Is the Philippines still a good place to work?
Posted Sunday, March 11th, 2007 12:22 pm by Miguel Paraz
Viewed 7954 times | Related entries: Netrepreneurship, Outsourcing
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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48 Responses to “Is the Philippines still a good place to work? ”
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Answer: No. The Philippines is not a good place to work. Why? First, because the salary in the Philippines is 10% or even less of what I earn in another country. Second, the standard of living in the Philippines is very low. Example: Health Care, Safe Public Transportation, Consumer Protection, Job Security, etc…
Working abroad does not make you unpatriotic. OFW’s send so many dollars it’s the top reason that keeps the Philippine economy afloat. The more cash i send home the more the family will spend, and everything is taxed anyway so everybody wins.
The reason I work abroad is the same for everybody else. To provide for my loved ones and myself what I cannot in the Philippines.
But the reason I and many others have to work abroad, is only the symptom of a sickness in our government system called corruption. It is so immensely corrupt that we witness it everyday and that we even deny ourself the justice that we deserve.
Well, if we think phil. is a bad place to work with then it will happen. As the universal law says, “WHAT YOU THINK IS WHAT YOU ARE”. Why not love this country of ours, instead of blaming our present situation to some of corrupt politcians? “IF WE CANNOT CHANGE PHILS. THEN WE CAN CHANGE OURSELVES”
Stop finger pointing or blaming somebody, that is not a character of a true and passionate IT guys esp. software developers.
OK… Why people leave the country? I work as a virtual assistant myself… finding out that they get offshore outsourcing since they pay a minimum of $2000 for an agent there for rendered services while they pay people here with less than the quart that they have to spend there. But then let’s be realistic… if you live in Manila and you don’t make as much as 40K in a month, you’ll never have a decent home, decent meals etc etc… i don’t believe that it’s a matter of lifestyle… we adapt to that because that’s the most that we make… but then if you’ll look closely, a waiter abroad like a friend i have has a plasma TV with sound boosters all over, his room is fully furnished etc etc… comparing that in what we make in the Philippines, you can be a manager and never have a plasma television not until you save three years of your salary and practically starve yourself to death! It’s not being materialistic but I am rather making these things in comparison.
We can blame the government all we want… but then despite all this ranting or whining over corruption or blaming it to anything else… I do not think that there is a single filipino who will ever take that seat without thinking of what is beneficial to themselves. And even if they tend not to do so, being in the position gets you compromised with your surrounding environment who’s done you favors when you were running for your electoral campaign. Let’s not be hypocrites. Change starts within ourselves. And I’d bet my underwears if any single Filipino would sacrifice living with dried fish and porridge for the entire five years just to get our debts paid.
OK… Why people leave the country? I work as a virtual assistant myself… finding out that they get offshore outsourcing since they pay a minimum of $2000 for an agent there for rendered services while they pay people here with less than the quart that they have to spend there. But then let’s be realistic… if you leave in Manila and you don’t make as much as 40K in a month, you’ll never have a decent home, decent meals etc etc… i don’t believe that it’s a matter of lifestyle… we adapt to that because that’s the most that we make… but then if you’ll look closely, a waiter abroad like a friend i have has a plasma tv with sound boosters all over, his room is fully furninshed etc etc… comparing that in waht we make in the Philippines, you can be a manager and never have a plasma television not until you save three years of your salary and practically starving yourself to death! It’s not being materialistic but I am rather making these things in comparison. We can blame the government all we want… but then despite all this ranting or whining over corruption… i do not think that there is a single filipino who will ever take that seat without thinking of what is beneficial to themselves. And even if they tend not to do so, being in the position gets you compromised with your surrounding environment who’s done you favors when you were running for your electoral campaign. Let’s not be hypocrites. Change starts within ourselves. And i’d bet my underwears if any single filipino would sacrifice living with dried fish and porridge for the entire five years just to get our debts paid.
I still be believe Yes the Philippines can still be one however I must admit there are factor that need to be change… firstly the government attitude toward governance .. must be free from corrution which deprive us of billion of government fund… and secondly open up to foreign investor… give more incentive so they can build their business empire in the philippines.
lastly, the crab mentality.. but to this I think it can’t be change since it is already a century old characteristic of pinoy.
I have to admit I myself would very want to stay in the Philippines but singapore.. a 3hrs flight away from homeland offers more in terms of salary incentive, convenience (traval faster) and exposure to my field of expertise.
If Phil. software can atleast match 80 to 90% of the salary given by Singapore companies, more pinoy would be willing to stay simply because of close family ties among pinoy family.
Yes, phils is still a good place to work… its a matter of your style of living.. just spend less of what you earn… you have a family with you.. get to go for malling on weekends or even on weekdays.. enjoy the beautiful people, the beautiful places, culture, values, etc..
Our problem is not the economy why all our professional are going out of the country. It is political in nature. Why?, look at our politicians. Even the head of our country is susceptible to corruption. So even the lowest government official will be corrupt.This country will lead us into trash. As long as those people elected will have a pure in heart to help their kababayans and lead them out out of poverty.
……the question is : IS THE PHILIPPINES A GOOD PLACE TO WORK?
No, definitely not - - as compared to what other country can provide and offer specific to professionals - Let say HK/China (not Iraq , Sudan, Congo or Lebanon).
My engineer friend work in EPZA as R&D engineer for 20K PHP a month, he moved to China as R&D engineer and got 375K PHP per month - he heads the R&D now, while before in EPZA, he just be a simply Korean brats. Now, he own a car, buy his own house there, he play golf and play “stocks” as an add-on income and enjoy the life there, his parents and family in Phils. does enjoy too. I do not think he himself will say “Philippine is a good place to WORK”.
He told me this:
” I like Philippines, but……. I learned that I cannot survive in my own country. Philippines is too much politics that hinder to move one step forward. I admire China where the people changed their mind - from world of war to progress. Philippines is stagnant and declining as compared to China (but Philippine is better than Lebanon), so “why should I choosed Philippines for my place of WORK?”
The Youth of Philippines (the hope of the nation) they are more busy on PC games, texting and chatting and finding the chat and text mates, the youth here in my place plays more on stock, investing, cooperating and lottery.
If Philippines is a good place to work for the common people and professionals, why thousand of people are crossing the ocean then to seek job?
Lastly, if you failed and a lot of failure to work abroad, you can admit that Philippines is a GOOD Place to WORK.
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