I don't know anything about US three-letter agencies' hiring practices, but wouldn't living in e.g. China for 6 to 12 months make it harder to get hired there?

I don't know anything about US three-letter agencies' hiring practices, but wouldn't living in e.g. China for 6 to 12 months make it harder to get hired there? Wouldn't attending a 'regular' school make you look more hire-worthy, even if you know less of the language? (similar to how people with papers from a degree mill be looked upon more favorably by certain companies than those who learned programming on their own)