Advice on Cloud and Banking Jobs in Singapore

[kemistry]

Hi

My wife and I are strongly considering a move to Singapore in about 6 months with 2 kids. I currently work as a Cloud Platform Engineer/Architect and my wife works as a QA Manager in the banking sector and we both have over 15 years of experience in our respective disciplines. I have read through some forums in various places and and i have gotten a feel for what it would be like to live there (i have also visited Singapore in two occasions).

In terms of working in the IT and banking industry, i would love to hear from expats who have worked in these areas and how they feel about working in these areas in Singapore. With 2 young kids, Life/Work balance would be a major deciding factor in the decision.

I see to have read some conflicting comments around how easy/hard it is to get a job in Singapore in these two areas so would be great to get some feedback from expats that also went through a similiar process

Interested to hear from expats in those industries no matter how little you may have to share.

Much appreciated Everyone

[bgd]

Lifestyle here is good. But don't get too caught up with that yet, you have to find a job first and that isn't easy, particularly in IT and particularly in banking. Search these forums, you'll get the idea.

[kemistry]

Hi bgd

Yes, i guess i was angling more towards how people found getting a job in the those areas and if they could share their experiences as well. I've updated the original post so hopefully its a bit more clearer now.

Thanks

[bgd]

It isn't easy, IT is being outsourced out of Sg. The general advice is to get transferred in. Trying to find something locally is pretty tough unless you have a niche skill set.

Cloud is certainly pretty big at the moment for most banks. Not sure whether that will translate into a role here though. Looking at my organisation, the cloud migrations have some local input but are generally global teams outside Sg. That will probably remain the case once the migrations are complete. There just isn't much done in Sg these days.

Local employment agencies are rubbish, networking or LinkedIn are better bets.

[kemistry]

HI

Good information thanks. Unfortunately my current company is not an international organization so i don't have that option available. My Wife "may" have that option with her role with a bank but she is looking for a change.

Appreciate the feedback

[brian_singapore]

Cloud engineering roles are regularly posted by the local and international banks and is currently one of the 'hot skillsets'.

In general, you need to be on the ground to find work here.

The job market has been pretty tight in general lately, however last 2 months or so (bonuses got paid!) there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of mid-range to senior technical (hands-on not managerial) roles being posted.

[kemistry]

Cheers Brian

Good info. I can keep an eye on those areas over the coming months. I'll be looking for a senior hands on/Architect role (Predominately AWS) so that's good news.

[kemistry]

HI .. shamelessly bumping this again.

Just wondering if anyone else out there has any other information. Unfortunately i will be looking for a job in Singapore from Overseas. From what I've read, that's not going to be easy. I do have a few mates over there so i will definitely be tapping into them but any other advise would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

[Strong Eagle]

I've been out of the Singapore IT game for 5 years now, and, I can tell you that my last three projects were the outsourcing/off shoring of IT personnel for large multi-national banks and manufacturing companies. I judge that the process has only accelerated since I left.

Call centers all left Singapore because the labor costs were too high. The call centers all went to Manila or Kuala Lumpur. At the same time, the onsite support was terminated from each company and replaced with a dumbed down service team that mostly replaced stuff and relied upon the call centers to remote in and do the actual legwork of setup, etc.

Historically, even though the companies had allegedly integrated IT operations, most operated within regions... NA, SA, EMEA, and APAC. If you wanted to be a specialist in Asia... a project manager, a solutions architect, a security guru, or a peddler of computer hardware... you could approach the regional vice president of IT and get the deal done.

All that went out the window with the 2008 recession. IT budgets were severely curtailed for at least three years, and it created a consolidation of the IT function in virtually all of the MNC's of which I am aware. Say goodbye to the autonomous region, and say hello to the global PMO located in Europe or maybe in the USA. Say goodbye to the regional service provider or project management firm, and say hello to the firms that could at least attempt to claim a global footprint.

Now mix in some global virtual teams. A big SAP project of which I was aware, was driven out of Europe, spec'ed and tested in Kuala Lumpur, and programmed in South America, under the direction of a global project manager in the USA. So, it's less about you wanting to be somewhere, and more about whether or not the specialty you have happens to align with the country with the best expertise and labor rates.

And finally, you are correct, finding a job out of country will be very difficult, for two reasons. First, you're not physically here, and you are up against all those people who are here. You've got to look mighty special on your resume to avoid being shit-canned because you complicate things... travel, relocation... things that may not even be in the budget for the position.

And second, as has been noted, the best way to get to Singapore is to transfer in with a company. And the best way to get a new job is to leave that company and move to another company. It is a very small world here, and unless you are a low level grunt, someone will know someone who knows someone who will know you. So long as bridges have not been burned, it is quite common for people to move from company to company with the informal grapevine keeping all informed about your strengths and weaknesses. You've got no such referral network... therefore, and again, unless you've got something special, you're a risk... and potentially a costly one with travel and relocation as part of the recruiting process. It doesn't happen very often.

You ought to drop over to the 20's and 30's "making friends" forums. There do seem to be quite a few younger people that are getting transferred into Singapore, looking at the activity in those forums. You might ask around and get a better sense of what it might take to find employment here.