Page 1 of 1

Last Resort

Posted: October 21st, 2013, 10:17 am
by RedMenace
Say I end up having to resort to teaching English in China to stay with a certain female. What would my chances of landing a job be if I have a Bachelor Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and I somehow obtained one of the following TESOL/ESL/TEFL/CELTA while in university. Also which one of these TESOL/ESL/TEFL/CELTA is the best? I will be starting programming classes soon where I teach fellow students the fundamentals of programming. That should help me develop my teaching skills.

Posted: October 21st, 2013, 11:25 am
by tre
You have a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering? Did you do Internships or not?

It is my understanding that China will accept most any Bachelors Degree and I think I remember CELTA being one of the best for English Teaching preparation.

Engineering degrees are tough to get...I can't imagine not following through with that career path after going through the nightmare of that schooling.

Posted: October 21st, 2013, 11:55 am
by RedMenace
lol I dont have it yet. I just started an Electrical Electronic Engineering BEng course a month ago. I am only 19 so by the time I do have it I will be 23/24 yrs old. May just continue and do masters if I meet and marry said female in question before I graduate in 3/4 years time.

Posted: October 21st, 2013, 12:34 pm
by momopi
If you went through the trouble of getting an EE degree, you really should use it.

Posted: October 21st, 2013, 4:28 pm
by zboy1
momopi wrote:If you went through the trouble of getting an EE degree, you really should use it.
+1

You have an EE degree, so why not get a job overseas with it? I mean...an English teaching job would be a step-down for someone like you, in my opinion.

Posted: October 21st, 2013, 8:06 pm
by Halwick
When he completes his degree, hire into a Chinese company, become a subject matter expert in an area in they need, request to relocate there (at their expense, of course) and teach English on the side.

China is ramping up their space program. I'm sure a Electrical/Electronic Engineering degree will be useful to them.

Posted: October 21st, 2013, 9:39 pm
by rudder
It's highly unlikely that the Chinese will want to hire a westerner when they have 3 billion of their own people to choose from. You'd have to be the absolute best of the best in your field before the Chinese would take what would essentially be an American defector. You would be quite old by the time you acquired the necessary experience that they would desire.

This is very wise thinking of the OP. A young person needs to cast as wide a net as possible. My advice is to take college very seriously. Don't waste it all by partying and living in some noisy apartment or dorm where you can't sleep because of the asinine activities of your immature neighbors. Do engineering internships on the side, and take a CELTA course during a summer break. There's a good chance you might not even like a career as an electrical engineer...so diversify. Join some serious clubs at school and network. Clubs can be very helpful in giving you the opportunity to meet professionals. I was in an entrepreneurship club in college, and we were always getting guest speakers from startup companies, and our club was always invited to galas and other events. It's good that you are already thinking about different options. A quick tip: if the club is run by a professor or an older professional from the community, it will be a much better club than one run by some zealous but inexperienced student.

I've had the experience of starting a career path, and realizing that it isn't very feasible or lucrative, so I'm also at the point of reconsidering my options. I'm quickly gaining the necessary experience to become an English teacher, which, in my opinion, is the only surefire option for living abroad (I do often consider what jobs will be available for the next generation...Once the whole world knows English, then TEFL jobs won't even be available. Just as it was relatively easy for our parents to get decent jobs....well that's a different topic for another time). Everything else carries too much risk, unless you're some super computer nerd that knows how to effectively market one's services online or you are already rich. You'll hear plenty of suggestions, which, when properly analyzed are not really viable.

Posted: October 21st, 2013, 10:13 pm
by Halwick
It's highly unlikely that the Chinese will want to hire a westerner when they have 3 billion of their own people to choose from. You'd have to be the absolute best of the best in your field before the Chinese would take what would essentially be an American defector. You would be quite old by the time you acquired the necessary experience that they would desire.
Oh I don't know....the OP seems to be a pretty bright young man; he should be able to graduate in thre top of his class and be the best in his chosen field. After all, Einstein was only 26 when he postulated the theory of general relativity. By then he had established himself as one of the greatest minds in Modern Physics.

Given the degenerate state of America (and American women) , maybe it would be in his best interest to be a defector, renounce his US citizenship (which I'm sure most here would support). The superpower of the 21st century and beyond is going to be China. And Chinese women are superior to American women too.

Re: Last Resort

Posted: October 22nd, 2013, 12:45 am
by Dragon
RedMenace wrote:Say I end up having to resort to teaching English in China to stay with a certain female. What would my chances of landing a job be if I have a Bachelor Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and I somehow obtained one of the following TESOL/ESL/TEFL/CELTA while in university. Also which one of these TESOL/ESL/TEFL/CELTA is the best? I will be starting programming classes soon where I teach fellow students the fundamentals of programming. That should help me develop my teaching skills.
Not this shit again. DO NOT EVER LET A WOMAN DICTATE THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE. You are young, you should be developing skills, knowledge, and assets that make women attracted to you in the first place later in life. I don't know the exact circumstances with this girl, but it sounds like you met her online and now you're planning your future with her. Baaaaaaaaaaad idea. Unless you have some demonic blood contract from the underworld that can never be broken, you should not base your path and priorities on a girl you probably don't know that well. "Talking online and on the phone a lot" doesn't count. TURN AWAY NOW.


Halwick wrote:When he completes his degree, hire into a Chinese company, become a subject matter expert in an area in they need, request to relocate there (at their expense, of course) and teach English on the side.

China is ramping up their space program. I'm sure a Electrical/Electronic Engineering degree will be useful to them.
Engineering guy here. You vastly overestimate the worth of an engineering degree. It's not what it use to be. In fact, there's an overabundance of Engineering grads in China right now. Too many people are majoring in engineering everywhere because they see it as a path to a quality life. If enough people do that, the worth of the degree won't lead to that quality of life. It's simple economics. In California right now, all the engineering programs in the public universities are severely impacted because of the number of applicants.

Aside from that, a lot of Americans don't understand that just because you have an American (even an engineering) degree, you're not automatically some hotshot that will grace these underdeveloping countries with your superior American intellect. In fact, most countries prefer to hire their own citizens if possible. American is an oddity in that they'd rather ship jobs off to non-americans for cheaper.

Re: Last Resort

Posted: October 22nd, 2013, 1:46 am
by publicduende
Dragon wrote:
RedMenace wrote:Say I end up having to resort to teaching English in China to stay with a certain female. What would my chances of landing a job be if I have a Bachelor Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and I somehow obtained one of the following TESOL/ESL/TEFL/CELTA while in university. Also which one of these TESOL/ESL/TEFL/CELTA is the best? I will be starting programming classes soon where I teach fellow students the fundamentals of programming. That should help me develop my teaching skills.
Not this shit again. DO NOT EVER LET A WOMAN DICTATE THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE. You are young, you should be developing skills, knowledge, and assets that make women attracted to you in the first place later in life. I don't know the exact circumstances with this girl, but it sounds like you met her online and now you're planning your future with her. Baaaaaaaaaaad idea. Unless you have some demonic blood contract from the underworld that can never be broken, you should not base your path and priorities on a girl you probably don't know that well. "Talking online and on the phone a lot" doesn't count. TURN AWAY NOW.


Halwick wrote:When he completes his degree, hire into a Chinese company, become a subject matter expert in an area in they need, request to relocate there (at their expense, of course) and teach English on the side.

China is ramping up their space program. I'm sure a Electrical/Electronic Engineering degree will be useful to them.
Engineering guy here. You vastly overestimate the worth of an engineering degree. It's not what it use to be. In fact, there's an overabundance of Engineering grads in China right now. Too many people are majoring in engineering everywhere because they see it as a path to a quality life. If enough people do that, the worth of the degree won't lead to that quality of life. It's simple economics. In California right now, all the engineering programs in the public universities are severely impacted because of the number of applicants.

Aside from that, a lot of Americans don't understand that just because you have an American (even an engineering) degree, you're not automatically some hotshot that will grace these underdeveloping countries with your superior American intellect. In fact, most countries prefer to hire their own citizens if possible. American is an oddity in that they'd rather ship jobs off to non-americans for cheaper.
It might be true that there's an abundance of engineering graduates in China, but the OP is a native English speaking engineer. He might be able to find himself a niche job, perhaps as responsible with a product or project where constant contact with an Anglophone (UK, US, Australian) company is absolutely necessary. Consider that most Chinese graduates, even the brightest ones, will have next to no fluency in English unless they have spent several years abroad.

Re: Last Resort

Posted: October 23rd, 2013, 3:35 pm
by Dragon
publicduende wrote:It might be true that there's an abundance of engineering graduates in China, but the OP is a native English speaking engineer. He might be able to find himself a niche job, perhaps as responsible with a product or project where constant contact with an Anglophone (UK, US, Australian) company is absolutely necessary. Consider that most Chinese graduates, even the brightest ones, will have next to no fluency in English unless they have spent several years abroad.
The bolded words are what I was trying to say earlier about americans lacking perspective. The majority of foreign Chinese engineering students attending American universities actually speak decent English. You need to in order to read the books and do the homework that's required in class. There's no way around it. I hang around with these guys all the time. In fact, I am a Chinese engineering student. Many of these guys tend to end up going back to China due to the difficulties obtaining jobs. Getting into university is relatively easier than obtaining the right work visas and most major companies, especially ones that deal with the government as contractors, require american citizenship. Being a native english speaking engineer is nothing special abroad.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/24 ... fi-china24

Posted: October 24th, 2013, 12:52 am
by xiongmao
Teaching English is the way forward. It would be too hard to get a work permit for another job. Although I did know somebody who did an internship in Xi'an. Not sure how you find such positions though.