[rlglwx]

To be honest, don’t don’t it. Unless you’re of Chinese descent and speak the language, you won’t be able to advance in most companies. The work culture is alien to most westerners and the benefits to your career are negligible.

Mostly depends on what you want out of your career but speaking as someone that lived in China and worked in Chinese tech companies for seven years, including being the first foreign hire for a large mobile games company, it’s not something I’d recommend mid-career. Maybe just starting out or if you can be hired into a c-level role.

[throwawayhyes]

I’ll add to this. If you’re ethnically Chinese, can speak Mandarin, and have a desire to move to an executive position, then highly consider it.

There won’t be a bamboo ceiling and your assertiveness won’t be seen negatively as aggression [1]

1. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/05/study-of-...

[usaar333]

How well does this apply to people who grew up in China (adept to culture) vs. not (and only might know Mandarin from talking with relatives)?

[throwawayhyes]

Not knowing the culture will definitely hinder you compared to someone that does, but you might be able to carve out a niche as a “Western/English” facing executive. Basically you will be the executive that interfaces with foreigners.

[illuminati1911]

"Unless you’re of Chinese descent and speak the language, you won’t be able to advance in most companies."

There is no such issue when working for international or western companies and/or startups. Also a local mobile games company is not a good example to generalize with since games industry is known for being pretty horrible here. Internationally as well.

While there are some things many westeners might find annoying, there are lot of good things as well. For example income tax and living costs are very low. I moved from Europe to China to work in software engineering and my living standards have increased significantly.

[echevil]

I guess language barrier is the main issue here? In western companies, it's also hard to advance to high/exec levels if someone cannot communicate in English well.

[hahamrfunnyguy]

I'd say it's more like being brown in the US and trying to advance into C-level roles ... possible, but you may encounter resistance depending on the company and region.

[m00dy]

May I ask where you moved from in Europe ?

[vfulco2]

Jumping on this thread, I came 4 year ago starting a company to mentor and coach young people who want to get into MNCs. Think English resume editing, LinkedIn Profile enhancements, interview coaching. Right now, Chinese is intermediate level (I am behind as my work is almost entirely in English).

You can make wonderful friends and the average Chinese is a decent, hard working person. Still, the level of mistrust throughout the society, for very obvious historical reasons, means people keep to themselves. You have to work 2-3x as hard to build brand and reputation. This coming from someone with 5 start ratings and laudatory comments in all our reviews.

And as for the "traction" techniques, quite common in US based startups. Almost none of them work so marketing and demand generation is a long, slow painful effort. Generally, they are in the historical economic cycle where they seen the "value" in an iPhone X. Services to better their lives, other than primary school education, not so much.

Disappointing to say the least as the need for career upgrades/polishing is huge. As someone once said to me, and it took time to really sink in...Just because they use the latest cellphone you do, doesn't mean they think in the same way. Truly the logic here is more convoluted and less linear. Hard to explain.

I love the adventure aspect, not sure I would do it again.

[pthomas551]

IMO, unless you really need to live in China for whatever reason, you should focus on starting a career in the States and getting an expat assignment in China. You will have a much more comfortable lifestyle and have something at home to go back to if things don't pan out.

[jaxbot]

Thanks for the insights, much appreciated! To be clear, are you a westerner who made this move, or a Chinese native? If the former, how did the startup culture compare to the US startup culture?

>of Chinese descent and speak the language

What about westerns who speak mando? Is it workable or still too much of a culture shock? Is racism abundant?

[rlglwx]

I am a white guy from the states who speaks Mandarin. It's not really racism per se, it's just more that it's harder to win their trust if you're not one of them to begin with.

The startup culture is similar but the difference is most companies expect you to be putting in OT and weekend hours almost as a default. The idea of burnout prevention hasn't caught on, at least in my experience.

Also the dev practices are different as well, things that won't translate well if you'd like to bring your skills back.

[jason_slack]

I found that people didn't expect me to speak/read/write any Mandarin being white and from the states.

Elevator rides were interesting because they were crowded and I was taller than a lot of people. People would talk about the "foreigner" standing next to them. One girl told her friend that she liked my boots (Dr. Martens) and when I got off the elevator I turned and said: "They are so comfortable I walk 3 miles from my hotel to work each day in them". I've never had such stunned silence of 30 people in an elevator. :-)

[komali2]

>mando

Is it a regional norm around you to refer to Mandarin as "Mando?" Never heard of this in my life...

[awad]

As a counter-point I've always heard them shortened to Mando and Canto (as in, "do you speak Mando, Canto, or both?") amongst Asian-American friends. Never thought anything of it really.

[omosubi]

I've heard this a lot, especially when referring to both Mandarin and Cantonese, ie. Mando and canto

[philsnow]

I've heard chinese pop music referred to as either c-pop or mando-pop

[jaxbot]

My Chinese friends do. Not sure if regional. I think it's just the logical shortening when the other option is 'canto', but it doesn't really make sense.