Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Vince]

Are there many Westerns working in IT in Korea? How hard is it to get secure, good-paying work? Are certain IT specialties and qualifications in particular demand? IT is huge for foreigners in Tokyo, and I'm just wondering how Korea compares.

[ella]

I'd like to know the answer to this, too. I have ten years of experience as a tech writer and trainer. If that could keep me out of the hogwans, so much the better.

[hugo_danner]

Korea has a law that if a Korean can do it, a foreigner can't. Also, as wired up and as computer savvy as Koreans are, plus a high unemployment rate among the new college graduates--I'd say they are hard to come by. Unless it involves teaching in some way or some very high demand specialty. (My 2 cents, anyway!)

Here is a link to Manpower Korea, it may help:

http://www.4icj.com/reviews/7115.htm

[R-Seoul]

Just shoot an email off to any international headhunting agency specialising in IT & say you're interested in Korea. Shouldn't be too difficult for them to gauge your chances...

[mateomiguel]

What hugo_danner said. In order to get an E-7 visa for normal work in Korea, your potential employer must prove that a Korean person would not be qualified for the job. Daunting in theory, probably subject to bribery in practice. (Either that or I possess a skillset no Korean on the peninsula can match, mwahahah)

The software job market is almost nonexistent here. Korea has cornered the market on mobile devices and flat screen displays, but it doesn't have much software going for it. One of the largest software companies here, AhnLabs, is strictly a local brand. They don't even make a multi-lingual version of their security software I don't think.

In addition, the software job market is predicted to shrink this year, and new local graduates are said to face steep competition.

The good news is that more foreign companies are slowly trickling into the peninsula. For instance, Google is going to set up a research center here, to the tune of 10 million dollars, over the next few years. I know I'd personally love to work for them, but being bilingual is a prerequisite and I'm nowhere near being bilingual yet .

Actually not being bilingual has made me lose three other job prospects. The first was for a small startup company that wanted to make useless mobile phone fortune-telling content and charge people for using it. They said they were very interested in me but in the end they felt too uncomfortable working with a native English speaker who didn't speak Korean. The second was an entry-level tech-support position in Oracle, which lost interest when I said I didn't speak Korean. The third was with HP, same kind of thing.

And despite all that I still can't speak Korean, heh.

The hardware market is booming but I'm not sure how to break into the chaebol scene. Samsung and LG seem to be shut up tight, I've never even found a job advertisement by them.

Maybe us tech-savvy types should get together and make an online hagwan. We could make a killing, I tell ya!

[ella]

I've seen the tech manuals that come out of Korea. They need native English writers, whether they admit it or not

[Kimchieluver]

[Mashimaro]

[mateomiguel]

Korean is definitely a useful language for people who are looking to do professional jobs in Korea.

But Korea is only the size of Indiana. Outside of that you'd need to speak Chinese or Japanese.

Its useful but in a pretty limited context, I guess you could say.

[Gregarious Monk]

If anyone does come up with any useful information on this I'd be really interested in hearing about it.

I'm going to be teaching english in Korea but my past life was 10 years of desktop support and system/security administration. The only opportunities I've seen so far require a 'resident class" visa.

[RACETRAITOR]

I have a friend in the IT business in Japan who says they've been struggling for a long time to find a foreigner to work in the Korean branch of their company.

[europe2seoul]

In Korea business is being done with Korean customers. They do not speak English, so to go to some meeting you need a co-worker to translate. Company meetings are also done in Korean, even though its a foreign company - because local employees in Korean branch are Korean. Then reports or teleconferences are done in English with the main office.

It doesn't make sense to have a foreign person there, who can't speak Korean. Also it doesn't make sense for a foreign person to work in Korea long-term to do career, since all the "good stuff" is done back at the company's HQ - so its better to be there, where you can network using English language, be visible and do more usefull work for your benefit and for employer's.

Some exceptions are Samsung/LG who employ foreigners for professional careers in their research centers and pay them big bucks - but those people are valuable asset to them, to do research for new products and technologoies yet to come. People of those caliber are wanted by any company so its all different ball game.

All-in-all if I am a Korean company CEO in Korea, I would like to hire a person speaking Korean and English (such as gyoppo, or person that got degrees in US and speaks English well) so I can benefit from both. And that employee can benefit because he can intergrate easily with co-workers and communicate on projects, meetings, planning, etc.

All that being said - its hard....I spend 4-5 months looking for professional career job and finally got it, by skill and luck I guess. Don't speak Korean but realized that this is a problem. For all good stuff, its better to be in HQ where you can communicate in English and work in an English corporate environment. Can't go up in Korea with language problem & being in a branch office.

[Vince]

Thanks for the replies. It seems like a stark contrast to the availability in Tokyo. If I were to take a shot at IT in Korea, I'd of course get into a good language program and learn as much Korean as I can.

[buylow sellhigh]

Just curious as to why you would want to work IT in Korea. It seems there is equal or more money to be made in the west in this field and without the language barriers.

[europe2seoul]