Likelihood of getting an IT job in Thailand as a farang?

[smccolley]

I was pretty much in the same boat as you. Here is how I managed to get to live in Thailand doing IT.

I had international experience already working at telecoms in a few countries and came to Thailand in 2006 (age 42) for a holiday. After 7 days I realized I had to live here. I went back to the states and ran through everyone I knew until I identified a very small company that wanted to expand into SE Asia. I took the president out to dinner and explained that I would do whatever he needed - presales, demos, installations, customer support - as long as i could a) work as an employee and live in Thailand. I told him I would take a 60% pay cut, still livable money in Thailand. Before the meal was over I had the job and planned my move back. Within 4 months I was living here and working regionally, flying 30+ weeks a year to some project or other.

That continued until last year when my company was bought out by Cisco. When they purchased us they allowed me to stay, but revoked my ex-pat status. I now get paid in Thai baht but can work remotely in Banglamung not ever going to the Bangkok office. I still fly but have been promoted to a solution architect role which means about 1 trip per month. I get to work in my house most of the time and just do con calls and Webex to support the 14 regional projects I am associated with. Not only that in the last 8 years my pay has tripled so I am doing fine by Thai standards.

Basically I built a position for myself at a foreign company that wanted to expand, and worked regionally while living in Thailand. I took care of all my visa issues and HR type problems as they had no way to manage it. Now that I work for Cisco nothing short of a civil war will require me to ever leave Thailand. I rarely deal with any Thai companies but I have worked in 14+ countries in SE Asia and the middle east. Just an idea that worked for me...

[rwdrwdrwd]

....As stated in my original post I am a Windows Server Admin, not a programmer or web developer so although I do see quite a demand on jobs.db for programmers, I am not qualified for those jobs nor would I ever want to do that (I tried programming in 8th grade - not for me).

Since server administration occasionally requires hands on the actual hardware, working for a company based in the West is probably not going to work (not to mention the 14 hour time difference if I was to try remote support). My bachelor's degree is actually a BA in IT Management (I have an AA in Computer Service Tech. from 1996), so I could look for a management position but I imagine those are rare. ..

Being honest, you're unlikely to find a role unless you're willing to branch out from solely 'Windows Server Admin'. You're also more likely to find a niche, since MS tech is the aspect that is generally taught and available locally.

https://weworkremotely.com/jobs/549 for example, is a similar skillset that includes Windows but also other in-demand aspects of Sys Admin, and is likely to pay western rates.

The time difference obviously can't be changed, but it's not necessarily that bad - UK hours are 3pm-11pm Thai, Silicon Valley is tricky but not all organisations actually care about you working Western hours, it's quite handy to have the non-core hours covered. When I've worked for US companies in the past, I've done both UK hours which crosses over with East and West coast to some degree, and 4am - 12 midday which catches the last few hours of normal West Coast. I've also worked for companies that have absolutely no concern about me keeping whatever hours I like.

Edited April 9, 2014 by rwdrwdrwd

[Bangel72]

Thailand is a challenging place for careers, when the going is good though it's often fantastic and there are still a lot of expats making western money in IT in Thailand, it can be a bit tempting to live like a king at those times but only if plan on going back to reality at some point, otherwise put away as much as you can when the going is good.

Those here for the long haul tend to have to make a lot of compromises and often sacrifices. Some expats will find they are doing their own job, their immediate subordinates job and also their managers job half the time and accept this as just the way it is, others will need to switch to jobs they had never considered before for some they are great at this but for others often put into senior management positions based purely on their communication skills rather than management skills it can be painful for anyone else working with them.

Anyone are here for the long haul should probably look at putting away 10 years worth of funds and have an escape plan before getting too settled.

60k for an expat in IT as long as you are good is potentially under valuing yourself but a job is job right. What about the future though, pension, kids schooling, decent health care, periods without work, if you have a job elsewhere and you are saving money monthly I'd stick with it and build up that pot, even at double what you are willing to accept it's no where near enough for retirement time.

Networking and contacts can help a lot and you'll meet a lot of people at these evens perhaps even everyone there who will offer to build that website for you to help sell yourself, sometimes you can get lucky at other times you need to make your own luck.

The alternatives as others suggest are creating online business opportunities or looking to set up your own business/consultancy, these take time, research and hard work but it is what many expats here do.

There is though still a lot of expats here slightly deluding themselves that they have the future proofed their avoidance of the real world outside Bangkok, I admittedly occasionally do the same.

Learning Thai will also open a few more unexpected doors

Best of luck.

[kimbathewhitelion]

P_Brownstone or Patrick, who gives a sh*t, learn to read or at least finish primary school.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Learn how to read nested quotes old chap - I was replying to Globeman who was replying to you.

Patrick

Actually with the iPad version of ThaiVisa Connect it came across as just replying to me. On my end, there're no other names mentioned. But given if on your end there are differing names then apologize & retract. The latest IOS & "Thaivisa Connect" updates are utter garbage. Regardless more upset with the App, all other emotions were mis-directed or non intentional.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[p_brownstone]

P_Brownstone or Patrick, who gives a sh*t, learn to read or at least finish primary school.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Learn how to read nested quotes old chap - I was replying to Globeman who was replying to you.

Patrick

Actually with the iPad version of ThaiVisa Connect it came across as just replying to me. On my end, there're no other names mentioned. But given if on your end there are differing names then apologize & retract. The latest IOS & "Thaivisa Connect" updates are utter garbage. Regardless more upset with the App, all other emotions were mis-directed or non intentional.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

You Sir are a Gentleman.

No hard feelings!

Patrick