Why work in Southeast Asia?

TSEA Launch – Singapore 2014 from PageUp on Vimeo.

An expat technology professional’s perspective

The best decision I’ve made in my career so far was taking an overseas post with PageUp 12 months ago. No – this isn’t just Singapore specific, we travel to and work with companies in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Hong Kong (obviously East Asia). Following are some reasons why – with a technology lens, but hopefully interesting to people in other professions as well.

The tech challenges are endless
The Asian century is booming and tech entrepreneurs are kicking goals
Solving business problems with a plethora of cultures and backgrounds is truly rewarding

Tech challenges

When it comes to technology it has to be simple, mobile, engaging. Here more than elsewhere we focus on simplicity. The transition to consumer style applications from a corporate perspective is rife. There’s an interesting debate on the consumerisationconsumerization of enterpriseenterprize applications by Deloitte, and a few points on Forbes here – “Publicly-traded enterpriseenterprize software companies aren’t investing in design enough and startups are improving their interfaces at an alarming rate.”

Many companies here haven’t had to deal with the last 20 years of enterpriseenterprize technologies as they just haven’t had the systems in place. Their benchmark for applications is often consumer based and they won’t settle for the sub par experiences available in many enterpriseenterprize software stacks (luckily we’re ahead of the curve here on many fronts – e.g. the only enterpriseenterprize recruitment system that provides mobile careers & job applications out-of-the-box). It’s no wonder that 47% of Malaysians in urban areas have multiple mobile handsets (according to Nielsen).

Configuring and building simple, mobile, and engaging systems is where it’s at here – at the forefront of enterpriseenterprize technology.

The Asian Century

https://www.techinasia.com/opportunity-map-country-startups-southeast-asia/

A quick glance at the green areas in the chart above make it abundantly clear that Southeast Asia is a sea of opportunity. With sites like this Singapore-founded streaming video site being snapped up for $200M it’s no wonder that Singapore is pushing itself on a trajectory to be the Silicon Valley of Southeast Asia. There are also some phenomenal companies such as Bagosphere and One Cent Movement making software with social impact – attempting to tip the scales on the rampant inequality throughout the region.

It’s not only software where companies are making a splash – a kickstarter campaign started by the Pirate3D team here in Singapore has over $1M in backing to revolutioniserevolutionize consumer 3D printing.

I’m truly excited about the slew of technology innovations that will originate in Asia.

Cultural experience

Sitting in a meeting where the nationalities are Singaporean, Australian, Japanese, Indian, and Malay really changes your perspective of a business meeting. The dynamics at play working in a cultural melting pot, and the wide range of nationalities we meet on a daily basis really allow you to hone communication, influencing, and negotiation skills. It’s no wonder it’s a challenge when you look at tools like Hofstede’s that highlight the differences between cultures, and this neat perspective on communication patterns around the world.

Having lived thousands of km away from my family for nearly 15 years now, it’s not surprisingsurprizing that home has quickly become Singapore, and this is a burgeoning trend with an increasing global workforce. A slight aside, but there are some fascinating charts from the last 20 years of global migration here.

I love learning about other cultures, and getting to travel through this region – every time I get on a plane it’s another adventure. Somehow though it all comes back to the food, and if I can recommend one thing to anyone embarking on an overseas assignment whether it be long or brief – don’t shy away from the food – try it all, and share it with whoever you can as this is where some of the best bonds and relationships are formed.

You can follow Aaron on Twitter over at https://twitter.com/hardyproduct or learn more about the issues raised in this post, like cultural integration and technological developments, over on PageUp’s resource hub.