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Here’s my story from the IT sector.

I graduated from NTU in 2011 and joined a foreign company.

Out of 10 of my Singaporean classmates, 9 of them joined the public service because of higher starting pay.

6 years down the road, they are still with the first place they joined. I’ve been to 3 different foreign companies.

It was only recently I have had what the locals call an “itchy backside” that I decided to join the government and give a try to be a good public servant.

I thought that if all my friends could make it, it won’t be too hard for me, right?

Long story short – I went in, got a culture shock like most people before me, and decide to resign after a short 3 months.

On the day of my resignation, a few of my colleagues came to me and ask me where I was going. I said some small tech product company, nothing fancy.

The context here for you to understand is that I went from a foreign tech consulting firm in the banking sector which has foreign bosses, to a statutory board environment where everyone is a born and bred Singaporean.

When I left the foreign firm and I told my ex-colleagues (who are mostly foreigners) that I’m working for the government, it made sense to them as they’ve heard of how it is like working for the government – the pay package, benefits, which is horrible by the way. The only good thing is to expect a 3.5 month bonus if you and the Singapore economy don’t screw up too badly.

When I quit my government job and told my colleague where I was going, most of them didn’t quite grasp what I would be doing or heard of the company I’m going to. It seemed so foreign to them where I come from and going to that I have to use a very degrading industry term that they always used – “vendor”.

In other words, they’ve lived in that ecosystem for so long they don’t know what’s available out in the market.

They don’t know the difference between a product company and an implementation partner. To them, every external service provider is a “vendor”.

They’ve been a “customer” for so long that they don’t know how the IT industry works.

And I’m not just talking about the old guards – even those with the same amount of experience as me as well. They simple have no clue what goes on outside of the government sector.

So this brings me back to my personal anecdote.

You wanna know where are all the Singaporean IT graduates?

Probably 7 out of 10 are working in the government service, sitting in their nice little desk sourcing for childcare for their next child, and planning their next trip to Greece.

Sure, they’re smart, they’re educated, they’re well-traveled and well-spoken, but they lack the exposure to the industry.

Being educated and smart doesn’t mean shit in the industry. There is no course in school that tells you what kind of technology stack a company is using. You have to get in to know that.

So if you are an MNC trying to set up shop in Singapore, what kind of person would you hire? You would hire someone from the industry, which in many cases, unfortunately, are foreigners.

This guy also hit a nail in the head among all the answers here: Mike Al-Sidawi’s answer to Why does Singapore require so much “foreign talent” when Singaporeans are so educated and smart? Why does Singapore keep “importing” foreigners to do their work when they can get locals to do it?

The question assumes that Singapore is filled with local enterprises who hire foreigners over locals.

In reality, Singapore is filled with MNCs who have to send their own people here to set up shop, and then try to hire locally. But by the time they get there, they couldn’t find a suitable Singaporean candidate at the managerial level because all of us are happily planning our next holiday to the Scandinavia in our nice little public service bubble.

I cannot count the number of times I encourage someone to step out to join an MNC over a local firm or government service. At every opportunity I get, without a moment of hesitation, I would tell you to just get into any company not run by Singaporeans.

Guess how many times my advice is taken?

I guess people in our local enterprise heed the same advice as well. If you want to build a truly competitive global business, try to get someone with an exposure to the global market. If they thought along that line, I’m sure they would have considered certain Singaporeans but decided that none fits the profile.

Btw, it doesn’t matter who the CEO is, it only matters who the directors are. You can sack the CEO anytime but you need the directors to control the direction of the company. As long as the board is made up of Singaporeans, and it is, nobody gives a shit.

If you are still asking a question like that and still holding that world view, I suggest you get off Quora now and start working on your resume. Don’t ask why they always hire foreigners. Ask how you can get in.

https://yrsadaleyward.substack.com/p/the-middle-finger-poem-3e3

You say that I don’t seem myself.

These days are long and revealing,

so every time I see one through, I grin.

Every time I make it home, I dance.

Every time I’m up again after being down, down, down;

I’m beating the odds.

Every time I don’t give up,

it’s worthy of celebration. Every time I write a poem,

it’s a bloody miracle. Of course, the me you knew before

is less available. She is keeping herself alive

and awake.

She is salt bathing and

forest walking and turning off her phone.

She is learning herself

and teaching herself piano. See the headlines.

See the persistent, awful news,

see the updates no one wants to hear or know about.

See the numbers – have you seen the numbers?

See the terrorists they will never call terrorists.

See the telling dark of the system.

See my beautiful body; offensive. My gleaming skin;

a problem. Who can still be themselves these days?

Isn’t the self a fine art composite,

an odd mosaic

a strange and growing story?

I no longer have time to lie to you.

*To be used when people expect you to still be the same and to still be doing all the taxing, unnecessary things that you were doing before, but you’re a shifting work in progress, and you wake up and know something is different and you know that thing is you. Sometimes, the right things shift in the night. You have emerged altered and surer with new intentions. Today is a New Day. You are beginning to see things for what they are and what they are becoming, and now you think twice about who has access to you and who you will allow to question you because, honestly, you have always deserved more.