Alright, so you’re thinking about finding a company in China, huh? Lemme tell ya, it’s been a journey, and not always a walk in the park. I figured I’d jot down how it all went for me, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
So, Why China in the First Place?
Well, it all started when this big project I was on, the one I’d poured my soul into for like, two years, just completely tanked. Poof, gone. Management just pulled the plug one Monday morning. So there I was, suddenly with a lot of time on my hands and honestly, pretty fed up with how things were going locally. I thought, “Hey, China’s booming, right? Massive market, lots of tech stuff happening. Why not give it a shot?” Seemed like a grand adventure at the time. Little did I know.
Kicking Things Off – The Clueless Phase
First thing I did was, well, stumble around. I started with the usual big international job boards. Sent out a bunch of applications. Crickets. Or I’d get these super generic replies. Then I realized, duh, a lot of the real action is probably on local Chinese platforms. That was a whole other beast. My Mandarin is, let’s say, “enthusiastic beginner” level, so navigating those sites was an adventure in itself. Lots of Google Translate, lots of guessing what buttons did what.
And then there’s the whole internet thing. You know, needing a good 加速器 just to access some of the tools and sites I was used to. That added another layer of fun to the daily grind. It felt like I was spending half my time just trying to get connected properly.
- Figuring out which job sites were legit.
- Translating everything, or trying to.
- Dealing with time zone differences for any potential calls.
- Realizing my resume probably looked totally weird to them.
The “Almost” Opportunity – Or How I Got My Hopes Up and Crushed
So, after weeks of this, I actually landed an interview! Video call, the whole shebang. It was with this company in Shenzhen. Sounded amazing. They were super enthusiastic, loved my experience (or so they said), and things moved fast. Like, real fast. Offer letter came through, looked decent. They started talking about visa processes, documents I needed to get notarized, translated, the works. Man, I was excited. I told my friends, my family. Started looking up apartments in Shenzhen, dreaming about the food.
I spent a good chunk of money and a ton of time getting all this paperwork sorted. Express shipping documents back and forth. You know how stressful that official stuff can be. Then, just as I was about to send off the final package, they went quiet. Like, radio silence. Emails bounced. The HR person’s WeChat? Blocked or deleted. The main company line? “Sorry, that person is no longer with us.”
Just like that. Ghosted. After all that effort. I was fuming. And honestly, a bit heartbroken. It felt like a massive slap in the face. All that talk, all those promises, and then just… nothing. That experience really, really soured me for a while. Made me super skeptical of everything.
What I Sort of Figured Out Afterwards
After that little disaster, I took a step back. I realized a few things. First, “fast” in China can mean super-fast progress, but it can also mean things can fall apart just as quickly. Stability isn’t always a given, especially with some companies.
I also learned that connections, or “guanxi” as they call it, probably play a way bigger role than I initially thought, even for us foreigners. Just cold-applying felt like shouting into the void most of the time. The few promising leads I got later often came through someone who knew someone.
And the sheer number of companies, the scale of it all… it’s overwhelming. You can find anything from tiny startups to massive global giants. Trying to figure out which ones are solid, which ones have a decent work culture (because yeah, you hear the stories about “996”), it’s tough from the outside.
So, what am I doing now? Well, I’m still looking, but I’m way more cautious. I spend more time trying to verify company reputations, talking to anyone I can find who might have worked there or in a similar place. I’m also looking at more niche roles, maybe not in the mega-cities, or through specialized recruiters who actually seem to know what they’re doing. It’s a slow burn. Some days I think about just packing it all in and doing something completely different. But, hey, I started this thing, right? Guess I gotta see it through, or at least learn a few more hard lessons along the way. It’s definitely not the straightforward adventure I pictured, that’s for sure.