Expat engineers working for western companies in China

[Wufnu]

I'm on the downhill path toward my BSME and should have enough time to finish three years of Chinese. I am also debating getting a law degree. I was thinking it would be nice to get a job with a western company (at western pay) that has a factory there as sort of a liaison between the foreign company's engineers/office and the factory in China. If I had a law degree I could consult with the factory about legal standards and requirements and insure that they are met.

Anyway, what I am wondering is what types of opportunities are out there along the lines of the examples I gave above? What about other opportunities I may be overlooking? Surely there must be jobs in this particular niche working for western companies while living in China. I don't have any Chinese friends and I'm worried that if I cannot get a job that will allow me to live there then my grasp of the language will deteriorate (just like it did with French after I graduated high school).

Also, I have a question about learning the written and oral language: at what point in my education will I be able to converse with people or read literature and learn on my own? I view my 2-3 year study as only the most fundamental and rudimentary beginnings of learning the language. I am hoping that after I finish here I will be able to learn new words on my own, through usage. As it stands now, after a year of study, if I try to listen to any conversation more advanced than "I like this red car!" it's mostly just noise with a few words I understand thrown in. We're using the Integrated Chinese course material.

[heifeng]

As a fellow BSME, all I can say that actual experience in Engineering helps and then being transfered or sent on business trips to China may be an option, but your professional ability will be first and your language skills will just be there to assist you. If you want to spend time in factories at all you can probably look into QC...but once again experience is key. In my previous company it seemed like whenever they where setting up design centers and manufacturing facilities in China they would A) usually send some dept or project managers out there for a few months to get some stuff set up and operating B) send some fairly experienced engineers to train the locals and then have them come back. In most cases these guys couldn't speak Chinese but the Chinese engineers had functional English.

How much have you looked into the law school deal? I myself am not the most familiar with the whole law school system, but I know that some of my classmates who wanted to get into patent law became quite discouraged because while they had great applications and LSAT scores, their engineering GPA couldn't really compete with those students who had studied, lets just say a 'cushier' major.

In terms of learning Chinese, maybe you could always consider applying to schools and then defer enrollment and perhaps study abroad for a year or find an internship in China. Being an engineering major you probably couldn't take a full year off to study abroad so maybe you want to do so to see how much you like it before you try to outline your whole career and invest in so much tuition. This should at least bring up your level quickly to an high-intermediate or advance level. If you are at the level you say you are at, then there is defitely a gap between your current level at and where you need to be at when you are discussing professional issues of a legal or engineering nature.

Hope this somewhat helps!

[Wufnu]

That helped alot! I expected to have to work for a company five or so years, at least, before I could get any assignment like the ones I mentioned previously (maybe longer for Law). Even smaller trips there in the interim would be extremely beneficial to me. I understand my language skills would just be something extra to make myself more valuable (in terms of employment), that's what I wanted it to be. A few years ago I predicted that eventually consumers would demand higher quality products from factories in China and that I was in the right place and time to take advantage of that. I suppose only time will tell. I can't deny having unrealistic fantasies of earning a typical or higher US ME income while basking in the low cost of living in China, putting all my savings away in the bank or other investment, and retiring by 40 Unrealistic, I know, but still fun to dream about.

You're right, I can't really take a year off to go there and work on my language skills. I would have to do it after graduation, I'm close enough to being finished now that I can taste it and there's no way I could pull myself from finishing my degree. I just couldn't afford it and even if I could it would cost me about $30-40k+ in lost earnings. Even so, I don't see myself being able to achieve a proficiency high enough to deal with technical or legal issues without spending a good bit of time living there. If the opportunities are there, if the job positions are there, then it would definitely be worth my time to put my life on hold for a year while I pursue a better grasp of Mandarin.

I've looked into the law schools and while intimidating I believe I could at least be competitive in the tier 3 or 4 law schools. I have no ambitions of going BigLaw so I guess any school would work. University of Tennessee-Knoxville is where I'm at right now and they're ranked around 53, I think I can make it here. If I want to (I'm not sure, yet, whether I would like it). I'm trying to meet some lawyers, particularly ones with an engineering degree or background, to see what kind of doors it would open for me or whether it's a career path I want to pursue.

And that's what I'm trying to do now, while I can. I'm not trying to outline exactly how my career will go: I'm just trying to see what opportunities exist and finding ways to better myself with the added benefit of making myself more marketable. Once I can learn just what's out there that I would have a good shot at I'll do some research, talk to some people, learn about the jobs, etc. On the other hand, at 26, I'm sure some form of engineering will be the career for me (if I cannot get into the military, that is. I want to fly. I was born to fly This engineering and learning Chinese were things I wanted to do, for me, and happen to be one heckuva backup plan if I can't get into the military). I was a civil engineering major before and it just wasn't for me. Didn't figure that one out until I was 22 and it cost me Had to work a few years before I was able to return to school with the major I should have picked in the first place.

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate it.

[Rincewind]

There's quite a few opportunities for Engineers here. I have met many Engineers working in China. I live in Anshan which is a major steel manufacturing center. So lots of Engineers form from MAN from Luxemburg and Germany, to negociate deals for supplying steel. Most jobs that pay a western sized wage involve alot of traveling. Typically the Engineers I meet will work for 3 weeks in one city, then back to Germany for a week or two then back to a different city in China for a few weeks then back to Germany again. This sort of job usually pays quite a high rate by western standards because of the hardship of travel. It is usually only done by the younger Engineers, without a family, who don't mind being away form home all the time. The typical job titles I see are things like 'Purchasing Engineer'. Basically this job is testing a monitoring the quality control of the steel and checking that it is of the standard ordered before it's shipped off to Europe.

If you are interested in law, have you considered getting a Chinese law degree? I know a lawyer at one of the large factories here and they recently hired an UK law firm to negotiate contracts for them. The reason they chose this firm was because it was run by a Chinese native with an English law degree. I could see the converse working for you. A native English speaker with a Chinese law degree will be able to translate and negotiate cross culture better than a US Law graduate who has learned a little Chinese or and Chinese lawyer who has a smattering of English.

[Long Pan]

From China Daily, today, "the most valued expats" here seem to be engineers

[Wufnu]

Thanks, guys!

The "purchasing engineer" job sounds like FUN, I will certainly have to look into that.

Do most of the engineering jobs come from Germany right now? I've heard it mentioned alot. I took a semester of German but gave it up in favor of Chinese later