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Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

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Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#21

Post by cdf »

lostlogin wrote: post #15
ComputerGuru wrote: post #9

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but in this case, both British and American English would say that the correct word is "has" and not "have" in the title? I know British English is a little different when referring to entities comprised of many people, but in this case, the the "have" refers to "your talent" and not "Signapore" and, as such, should be "has" instead?

I took it as a vaguely racist comment on how a non English speaker might say it. I must be overly sensative.

Singaporeans are supposed to be near native English speakers because English is supposed to be our first language... but obviously not near enough.

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#22

Post by wiradikusuma »

czcar wrote: post #7
ashray wrote: post #3

Singapore is a pretty great place. That said, the place is freakishly expensive. I recently looked at Singapore as an option to move there and start up a.. startup. The entrepass will require $50,000 of paid up capital plus yadda yadda. That is, post company registration: http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/passes-visas/entrepas... Following that, there are quite a few hoops to jump through but the worst part is t…

Hey Ash, been meaning to write a blog post as someone who moved their startup from NZ to Singapore - it's not quite as dire as you supposed. Firstly, I would never recommend anyone to get the Entrepass - best thing to do is just to register a business and apply for an EP pass as an employee of said company. Admittedly in this scenario you would need a local director - but services for this shouldn't run over $1000/an…

try beat Indonesia. cost of starting a company: 4x fresh grad monthly salary. how long? can be 6 months,

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#23

Post by sushengloong »

yen223 wrote: post #13

To tech companies everywhere: If you're finding it hard to find talent in Singapore, you should seriously consider looking in Malaysia. Here we have a glut of talent, costs are hell of a lot cheaper than Singapore, and best of all, the Googles and Facebooks of the world don't have much of a presence here, so that's less competition for you!

"Malaysia, where have all your talent gone?"

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#24

Post by jacalata »

cdf wrote: post #21
lostlogin wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took it as a vaguely racist comment on how a non English speaker might say it. I must be overly sensative.

Singaporeans are supposed to be near native English speakers because English is supposed to be our first language... but obviously not near enough.

Native, but different. Kind of like how Americans say all kind of weird things that wouldn't be ok in England.

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#25

Post by brass9 »

czcar wrote: post #7
ashray wrote: post #3

Singapore is a pretty great place. That said, the place is freakishly expensive. I recently looked at Singapore as an option to move there and start up a.. startup. The entrepass will require $50,000 of paid up capital plus yadda yadda. That is, post company registration: http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/passes-visas/entrepas... Following that, there are quite a few hoops to jump through but the worst part is t…

Hey Ash, been meaning to write a blog post as someone who moved their startup from NZ to Singapore - it's not quite as dire as you supposed. Firstly, I would never recommend anyone to get the Entrepass - best thing to do is just to register a business and apply for an EP pass as an employee of said company. Admittedly in this scenario you would need a local director - but services for this shouldn't run over $1000/an…

One of my companies is incorporated in Singapore. IIRC, it cost us between US$ 5-6,000 to register the company. Yearly maintenance cost is US$ 2,000+ (that includes a local business address, the services of a local director, bookkeeping staff etc.).

We're using services of a firm called Rikvin assoc. They're kind of expensive. If you're physically present in SG, you may find cheaper alternatives.

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#26

Post by andycroll »

ashray wrote: post #8
czcar wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Ash, been meaning to write a blog post as someone who moved their startup from NZ to Singapore - it's not quite as dire as you supposed. Firstly, I would never recommend anyone to get the Entrepass - best thing to do is just to register a business and apply for an EP pass as an employee of said company. Admittedly in this scenario you would need a local director - but services for this shouldn't run over $1000/an…

Hey! Thanks so much for your response! I didn't know about the local company + director option. That sounds like a good path to head down. I did read somewhere about the $100,000 per year or maybe per two years + hiring minimum 2 singapore nationals by the end of a year. That, or something similar (I think that's the Q1 pass). These are the guidelines governing entrepass renewal. http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpowe…

The EntrePass thing is a ball of hurt. Initially it was set up with virtually no onerous terms, but they brought in the crazy conditions about 3 years ago.

Definitely using a local accountant & director to set up the company and then employ yourself is the best way.

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#27

Post by raverbashing »

cdf wrote: post #21
lostlogin wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took it as a vaguely racist comment on how a non English speaker might say it. I must be overly sensative.

Singaporeans are supposed to be near native English speakers because English is supposed to be our first language... but obviously not near enough.

If English is their first language, then yes, they speak English "perfectly" by definition.

Languages are a constant clash between its natural evolution and its rules (which came from past evolution)

If language hadn't evolved romance language speakers would be speaking Latin today, and English speakers would be speaking Anglo-Saxon maybe? (which themselves evolved from other languages)

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#28

Post by andycroll »

hboon wrote: post #2

Andy: I'm not tuned in to the startup scene here, have you observed this trend?

I've seen it. But it's the same as anywhere.

Good people are hard to hire.

Singapore also has a relatively favourable short-term working visa with the US (H1B1?), which makes moving to the US more feasible for SG nationals.

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#29

Post by muhfuhkuh »

jbm wrote: post #12
muhfuhkuh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that Singapore is suffering from almost exactly the same problem as Vancouver, Canada. It's a fantastic city enveloped by the ocean and mountains, has world-class cuisine, and city planning that has a semblance of sanity to most observers. Yet, the young brains are draining en masse for Montreal and Toronto (not to mention California). It doesn't help that Vancouver hasn't bothered to match the aforementioned…

Brain drain to Montreal? I am a bit skeptical that anyone would want to pay Quebec-level taxes, particularly with the recent political issues at play. Could you offer some evidence for this? I'd love to believe it is true (as I am originally from there), but it just rings hollow.

Here[1] is a good summary of why Montreal has one of the highest concentrations of tech jobs in N. America. And, while Quebec citizens might have to bear a larger tax burden than other provinces, there are heaps of tax incentives for businesses (especially technology) to startup or relocate there. There are massive SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) tax credits and other incentives that can halve or more employee compensation expenditures.

Vancouver needs to play tax catchup (while boosting technology sector wages to level out the cost of living playing field).

[1]http://www.startuprev.com/archives/2012/10/the-montreal-tech...

Re: Singapore, where have all your talent gone?

#30

Post by wyclif »

andycroll wrote: post #28
hboon wrote: post #2

Andy: I'm not tuned in to the startup scene here, have you observed this trend?

I've seen it. But it's the same as anywhere. Good people are hard to hire. Singapore also has a relatively favourable short-term working visa with the US (H1B1?), which makes moving to the US more feasible for SG nationals.

Good people are not hard to hire. If you don't believe me, take it from David "Pardo" Keppel:

There's no shortage of smart, hardworking engineers. There's a shortage of smart, hardworking engineers willing to work for very little money.

If you're having trouble hiring, it's because you're not paying enough. It turns out that talented people are worth paying a lot for.

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