How should I plan my career if my identity conflicts my major?

Question

Backgrounds:

I'm Chinese, I have a Bachelor degree in software engineering, finished a computer science Master degree in Germany, now I'm working in China.

I've been working for a year, but here comes my problem: I'm becoming less self-motivated on my job, the reason is not about confronting issues, technical challenges, in fact, I've done things OKey in my company.

The reason is I felt losing my liberty because of what I am doing in China: the deeper I went into my research field, the harder I will get a visa to the western countries, what worse is, the area that I'm really interested in, which is network security, would become a big "no" when I apply for those visas. I've seen some examples shows for an IT security specialist, it's more difficult for them to apply for a visa than an IT junior.

For now, my career development and my travel liberty seem to be "mutually exclusive", only because of my nationality- RPC. Therefore I'm looking for a way out.

There is no doubt that I value my liberty more, but how to plan it properly in such a case? I've been thinking and here are something about my plan:

1. Immigrant - A Chinese passport always makes trouble when it comes to traveling around, so the first thing to do is to change it, however, what fact makes it a success due to my background? Till now I found to learning Japanese and find a job there might be an option because legally working in Japan for 5 years is sufficient to change my passport to Japan. The second option is to apply for a job in Germany, then how to avoid failure? For example, what experience are the most compatible with the German job market? I mean, I cannot pretend to apply for a job from Germany but I'm not in Germany, right? Still, I cannot answer that question, I even thought about to learn some other skills(cooking, truck driving, etc) that gives a "last resort" to find a job in Germany...

2. When I am still working in China, I'm looking for any opportunity that would be beneficial for my liberty, and to avoid job traps that makes me on the blacklist of western countries, that I found is not that easy as I thought, I almost took an offer from a company that finally turned out to be a proxy of Huawei. Any other suggestions about this period? I've also checked the job vacancies of the NGOs in China, but most of them have nothing to do with my major. I also tried to apply for jobs in foreign companies, but no response yet(>1 month). Anyway, I guess a visa officer has to assume I'm an IT guy that might hurt their countries' interest.

I am introverted and really don't like the working atmosphere here in China, I hate to handle the complex relationship with colleagues, I don't really care about building social networks which is important here. However, most of the companies here think it is my fault to be an introverted person(so sad), I'm looking for a solution but no clear plan yet.

Overall, the current job sometimes makes me "burned out" and become less patient, less faithful, no longer confident as when I as a fresh man to my job, I doubt about myself every day. I think I would be quietly satisfied even I can be a postman, doing a simple job in a western country to make a living, as long as I have a better identity.

Any comments and advice would be great.

Answer 1

If you want to go to the west, germany is a good choice!

You can apply from abroad, but of course that is some hassle. Some companies would interview over skype, but most would require you fly here for interviewing. But with some juggling, maybe you could make those interviews close together...

You work in IT: Germany searches for those people! (As do most western countries) Some companies even hire you without you speaking a single word german... If you learn german, your choice of companies widens significantly! And of course, if you want to permanently move here, you need the language to integrate (and aquire german citizenship).

About you being an introvert: Making some friends helps you in every company. You should look out for company culture though, I'd estimate you work better in companies where there is a strong intermediary, like a good teamlead or project lead. Some companies in germany have a model where everybody talks to everybody, so a sales person could just come over to your desk and ask you to do stuff...