Reality check?

[Set]

Hello everyone,

I’m a French “software engineer” with 4 years of experience in IT services companies ( all clients were MNC or owned by MNC/listed companies beside one, currently I’m working for a fortune 500 company if it can make a difference ), all my experiences have been on C# related technologies ( so C#, SQL Server, DB design, application design with UML, experience with all the life cycle of a project), no special fields. In addition I’ve some theoretical knowledge on project management and I wrote two responses to request for proposal.
I completed a part time bachelor degree last year.

I don’t talk at all Cantonese ( ok I can either buy or sell a car in Cantonese…teach yourself Cantonese first lessons are amusing :P ) or Mandarin. My English is at an operational level ( C1 European framework ).

Well I applied to many jobs offers on either jobsdb and careertimes, and so far it’s rather depressing…

Is it a pipe dream to find a job in HK from abroad?
I’m currently thinking about relocating to HK for a few months for job hunting but I fear that it’ll end the same after 3-6months ( I don’t want to spend more than 6months jobless ) so I hesitate a lot…In any case, I don’t plan to work without visa.
Does anyone have any advice?

[geo-seb]

I hope my answer won't totally discourage you, but your profile matches many local programmers and software developers (skills in .Net, database and UML).

I think as long as you are not physically in Hong Kong your chances of getting an interview are almost none. And once you come over to look for jobs, you will have to compete with the local software developers who are likely to have similar skills and often able to speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Also, they don't require a work visa and are probably willing to work for a salary that might be far below your own expectations.

However, some software companies that manage international teams (e.g a group of developers in India, another group in Eastern Europe, and yet another group in China) are usually quite open towards hiring software developers from overseas for project management / lead developer / software integration roles. So even though finding a job is difficult, it is definitely possible.

In any case I'd recommend to also emphasize skills other than pure programming skills when applying for jobs. Language, project management and whatever you can think of.

Once you get a job offer, the second obstacle is getting an employment visa. During this process, you and the company have to show what advantages you have over prospective local job seekers. Again, programming skills in something as common as .Net won't get you very far, so it is important to emphasize other things.

Good luck!