4 ms·

Seoul. The city is so damn modern and the energy of Korea is amazing. It's so easy to get dragged into the fast-paced, high-energy lifestyle just by being expos

by dvcrn 10y ago

Seoul. The city is so damn modern and the energy of Korea is amazing. It's so easy to get dragged into the fast-paced, high-energy lifestyle just by being exposed to other people long enough. Transportation is cheap, it's very easy to reach other places in Asia and Korean people are very friendly (IMO). If you like technology and shiny new things, Korea is definitely the place to be.

ajkjk 10y ago
Do you know the language? Is it necessary to in order to feel that life is as fast-paced as you mention?
- holydude 10y ago
  Absolutely. I would not say Korea is a good place to be in as a developer. Mostly dominated by Korean corps. Some companies started my foreign ethnic koreans. They are good and nice places but pay is ...mediocre. Koreans are also a bit racist but if you do not mind it's fine.
  - dvcrn 10y ago
    > but pay is ...mediocre. sure, it's no Silicon Valley but you can get decent/well paid jobs with a bit of trying. My salary was even slightly better than what I made in Germany before
    - holydude 10y ago
      I saw small/medium company offering 60k $ for normal position. How much do you make ? What kind of company ?
  - sb8244 10y ago
    I studied abroad in Korea and asked about expected salaries for SE from the Korean CS Dept. They said 60k would be incredibly high and 30-40 would be normal. That is also in million won which doesn't translate perfectly to a dollar, actually less. However, if you are working remote you could probably be taking in a nice US salary and live very very well. 100k and you'd live like a king/queen there.
- dvcrn 10y ago
  It's definitely easier if you speak the language. Koreans don't really hold your hand and tend to bombard you with long, fast-spoken sentences even if you try to explain that you don't speak the language :p At the same time it's very easy to make friends that don't mind giving their broken english a try in order to make a conversation with you. I am not fluent in Korean (still very far from becoming) but still consider Seoul as one of my favorite cities (if not my favorite) period
- sb8244 10y ago
  Once you can read/speak (not necessarily understanding much) then you can get around pretty well. The translation apps are really good and I didn't find myself using them often. I found young Korean people to be pretty good at English with decreasing ability up through the ages.
kkoomi 10y ago
Any recommendations for developer jobs in Korea? Working at a Korean company and thus in their working culture (long hours, treated like a slave by higher-ups) and low developer pay is not recommended from what I hear.
- dvcrn 10y ago
  Yeah that's the tricky part. You can subscribe to job alerts on stackoverflow careers and linkedin and hope for something to pop up. Alternatively I would say find a remote contract job and do that for a few months while being in Seoul. Go to local startup meetups and you will almost certainly find something nice as your first stepping stone
denzil_correa 10y ago
How's the work life balance?

by dvcrn 10y ago

ajkjk 10y ago

Do you know the language? Is it necessary to in order to feel that life is as fast-paced as you mention?

holydude 10y ago
Absolutely. I would not say Korea is a good place to be in as a developer. Mostly dominated by Korean corps. Some companies started my foreign ethnic koreans. They are good and nice places but pay is ...mediocre. Koreans are also a bit racist but if you do not mind it's fine.
- dvcrn 10y ago
  > but pay is ...mediocre. sure, it's no Silicon Valley but you can get decent/well paid jobs with a bit of trying. My salary was even slightly better than what I made in Germany before
  - holydude 10y ago
    I saw small/medium company offering 60k $ for normal position. How much do you make ? What kind of company ?
- sb8244 10y ago
  I studied abroad in Korea and asked about expected salaries for SE from the Korean CS Dept. They said 60k would be incredibly high and 30-40 would be normal. That is also in million won which doesn't translate perfectly to a dollar, actually less. However, if you are working remote you could probably be taking in a nice US salary and live very very well. 100k and you'd live like a king/queen there.
dvcrn 10y ago
It's definitely easier if you speak the language. Koreans don't really hold your hand and tend to bombard you with long, fast-spoken sentences even if you try to explain that you don't speak the language :p At the same time it's very easy to make friends that don't mind giving their broken english a try in order to make a conversation with you. I am not fluent in Korean (still very far from becoming) but still consider Seoul as one of my favorite cities (if not my favorite) period
sb8244 10y ago
Once you can read/speak (not necessarily understanding much) then you can get around pretty well. The translation apps are really good and I didn't find myself using them often. I found young Korean people to be pretty good at English with decreasing ability up through the ages.

kkoomi 10y ago

Any recommendations for developer jobs in Korea? Working at a Korean company and thus in their working culture (long hours, treated like a slave by higher-ups) and low developer pay is not recommended from what I hear.

dvcrn 10y ago
Yeah that's the tricky part. You can subscribe to job alerts on stackoverflow careers and linkedin and hope for something to pop up. Alternatively I would say find a remote contract job and do that for a few months while being in Seoul. Go to local startup meetups and you will almost certainly find something nice as your first stepping stone

denzil_correa 10y ago

How's the work life balance?