What Are The I.T Opportunities Like In Thailand?

[wellred]

... for someone up to MCITP Enterprise Administrator and CCNA level.

Are there any opportunities for a foreigner to move into this line of work?

Thanks

[KamnanT]

There is, generally speaking, a shortage of qualified and experienced software development skills in Thailand, on both the development and testing side. I don't believe there is as much of a shortage of network engineering staff, although if you have some unique experience there may be employers who find you interesting. Whether the salary levels meet your expectations is another story, however. If you are coming from Europe or North America, you will find salaries in Thailand much lower. If you are prepared to live as a local would, then the lower compensation won't be a problem, however if you're looking to live an expat lifestyle then (not surprisingly), you'll need an expat job.

Send your CV to a local recruiter or two and see if anyone bites.

[MaiChai]

I lived in Singapore for three years and was based in Thailand for about a year of that. I also worked extensivly through Asia at that time. I was working for mobile companies doing mobile internet/mms/etc. Basically UNIX sysadmin. The reason I went back to the UK to work is because you are not respected as an IT professional in Asia. You will find many Asian graduates have the plan to be an engineer for a couple of years, and then move into management. So what I found is there are very few IT experts in anything here, simply because people want to move into management and they don't remain as engineers for very long. I found the work environment not very stimulating, and it was always the case that 'experts' were flown in from Europe and US when required.

My advice would be either to spent part of your time here, while maintaining a career in the West, or get some remote working position where you work from home in Asia while working for a company who pays you in the West.

[CiscoThailand]

Partially also depends on whether you know Thai or not, I guess?

And whether you want Thai standard salaries or US / Europe salaries

[wellred]

I know a few bits to get me by but have started learning. Also at the moment I happen to work for an established telecomms company who happen to have offices around SE Asia, including Bangkok. I recently came into a bit of good luck here whereby I'm sort of in the spotlight within the company so if there is a specific role I am after the company will try and accomadate me. I probably have a bit of studying to do first to get a few extra qualifications but im going to float the idea of finding a role in Bangkok. In terms of pay I think I will stay with what I am on at the moment although even if I had to drop down a few notches it wouldn't be such a bad thing as I think cost of living in Bangkok is not as high as London.

I've basically just come back from Thailand where I had the best time of my life and I want to marry a girl I met there, well potentially. Yes yes ok chuckle and lecture time... but the main thing for me would be finding a job over there so im going to give it a serious go.

Aside from that with the way the economy is going at the moment here in the UK and Europe im not sure of what the future holds in terms of job prospects where as the ICT industry is generally considered to be on the up and up in Asia. Am I clutching at straws here? I really want to make this happen.

Edited January 19, 2012 by wellred

[rahi]

I have same plans myself, looking actively for company. If that does not work, then other options is to take existing business to bkk.