I lived in China for a year right after my undergrad degree at Iowa State, taking a manufacturing QA job in Shenzhen on a whim. It was valuable in that I forme

I lived in China for a year right after my undergrad degree at Iowa State, taking a manufacturing QA job in Shenzhen on a whim. It was valuable in that I formed lifelong friendships. A few others had also done the same and being in this unique boat --- no language skills, first time in China, first job ever --- formed really tight bonds. I also learned enough Mandarin that I can comfortably roam China on my own, even 6 years later, when I went for two weeks this January. Oh, and this is how I got into building software as well. We built our own ERP system for manufacturing audits.