Jobs and Internships in China
polycounter lvl 2
Hello fellow polycounters,
I am really curious about your opinions on living and working in China (as a foreigner). I am considering applying for an internship there myself.
Is it possible to find a job without knowing Mandarin? Of course, I am considering taking classes, but I doubt I will be able to speak in a level suitable for a working environment by the time I get there.
And, frankly, what are my chances there as a european student (22)?
I am really curious about your opinions on living and working in China (as a foreigner). I am considering applying for an internship there myself.
Is it possible to find a job without knowing Mandarin? Of course, I am considering taking classes, but I doubt I will be able to speak in a level suitable for a working environment by the time I get there.
And, frankly, what are my chances there as a european student (22)?
Replies
Your chances should be comparable to others as long as your portfolio is up to scratch, you might have to find a place to stay for yourself though. I did an internship abroad last year and they pointed me in the right direction regarding living and visa stuff, but in the end you might need to figure that out yourself, in that case speaking the local language is a plus.
There are some internships here:
https://orcahq.com/jobs?country=China&kind=Internship
in the long term getting familiar with china could only be an asset. Anyone overlooking it is shooting themselves in the foot.
Hong Kong: totally different animal. It's effectively just like a different country, in almost all aspects - business, laws, government. It's also expensive as Fxck. However, it's one of the most awesome places I know. Anyhow, the advice here is about mainland China.
Taiwan: also worth to consider. Cleaner air, better internet, super friendly people. Again, what I say here doesn't apply to Taiwan either.
First, be wary. China is capitalism's wild west frontier and there are many job/internship scams. It is extremely important that you are employed on a work visa (Z-visa). This is usually arranged prior to your trip to China. If the employer asks you to come first on a tourist or a business visa and that they will convert it once you arrive, then it's a scam. You will face fines, arrest, being blacklisted from entering China and you will likely not be paid nor have health insurance. There are many cases like this, and many long term expats personally know someone who fell for such a scam.
The situation isn't helped by the fact that employment and immigration laws change regularly and are often different from city to city.
Again, do NOT work or intern on a tourist or business visa!
You should arrange any internship through your university. There are official programs for that.
For regular jobs, having a degree becomes increasingly important. The Chinese government views a masters degree and 2 year work experience as ideal. However, for certain industries, such as IT (games fall into this), the rules are relaxed. Your employer should have a "high-tech" certificate to prove this to the Chinese immigration authorities.
My company used to manage to bring in people with bachelor degrees, associates and diplomas, but it's getting more and more difficult. Expect at least 2 months processing time.
For finding a job, in general, experience and expert skills count.
For regular 3D artist jobs - forget about it. There are plenty kickass artists available locally. They ask for 400 - 600 USD monthly and don't require an expensive foreigner package (such as health-care). Salaries get lower if you move inland. With 600 USD in a city like Shanghai you're poor if you want to have a Western living standard and travel a bit (and afford a plane ticket back home).
I would not recommend a Chinese junior employee's living standard: hour long commutes, living off cheap food and not running your A/C in the summer ain't everyone's idea fun. Just saying, because every once in a while someone says "but the Chinese can survive too" - yes they can, they're tough, desperate (or "hungry" as steve jobs would say) and have no alternative.
Experience / skills I would recommend: year long industry experience, project management, marketing, sales (if your Chinese company caters to Western clients), supervisory/line-management skills, kick-ass art direction, realtime-VFX or strong game engine experience ~~ feel free to replace "experience" with "portfolio" in some cases.
For games related internships having a strong games engines / VFX folio would work best. A Modeling reel, even when abso-fucking-lutely fabulous would probably be the worst, due to the intense low cost local competition.
When hiring: Mandarin skills are optional. China is quite different from Japan here. Language skills have no influence on hiring decisions if a person has the skills that cannot be found locally.
And if you don't have the skills, then local hires will beat you at everything else - you won't even be in the race unless they're looking for a white guy (white monkey) to parade around (less common these days though).
If you're black, you won't even qualify for those jobs. Discrimination by age, sex, race is mostly allowed and common in China; e.g. if you want to teach English you better be white because the parents expect a stereotypical Brit or white American. Just saying, ask about the contents of the job and check that they're not hiring you to be some sort of "showcase" piece (Look! We have a foreigner! Isn't he cute?! No, you can't feed him)... actually, in rural China people like to pose with foreigners because they're so rare, they are an attraction.
Anyhow, If I were you, I would just try my luck!
Make sure you do due diligence on any job or internship offer and you should be fine. China is definitely an experience that'll shape you! Trust me, you will learn a lot!
Good luck!