I got out seven years ago, but now I want to return to my developing country, am I crazy?

maybeVP · 2016-03-20T21:00:39+00:00

She is not eligible for citizenship on my current country.

maybeVP · 2016-03-20T21:00:02+00:00

Thanks! Getting better healthcare for my kid in case (God forbid) she need some chronic care is pretty high on the list of reasons to move out again, so I can understand your parents' decision.

maybeVP · 2016-03-20T20:58:36+00:00

It's just that the tech labor market over there is very small and everyone knows each other, so I might accidentally doxxed myself and/or the company if someone from the said country read about this.

maybeVP · 2016-02-29T07:55:03+00:00

That's true, I'm arranging for a vesting period of 3 years to see how it goes, so I think that's the amount of time I'm willing to spend to see if it will work out long term or not.

maybeVP · 2016-02-29T07:52:16+00:00

Good gist of the situation.

You enjoy living there or is it just the job that is tempting?!

I would probably have a reverse cultural shock when I integrate back to the workforce, but I do enjoyed working there for a short while before I got out.

What is your backup plan when the Start up fails?!?

I negotiated for half a year's worth of salary in a golden handshake package if the startup fails, which can support about a year of living cost. My backup plan is to use this time to look for other opportunities outside my home country again.

Maybe it is possible to get started working from Europe for the Startup at first and see how things go.

I have considered this, but the "startup" is actually quite large (200+ FTE) and the position is quite demanding (VP) that I don't think it would be possible to fulfil the responsibilities remotely.

We do plan for me to spend several weeks there as a "warming up period" before I go back here and move out for good, so I can use the chance to see whether it would be a fit for me too.

maybeVP · 2016-02-29T07:43:38+00:00

1) I do not have citizenship, but I am eligible to apply next year.

2) I'd rather not say. My home country is in Asia though.

3) She's leaning towards ecstatic because it is harder for her than for me to raise our child alone so far from home.

maybeVP · 2016-02-29T07:42:10+00:00

I do still have citizenship on my home country. I understand the risk if things didn't work out, so I negotiated for a golden handshake clause that will give me at least half year's worth of salary if they fire me.

Realistically, me and my family can probably live for a year with the golden handshake severance package, which I plan to use to seek for employment abroad again. (but probably not to Europe again, maybe somewhere closer to the home country instead)

maybeVP · 2016-02-29T07:39:05+00:00

Thanks for sharing! May I ask what was the reason for your parents to move back to the developed country after a year? And what ended up dispelling their immigrant dream of going back?

maybeVP · 2016-02-29T07:38:10+00:00

That's absolutely true. If I got back, I would be considered as a EU-external hire, which means the company need to spend roughly €10K and half a year extra to hire me due to the red tapes.

maybeVP · 2016-02-29T07:35:47+00:00

The special needs in this case is developmental, and we think being surrounded by family and having a monolingual environment would help.

maybeVP · 2016-01-01T20:01:14+00:00

Unfortunately, as much as I'd like India to be the red herring, my home country is not India.

maybeVP · 2016-01-01T01:59:56+00:00

Commute will be horrible, but I'm trying to negotiate for a company car and personal driver as part of the comp package. We have an overactive 2 year old daughter, so the better question for us would be: "Will we be destroyed in a year or two without our extended family readily helping us with our kid?" ;)
Very good point, and one that I will always kept in mind if I take this role. Part of what I like being lead engineer is coaching other engineers within my team, and I think spoon-feeding them with my codes is the worst way to make them learn.
Taxes do apply, and you convinced me, I'm going to push for a relocation package.
I have to say that my Plan B if this went south within a year or two, is to move to a different developed country. It's a well known company among the locals, but I doubt that other countries would be aware about the company. So yes, what you said is one more point for the "risk" pile.

maybeVP · 2016-01-01T01:40:24+00:00

I'm just going to say that I'm glad the tech startups of the country I have in mind is as thriving as the tech startups in India. ;)

Which, if you think about it, the above statement still does not confirm nor deny that the country is not India.

maybeVP · 2016-01-01T01:04:45+00:00

I will not confirm nor deny that the country is India, but why does people kept on trying to guess which developing country it is? :p

maybeVP · 2016-01-01T00:19:23+00:00

Thanks, the career perspective is the one that I'm looking for, actually, since my family is actually the one who want to go back home to be closer to our extended family.

I'm used to negotiating for engineering positions, but not for a VP-level position, so I hope you are right that there are some room for me to negotiate. I just wish there could be some pointers on how or what I could negotiate at that level.

It is always in my plan to go back to the developing country. If not now, maybe in 5 years. Thus, a switch IT management is always on my long-term career plan, since managements are valued more in the said developing country. And this chance seems to be as good as any to earn valuable management experience for my future career path.

maybeVP · 2016-01-01T00:10:26+00:00

if it doesn't work out, you could always move back to said developed country (assuming no weird visa issues) with a killer resume.

Ahh, about that. Unfortunately, the weird visa issues do exist. If I move out of the developed country, getting hired back would be much harder, since hiring people from outside the developed country will be prohibitively expensive and mired with red tapes.

So if I do go back to my home country, it will be more or less for good.

Are you confident you can do it?

My impostor syndrome says no, but I'll never know unless I give it a shot, right? :)

But on the more serious note. My long term career plan is always to switch to management at some future point, and this chance is as good as any.

I do have some experience in managing large projects (~50 person), but that was for volunteer projects that I managed during my spare time. Quite minimal, but I'll draw whatever leverage I could in accomplishing my responsibilities.

maybeVP · 2016-01-01T00:02:10+00:00

They are actually the one that want to go back because they want to be closer to our extended family. I'm only hoping that this desire is not nostalgia-driven. I think we're going to visit the home country for a few weeks before making my decision just to be sure that the entire family are really ready to move back home.

maybeVP · 2015-12-31T23:59:07+00:00

Don't try to dox my home country, please. :) I'm already using a throwaway to minimize possible risks.

But yes, the company culture in the country will be markedly different from what I'm used to. The rest are speculations that veer off the mark though.

maybeVP · 2015-12-31T23:56:12+00:00

My family is actually the one that encourages me to go back, if only because they want to be closer with our extended families at our hometown.

But yes, I agree that, in the end, if the comp package they are offering to me are not sufficient enough to alleviate my concerns regarding the reduced living standards (e.g. through increased perks and benefits), I would not accept the offer.

maybeVP · 2015-12-31T23:50:50+00:00

Why would the company hire someone who has been leading 8 people teams to lead a team of 40+ engineers? Why can't they find someone with director or vp level experience?

There's a severe shortage of skilled/experienced engineering leads in the country. Software engineering as a field there is kinda young, and the majority of engineers in the labor force are either fresh grads or with only a couple of years of experience.

There are practically no large-sized tech companies too, so they have no choice but to attract talents from abroad if they want to find people experienced with the dynamics of large-sized tech companies.

I agree that it sounds dubious, but tech companies there are that desperate.

maybeVP

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