One issue that seems to resonate with people in Singapore is that while in the rest of the tech world : Developer == Essential (e.g. : CoFounder) in Singapore

One issue that seems to resonate with people in Singapore is that while in the rest of the tech world : Developer == Essential (e.g. : CoFounder) in Singapore : Developer == programmer == glorified typist == someone whose job can be outsourced. This gets in the way of attracting people to programming in the first place. The environment is also disappointingly oriented towards local graduates aspiring to become Trainee Managers at Multi National Companies (MNCs). It's not a money thing IMHO - more of the status associated with working at a recognisable brand-name firm. Clearly, there are exceptional people around, but there's an additional (surprising) hurdle for local tech talent here.