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ev1lchris

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    Becoming something other than an English teacher

    in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments

    Posted

    Interesting that no-one has yet commented on what the OP said:

    and I made a small income of around 15k baht per month writing research papers for college students.

    Forgive me if I have misunderstood that statement. It reads to me that you were getting an income to help college students cheat, by writing their research papers.

    Have I understood that correctly?

    If so, please don't come looking for any job where I have an input as to whether you are offered employment or not.

    Again, my apologies if I have misunderstood your statement.

    That's not me.

    Becoming something other than an English teacher

    in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments

    Posted

    @OP anyone can be a freelance writer online. Just being a native English speaker that can put sentences together without dozens of errors, puts you above the Filipinos and Indians that take the low paying jobs. They make a monthly income comparable to the cost of living in Thailand doing it, so you can make several times that.

    Just do an advanced Google search for all Craigslist jobs with 'telecommuting is okay' in the ad, which means you can do it from anywhere in the world, e.g. Thailand. Expand it to all Craigslist domains (each city / country has a Craigslist) as it doesn't matter if it's on e.g. Chicago craiglist, if it can be done anywhere. And maybe an ad is only listed on one local domain. Then add filters like 'writing' and 'posted in last 24 hours' or whatever.

    Here's a ready made search for you, it won't let me post the raw URL. You can hover your mouse over it and see it's just a link to Google.

    At first offer to write for Filipino rates to get references, a portfolio and experience. Also get on Upwork (Odesk renamed to Upwork and it's about to merge with Elance making it easier to reach clients) and do the same there.

    In no time at all you'll have regular clients giving you work. There is literally unlimited work available. If you can write say 400 words an hour (anyone can) that's the same hourly as an English teacher in Thailand, without the early mornings, commute, exam prep, marking, and stress.

    Of course the best move is to be the one with a website, hiring cheap freelance writers yourself and monetizing their work. You don't want to be the writer forever. But one step at a time.

    This is probably the best piece of advice I have gotten lately. Thank you.

    Upwork is kind of a zoo but I'm willing to do it for a portfolio.

    Becoming something other than an English teacher

    in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments

    Posted

    Can you find work in the Thai IT industry? Absolutely you can. Pay levels may not be as high as in the west, but they are high enough that you can make a very good living here. Qualified coders and analysts are in demand everywhere, regardless of nationality. I know this because I have worked in IT here in Thailand for over 20 years.

    Twenty eight years ago I was teaching English here for a pittance and quickly decided that was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I set out to re-learn how to code. Got myself a computer, installed an early version of Linux and spent a couple of years learning shell scripting, C, Perl, etc. Then landed a job making not great money, but way better than teaching. From there things just got better. Now I am a data analyst/bioinformatician working in the molecular genetics lab at a company producing vegetable seeds. Also working on my PhD in computational science at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai.

    How far you can go, not just in Thailand, depends only on how hard you are willing to work. Both in upgrading your skillset and on the job. If you want to get into coding/IT, the hot field now is "big-data" analytics. This will continue to be a big field for the foreseeable future. Data scientists are in demand everywhere. You don't need a PhD to be effective in this area. But you do need skills and experience.

    I would recommend to anyone looking to get their feet wet in this field to start taking free-online courses on the edX or coursera websites. There are plenty of intro level computer science, programming and analytics courses to choose from, all for free. It's a good place to start. Of course, this is not s quick fix to breaking out of English teaching. It takes time and motivation, but it can be done.

    EDIT

    Or, like BlackArtemis above, upgrade your teaching qualifications and branch out away from language teaching. Get a couple of years experience and try to land a job at the international schools here. Some of them pay very well. I envy some of my friends with teaching jobs there. Can't beat the holiday package they get!

    Excellent post. I too came to Thailand and taught English early in my stay. Soon after I began online marketing. It took me a couple years but I now earn a western full-time income. I am currently teaching myself to code and sky's the limit. Most are not willing to put in the work to success. If you are focused and disciplined, you can do it. Best of luck to you.

    You are doing exactly what I want to. Thanks for the inspirational post.

    Becoming something other than an English teacher

    in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments

    Posted

    I came to Thailand 10+ years ago as a teacher. I was able to move on to other things thanks to luck, networking, and effort. 6 jobs and 4 companies later I am still here. Networking is key to finding work from within Thailand in my opinion, and although it isn't easy, it is possible to do.

    Having said that, I have met dozens of coders looking for employment at networking events. You might like to expand your horizons as work isn't as easy to find here as it is at home, so we can't afford to be as fussy. This is not to say you won't find something you enjoy.

    One last thing.... presentation is also very important. 'Farangs' in Thailand are judged an pigeon holed on how they look almost immediately.

    Good luck :)

    I look Japanese.

    Becoming something other than an English teacher

    in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments

    Posted

    If you do not have Thai citizenship then unfortunately your options are very, VERY, limited. Companies can easily hire Thai computer coders on 20,000 baht a month. The managers only speak Thai. If they hire you, they're going to need to hire translators or try to find Thai managers who speak English. And when sending out memos they have to be in English too. Since the people who write these memos don't speak English, they have to hire translators or try to find Thais who speak English. And it's all just for that one farang in the office. It all becomes a chain reaction of inconvinience.

    This isn't really the case, I know of two different organisations right now (Infinity Levels and Agoda) that are actively seeking senior developers for the 50 - 120k a month mark and that are open to non Thai speakers. Openings at other places come around reasonably regularly.

    That said, the level of coders they seek can simply work remotely for western orgs and easily double the higher end of that rate.

    OP to be successful at that, and to be able to get employed on anything like a decent rate, you need to put 5 years minimum into it on a daily basis, I would suggest doing so back in the west.

    I've been going at Python on Codecademy. I'm going to focus on that language.

    Becoming something other than an English teacher

    in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments

    Posted

    If you do not have Thai citizenship then unfortunately your options are very, VERY, limited. Companies can easily hire Thai computer coders on 20,000 baht a month. The managers only speak Thai. If they hire you, they're going to need to hire translators or try to find Thai managers who speak English. And when sending out memos they have to be in English too. Since the people who write these memos don't speak English, they have to hire translators or try to find Thais who speak English. And it's all just for that one farang in the office. It all becomes a chain reaction of inconvinience.

    And marketing? Nope. Same story as computer coding but even worse. Other than what I stated above, 99% of advertisements in this country are only aimed at Thai people. Just look at billboards, brochures and TV commercials; they're ALL written in Thai with a Thai voiceover. To be honest, I've NEVER seen an advertisement in this country that is aimed at foreigners.

    And I know marketing isn't only about advertising, but unless you're working alone or only working with other foreigners (which isn't possible because it's against the law to only hire foreigners) then you're going to need to speak Thai AND have Thai citizenship.

    Don't take this personal, I'm just stating the reality behind the job market for foreigners in Thailand.

    I have met people who run online services in Thailand that are foreigners. I don't know if it's legal but they had a mix of Thai and foreign workers.

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