmas. I finished BS CS in 1995, back when lots of people joined Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), got assigned to the US, and eventually moved there.
I posted this to the PinoyJUG Yahoo! group, the local Java developer community, and it sparked off a lot of discussion and insights on why Pinoys would prefer to work abroad. It started some soul-searching within the PinoyJUG organization on how to keep its mission alive.
It triggered some thinking at my workplace. We are hiring developers, but now we see some serious competition from multinationals based in Singapore. I assume a lot of local tech companies are faced with the situation.
Do you think the Philippines is still a good place to work? Why are foreign countries more attractive? Is it purely the compensation? The new experience of working in a different place? Or disappointment with our country?
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We complain there aren’t many opportunities here but why not ask why? Because those talented people who can create those opportunities have left for abroad to enjoy their own lives and be good employees for foreign businesses.
If one’s idea of success is to enjoy a high paying job somewhere else then fine. I don’t see anything wrong with that. However, I don’t think creating a business in a foreign land will give you more chances of success than here. Ultimately building your own business, one that is of your expertise is the real deal. Why can’t our people dream of being the Bill Gates of the Philippines?
Would you like to be a mercenary or a professional living in their motherland and contributing to the development of the future generations of Filipinos. Frankly there are too many self-serving Filipinos who go abroad just to make a quick buck. Too many pinoys have no freaking patience, and instant gratification ang gusto.
I went to LA in 2000 to see if I’d like it in America, I went home 4 months later. In the states trabaho-bahay lang ang buhay mo.
In reality if you work hard in the Philippines, you have a better chance of getting promoted and climbing the corporate ladder. Kung alam nyo lang, mga high level executives in the Philippines can earn half a million a month or more. I’m not making that much but around $4500-5000 a month and I dont even work for ADB.
Bottom line is work hard, study hard, get a good job and eventually you’ll climb the corporate ladder. My first job I was only getting less than PHP8k a month.
Dont lose hope and continue to work hard. The Philippines is such a great place to live and work, several expatriates I know didnt go back to the US after living here for years, and just either decided to put up a business or found another expat post. Tama na yang colonial mentality nyo, the fact that Globalization is changing things, and the focus is shifting to the Eastern Hemisphere. A lot of my colleagues in the US are losing their jobs, with jobs going to the lower cost economies, and this brings a lot of opportunities for Filipinos to get a good job in their own country.