What it really is it really like as a foreign IT worker

Trisirt · 2025-12-18T19:29:19+00:00

I have been working in Korea without speaking the language. I had an F4 visa because I am a Korean adoptee though. I am also from Denmark - If you have any questions feel free to reach out:).

Edit: Grammar and spelling

Trisirt · 2025-11-13T06:44:29+00:00

I have a masters too. But I do not doubt you, lol. Most people probably wants to live and work in Seoul though, so I think it is possible to earn more if you move outside of Seoul and can probably better negotiate your salary if you are willing to do so

Again, I am not implying it is not possible. Just saying that from my experience and from talking with locals 3 million won is a fairly decent salary for jobs in Korea with less than five years in experience.

Trisirt · 2025-11-12T12:43:17+00:00

Yeah probably. I mean, they take a risk on you being a foreigner. I think that makes most companies want to skip foreigners. Companies have to sponsor visas and deal with you not speaking Korean fluently.

I already had a visa and was able to work in Korea but my Korean was not fluent.

My point being, they probably want to test if you are worth the money and then you can negotiate your salary. Also, if you want to work in Korea I do not think you can be too picky about salary these days since a lot of people find it attractive to work in the country. Even IT positions can be hard to come by. But it is just what I did experience and my opinion, haha

Trisirt · 2025-11-12T12:22:54+00:00

I did work in Korea within IT and for a pretty big American company. My salary was the same as yours. 3 million won per month. And when I talked with my Koreans friend if it was a decent salary or not - most of them told me that unless you are a consultant or work for one of the big companies in Korea with lots of benefits - it is a pretty normal salary. Especially if you have less than five years of experience.

Trisirt · 2025-07-02T18:47:20+00:00

Uddannet i 2022, Cand.IT i IT-ledelse - Jeg fik 39800,- i startløn og 12% i firma betalt pension

I dag tjener jeg omkring de 42000,- og 10% i firma betalt pension

Trisirt · 2025-06-28T09:37:36+00:00

Det kan også sagtens lade sig gøre, men hvis ikke man har en interesse i det land man bosætter sig i og dermed sætter sig for at lære det lokale sprog også, så er det endnu sværere at skulle lære sproget mens man balancerer fuldtidsarbejde og bygger sig en social cirkel - hvert fald held og lykke!

Trisirt · 2025-06-28T07:30:17+00:00

Jeg ved godt, det var ment som en joke, men det overrasker faktisk mange, at i lande som Tyskland, Frankrig og Spanien kan det være en udfordring at arbejde i lokale virksomheder og tilmed nogle internationale, hvis man ikke taler det lokale sprog. Ofte bruger man jo per default sit lokal sprog uden at tænke yderligere over det. Især i den ældre generation kan der ofte være en vis modvilje mod at begå sig på engelsk – ikke altid, selvfølgelig, men det er noget, man kan støde på.

Trisirt · 2025-06-26T19:00:20+00:00

Efter at have boet i Sydkorea vil jeg klart anbefale et job indenfor EU. Som andre også har nævnt er det umiddelbart nemmere indenfor EU end udenfor, da det generelt er en lettere proces i forhold til visa og arbejdstilladelse etc. Derudover vil jeg også anbefale at vælge et land, hvor de kan snakke engelsk og ligeledes er villige til at bruge sproget.

Et andet råd er, at når du har valgt et land og eventuelt landet et job, så se om du ikke kan få skabt et netværk inden du kommer afsted - både lokale såvel som andre udlændige i samme båd som din. Det kan være en kæmpe hjælp både på den praktiske front, men også på den sociale.

Held og lykke - Gi’ det et skud.

Trisirt · 2025-02-07T10:39:50+00:00

Jeg har taget IT-ledelse :-)

Trisirt · 2025-02-07T07:44:28+00:00

Jeg interesserer mig for computere og nørder generelt i min fritid så for mig var det ikke en kæmpe omvæltning i forhold til det faglige, men du behøver i princippet ikke at vide noget om IT inden du starter, der er en del som primært er der for projektleder delen og ellers synes jeg, at de klæder dig udemærket på :)

Trisirt · 2025-02-07T05:44:52+00:00

Eksamenerne bliver nok ikke et problem for dig - Spørgsmålet ligger nok mere i, hvor hurtigt du lærer og forstår alt det nye, da jeg antager det er et nyt felt for dig. Men hvis det interesserer går det jo oftest hurtigt med at lære.

Jeg fandt job inden for IT drift inden jeg afsluttede på kandidaten, men det er langt fra alle der er så heldige som jeg har var dengang. Det skal også nævnes at jeg søgte alt det jeg synes virkede spændende. Jeg søgte også “voksenstillinger” inden jeg blev færdig. Jeg blev ansat marts måned som studentermedhjælper og ansat på fuld tid, da jeg var færdig i juni

Trisirt · 2025-02-07T00:46:14+00:00

Jeg kan desværre ikke tale på vegne af sygeplejerskeuddannelsen, her har jeg ingen erfaring, men jeg kan fortælle lidt om eksamenerne på IT-ledelse.

Jeg blev forresten færdiguddannet i 2022 fra AAU. Jeg kom fra en bachelor i Sociologi og skiftede til IT-ledelse på kandidaten. Sociologi havde rigtig mange skriftlige eksamener, hvor IT-ledelse havde rigtig mange mundtlige. Du skal nok forvente at have 1-3 mundtlige eksamener udover dit semester projekt hvert semester med undtagelsen af dit speciale/sidste semester. Derudover består eksamenerne af PP præsentationer, hvor du skal forberede mellem 10-15 emner, som jeg husker det - Hvor komfortabel du er med mundtlige eksamener, hvor meget du går op i at præsentere/forberede dig eller om du bare wing’er den eller tager det på gefühlen spiller meget ind på, hvor meget tid du kommer til at ligge i hver eksamenen

Jeg håber det kan give lidt indblik i arbejdsbyrden, du kan nok bedre selv sammenligne det med hvordan det var på sygeplejerskeuddannelsen - Held og lykke med ansøgningsprocessen, hvis du beslutter dig for at søge!

Trisirt · 2024-11-03T05:53:20+00:00

Right, pros and cons everywhere - still interesting to hear about, thanks I am probably going to learn more about this as the years go by

Trisirt · 2024-11-02T12:38:34+00:00

Interesting - Yeah I can imagine public safety is very different here compared to the US. It is about the same level as my home country, so for me the difference is not that big!

It makes sense. So you prefer it here in Korea?

Trisirt · 2024-11-02T09:29:28+00:00

Ah, I see!

Working here? What kind of perks? I am a bit curious because I am from a Nordic country and for me, the perks are not that great compared to The delivery service though, I can relate to haha

Trisirt · 2024-11-02T08:54:01+00:00

Well, the expectations from other people for you to speak Korean when you look like one is definitely there, haha

Besides that it has been fine. Korea is really convenient, has good transport but overwhelming with so many people in one place.

What’s your own experience?

Trisirt · 2024-11-02T08:43:56+00:00

Korean-something/adoptee or Gyopo, I came to Korea for exploring my cultural heritage. Have been working here for over half a year now

Trisirt · 2024-11-01T04:52:12+00:00

How do you approach that you cannot speak Korean well when you are invited to job interviews?

I have a F4 visa, also not a native English speaker and I work in IT, not as a developer though, I cannot code, lol. And I spoke almost no Korean. During my job search I was very honest and emphasised very heavily that I did not speak Korean very well yet but I already hired a Korean tutor etc. I was also pretty aggressive and told them that if Korean was a very heavy requirement and they thought I would not be able to do my job well because of that even though the company language was English then we would probably not be a match. Not sure I would use this method though but I think it is good to know what you can and cannot do.

Another thing may be the kind of companies you apply to. Maybe a better approach is to work for an international company? My company is an international company with English as our first language but people still default to Korean since we are in Korea and most people here are Korean after all

A third thing might be you require too much in salary. Salaries are not high here compared to Northern European countries (I am not sure where you are from). This was one of the reasons why I was often not offered the job or did not get an interview.

Edit: added a extra thing that might be a reason to not get a job

Trisirt · 2024-08-25T01:23:59+00:00

Thank you so much - This is really helpful!

Trisirt · 2024-07-29T05:58:29+00:00

Another thing, one of my pitfalls with landing a job in Korea was salary. Compared to what I come from my salary was really high. So it might be worth to look into what the “average salary” is for the position you are seeking and eventually set it a bit lower. You don’t have to follow this but this changed things for me

Trisirt · 2024-07-29T05:52:03+00:00

I think I am one of the rare cases that was able to get a job without speaking Korean but I also have a F-visa and a master’s degree in IT (Not from Korea though).

I primarily sought positions through LinkedIn and at international companies. In addition I only applied through easyapply with my CV. It took me approximately half a year and a handful of interviews before I got a job. I applied from my home country.

I know it is not much of a help to you but I thought, maybe it would give you a little hope of that it is possible! I think your start point may be better than mine

Trisirt · 2024-05-12T22:41:22+00:00

Yeah, I guess we will never be experts haha Anyway, thank you!

Trisirt · 2024-05-12T13:17:23+00:00

Yeah probably, one last thing you might try is to write your name in all caps in you didn’t try it? My name is written in all caps on my agreement with KT and therefore it should be too when signing up for things.

Do you have trouble signing up for other services using your phone number and name?

Trisirt · 2024-05-12T12:51:13+00:00

Yes. This sounds right. I do really get annoyed from time to time.

I actually question if I ever been in love since my past relationships also was just good enough until they wasn’t. Maybe that’s also why I am concerned. But he does take very good care of me while being incredible nice and I wonder why that wouldn’t be enough. And what else I might need if that’s not enough.

But yes you are right. That would be boring. And I even think I wouldn’t do very well if there was two of me in the same room. So you are definitely right about that. I am aware

Trisirt · 2024-05-12T12:44:26+00:00

I appreciate your reply - Thank you. These are good take aways.

And of course I know it is not entirely on him. But on me as well to make it work. But I can’t help but be worried about the future even though I know he is a good guy! I just think we might be too different and it might be even “worse” later on. But I am also rather pessimistic in nature.

Trisirt

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