Work culture in Singapore

[Sree Chinna]

I am eager to know the work culture of software companies in Singapore.

I have heard from people that they try to get as much as they can from you without paying anything extra, people are supposed to work for 16 hours a day and blah blah. I am not clear whether those are facts.

Can someone share their experiences and what type of companies have good culture and which type of companies stress you more leaving you frustrated.

One more question. From India, is is possible to get a direct company offer in Singapore instead of going through consultants.
[ July 30, 2008: Message edited by: Sree Chinna ]

[Sunit Gupta]

Originally posted by Sree Chinna:
From India, is is possible to get a direct company offer in Singapore instead of going through consultants.[ July 30, 2008: Message edited by: Sree Chinna ]

Possible and advisable.

[a kalia]

Hi Sunit,

Can you please brief on the process of directly applying to companies in Singapore while in India. I have posted my profile on a few job portals for Singapore but I havent had any response.

[a kalia]

Hi Sunit,

Can you please brief on the process of directly applying to companies in Singapore while in India. I have posted my profile on a few job portals for Singapore but I havent had any response.

[arulk pillai]

Can you please brief on the process of directly applying to companies in Singapore while in India. I have posted my profile on a few job portals for Singapore but I havent had any response

In my view netwroking is the best way and I gues you are doing that via this forum. There could be other avenues as well. Also, make sure that your resume standout from the thousands of others who would be competing with you. Also, overseas jobs require at least 2+ years of experience.

[Sunit Gupta]

Originally posted by a kalia:
Hi Sunit,

Can you please brief on the process of directly applying to companies in Singapore while in India. I have posted my profile on a few job portals for Singapore but I haven't had any response.

Singapore being a finance hub, it typically requires good finance domain to expect a call from there.

[Hendy Setyo Mulyo]

I think it is going to take a long time to expect a call from companies in Singapore, although it is advisable. To get an IT job in Singapore is very easy nowadays, as long as you have more than 1 years of related experience. Most of my friends usually go to Singapore, stay for 1 or 2 months and do job hunting there. Most of them usually got the job after 2 or 3 weeks searching.

[Ramesh Srinivasan]

Originally posted by Sree Chinna:
I am eager to know the work culture of software companies in Singapore.

I have heard from people that they try to get as much as they can from you without paying anything extra, people are supposed to work for 16 hours a day and blah blah. I am not clear whether those are facts.

Can someone share their experiences and what type of companies have good culture and which type of companies stress you more leaving you frustrated.

One more question. From India, is is possible to get a direct company offer in Singapore instead of going through consultants.

[ July 30, 2008: Message edited by: Sree Chinna ]

As Already Sunit posted as Singapore as Finance HUB. From my thoughts Singapore is Business centric nor US,UK as technology centric. Though few companies are being involved in application development.

All the best
[ August 21, 2008: Message edited by: Ramesh Srinivasan ]

[Deepak Chopra]

Let me tell you clear picture, as per my opinion there are two ways to work:
Either you work for money or You work to seek a justification to your brain and knowledge.
In Singapore 99% work is support work, which i consider as robotic work. You will learn a lot during the first six month or one year but after that it is repetitive work.
Support will pay you good as compare to India but still less than US or UK.
only very small companies can give you development work but you will get physical harassment as a supplementary gift.
I am here in Singapore last one and half an year. I was in development for one year where i learnt a lot. But i took the biggest mistake of my life and i changed my job. I was told that i will be development and as per most of company, i was cheated and i was put in support work. You can not even think how much in mental stress I am. I got migraine. I requested hundred times to my senior to change my work profile. But no solution. when i started looking for another job. I get to know that in Singapore development means "Support + Bug fixing + change requests". So finally i have accepted one offer from a very good MNC company.
tell you directly I am here to earn money..I will be here till DEC,2009. Then i will be back to India.
another thing getting promotion in Singapore is next to impossible, in order to become a TL in India you require 3 to 4 Years, here in Singapore you require 7 to 8 years.
Beside that there are some other problem also, which i can not tell you here on forum. drop me a mail if you want to know.

[Hendy Setyo Mulyo]

Originally posted by Sunny Jain:
I get to know that in Singapore development means "Support + Bug fixing + change requests". So finally i have accepted one offer from a very good MNC company.

I quite agree with Sunny Jain. In Singapore, it is very hard to get involved in a fresh development project. I have had work experience in Singapore for 2 years. During my time there, I switched job twice. My first company is US Based IT Consulting. I handled so many projects, but most of them were support projects. There was a development project, but it was not a "fresh" one, because it just revamped the UI of the system, which still using the core codes. In my second and third company, I also handled maintenance projects. Possibly, the cost of a development project is so expensive in Singapore. Therefore, most of the companies outsource the development project to another countries like India or Indonesia.

[Sandeep Kuma]

Sunny Jain wrote:Let me tell you clear picture, as per my opinion there are two ways to work:
Either you work for money or You work to seek a justification to your brain and knowledge.
In Singapore 99% work is support work, which i consider as robotic work. You will learn a lot during the first six month or one year but after that it is repetitive work.
Support will pay you good as compare to India but still less than US or UK.
only very small companies can give you development work but you will get physical harassment as a supplementary gift.
I am here in Singapore last one and half an year. I was in development for one year where i learnt a lot. But i took the biggest mistake of my life and i changed my job. I was told that i will be development and as per most of company, i was cheated and i was put in support work. You can not even think how much in mental stress I am. I got migraine. I requested hundred times to my senior to change my work profile. But no solution. when i started looking for another job. I get to know that in Singapore development means "Support + Bug fixing + change requests". So finally i have accepted one offer from a very good MNC company.
tell you directly I am here to earn money..I will be here till DEC,2009. Then i will be back to India.
another thing getting promotion in Singapore is next to impossible, in order to become a TL in India you require 3 to 4 Years, here in Singapore you require 7 to 8 years.
Beside that there are some other problem also, which i can not tell you here on forum. drop me a mail if you want to know.

Sunny as I am also trying to get the job in Singapore, Can you please tell me what other problems you discussed here. Please let me know how you can get in touch me.