Work Holiday Visa to Australia or Build up creds in Singapore and apple for PR later?

[Bertrand Russell's Barber]

So basically I'm graduating in a few week's time and all the work experience I have is an internship and school/self-initiated projects.

Visited Australia last year and found it really nice. I like the idea that you can drive for an hour and half from any major city and enter places where there's pretty much no one around. Also it's very cheap to own a car. Like a relative of mine bought a 5 year old Toyota for 5k which in Singapore it will easily set you back 60-70k - plus you can only drive it for 5 more years.

So anyway, I'd like to migrate to Australia but at the moment I'm relatively young so I gotta wait a while to hit the required 65 points to be able to apply for a PR.

I've been thinking of going on a work holiday Visa instead but I'd probably not get jobs in my field in that case.

So should I just spend two years or so in Singapore working in my field to gain experience (and get old enough to apply for the PR) or just wing it and head to Australia right now and see how it goes?

I can probably get a job in Singapore pretty easily. I've already been offered a few.

But the main issue here is that I'm quite sick of Singapore in general. It's just really busy and people aren't very interesting either. I know that if I continue to stay here things wouldn't fare very well in terms of my mental health.

What do you guys think?

 

[Pyropyro]

For context:
Immigration to Australia: Skilled Points Test

Anyways, I'll go with building your resume in Singapore first for a few years after graduation. 18-24 year olds gain +25 points while 25-32 gain +30 so you actually gain points by working on your resume.

PS: I have Filipino friends who are quite happy with life in Singapore though. Then again, my country's a shithole.

 

[Bertrand Russell's Barber]

For context:
Immigration to Australia: Skilled Points Test

Anyways, I'll go with building your resume in Singapore first for a few years after graduation. 18-24 year olds gain +25 points while 25-32 gain +30 so you actually gain points by working on your resume.

PS: I have Filipino friends who are quite happy with life in Singapore though. Then again, my country's a shithole.

Yeah that seems like the most sensible thing to do at the moment. I've lived in Singapore pretty much my whole life though.

It's just really tiring here. They wear you out starting from primary school. I was lucky enough to do well enough to take the shortest path out of the education system. A lot of people here aren't so lucky. Usually it's because of the background that they come from, there's a lot of baggage that gets passed on from parent to child.

There's no minimum wage here, income inequality is really high. You can meet someone from Singapore who speak eloquent, almost immaculate English and at the other end you can meet someone of the same age who left school after primary school and gets by mostly with Hokkien or Malay.

It's a dismal place.

 

[Pyropyro]

For context:
Immigration to Australia: Skilled Points Test

Anyways, I'll go with building your resume in Singapore first for a few years after graduation. 18-24 year olds gain +25 points while 25-32 gain +30 so you actually gain points by working on your resume.

PS: I have Filipino friends who are quite happy with life in Singapore though. Then again, my country's a shithole.

Yeah that seems like the most sensible thing to do at the moment. I've lived in Singapore pretty much my whole life though.

It's just really tiring here. They wear you out starting from primary school. I was lucky enough to do well enough to take the shortest path out of the education system. A lot of people here aren't so lucky. Usually it's because of the background that they come from, there's a lot of baggage that gets passed on from parent to child.

There's no minimum wage here, income inequality is really high. You can meet someone from Singapore who speak eloquent, almost immaculate English and at the other end you can meet someone of the same age who left school after primary school and gets by mostly with Hokkien or Malay.

It's a dismal place.

Ah so it's a lopsided place. My friends probably succeeded there because they were competent in the first place.

 

[The Gopher]

One thing I will say. Is I hated where I live currently for a long time, then I moved into a different social circle and now can't leave because it's the best place ever. For years I was planning on leaving for somewhere else.

Now this may not apply to you, however even if you stay for a few years in Singapore generally you can find the thing or the people that make where you are great even if it's only a small pocket. If you spend all your time in and with that pocket it might not be so bad.

 

[Happy]

I can probably get a job in Singapore pretty easily. I've already been offered a few.

But the main issue here is that I'm quite sick of Singapore in general. It's just really busy and people aren't very interesting either. I know that if I continue to stay here things wouldn't fare very well in terms of my mental health.

For context:
Immigration to Australia: Skilled Points Test

Anyways, I'll go with building your resume in Singapore first for a few years after graduation. 18-24 year olds gain +25 points while 25-32 gain +30 so you actually gain points by working on your resume.

PS: I have Filipino friends who are quite happy with life in Singapore though. Then again, my country's a shithole.

You're obviously trying to talk yourself down from taking a risk and jumping into the unknown. All this talk of taking the safe option and getting a job in Singapore and maybe doing what you really want to do later... the longer you stay, the less likely it is that you will pursue what you really want, which is to live abroad by the sounds of it.

Dude, fuck that! That is such a trap. Building a resume is a fucking bullshit excuse for sustainable mediocrity. You'd just be signing away your youth to slave away for someone else's financial benefit, and for what? So that you can have a better chance of doing the same shit in exchange for a slightly bigger number next year? You know what's going to happen is that that number is going to become more and more comfortable, and it's going to become harder and harder to leave the comfort. From the outside (where you are now), it's easy to say that "no, it'll be okay. I'll just save the money and take the trip later, when it's more comfortable to do so". But the reality is that when you get sucked into the comfort that a secure income allows, it's going to become really fucking hard to throw that away.

You ought to put yourself in a position of growth, rather than choosing the comfortable option of staying in Singapore. To grow, you need to put yourself where you will be challenged.

Actually, for a year after finishing your studies, I highly recommend not even starting a job in your field - you need that time to begin to figure out who you are. Go and live in Australia. It's like a $200 flight from Singapore to Sydney (I've done that trip often). As far as living abroad goes for you, its an easy option. What do you actually have to lose? Even if you did it for 6 months, you'll be at a point where you've tested the risky option and you can better evaluate what you really want for your own future.

Also, humidity sucks. That's another pro in the Australia column.

/rant

 

[Pyropyro]

@Happy I'm not sure if the guys in immigration is okay with that lol.

Are you white btw? Rules are different for Asians im afraid.

 

[Happy]

@Happy I'm not sure if the guys in immigration is okay with that lol.

Are you white btw? Rules are different for Asians im afraid.

What the hell does being Asian have to do with anything?

People come to this country from Asia all the time. Most of our immigration is from Asia.

I didn't state it explicitly, but I'm advocating the temporary working visa option, as opposed to permanent migration. No point waiting years to go all-in. Go and test the waters now. So what if the work you do is not in your field?

 

[Pyropyro]

@Happy I'm not sure if the guys in immigration is okay with that lol.

Are you white btw? Rules are different for Asians im afraid.

What the hell does being Asian have to do with anything?

People come to this country from Asia all the time. Most of our immigration is from Asia.

I didn't state it explicitly, but I'm advocating the temporary working visa option, as opposed to permanent migration. No point waiting years to go all-in. Go and test the waters now. So what if the work you do is not in your field?

Oh, be clear and explicit with your advise then next time. I thought you're pushing OP to do something illegal and stupid.

 

[Happy]

@Happy I'm not sure if the guys in immigration is okay with that lol.

Are you white btw? Rules are different for Asians im afraid.

What the hell does being Asian have to do with anything?

People come to this country from Asia all the time. Most of our immigration is from Asia.

I didn't state it explicitly, but I'm advocating the temporary working visa option, as opposed to permanent migration. No point waiting years to go all-in. Go and test the waters now. So what if the work you do is not in your field?

Oh, be clear and explicit with your advise then next time. I thought you're pushing OP to do something illegal and stupid.

Well, now you're just making things up. I'm not having this argument...

 

[Bertrand Russell's Barber]

TIL that you can apply for jobs in Australia from overseas and perhaps stand a non-zero chance of getting in and having your visa be sponsored by your employer.

That's the route my parents recommend me to take but what I'm thinking is...if there are competent software engineers and developers in Australia, why would they want to go through all the trouble of hiring someone from overseas?

 

[QuickTwist]

@Happy,

I think you overlook the degree to which OP actually DOES want to leave Singapore. I get what you are saying about waiting means change is less likely to happen, but that's not measuring up with the narrative that I believe the OP is trying to convey. I think more or less that OP probably would leave Singapore sooner rather than later if it was up to him, but he is weighing the pros and cons of a permanent move over a temporary one IIRC.

 

[Bertrand Russell's Barber]

Anyway, an update.

Each passing day I get increasingly convinced that Singapore isn't the place for me. I know there's the whole "the grass is always greener on the other side" argument but in this case...I doubt I'm wrong.

A little background: Although I've lived in Singapore for most of my life, I'm not actually from here. And maybe because of that, and probably also because I fashion myself as a cross between a hippie philosopher and a math/cs geek kind of figure, it's even harder for me to fit in. Not that I actively try to fit in. But I do feel lonely, sometimes significantly so.

I am also big (both ways) unlike most of the people here. I follow the beat of my own drum and have "obscure" interests. Just today someone in my project group remarked that people here are mostly very self-conscious and don't want to be seen having around someone like me.

I need a new lease of life. I wanna feel the excitement of buying a car for just 5000 dollars and driving to some isolated place where I can camp out and look up at the stars. That was what fascinated me most when I visited Australia. The idea that you could drive an hour from any city and be almost completely surrounded by nature.

There are also other things.

Frankly the people I'd miss most are my Dad and Sis. These days, they are the only ones I can really talk to and have an intimate conversation with.

 

[Bertrand Russell's Barber]

Don't wanna create a new thread for my nonsense so here it goes...

Found out I'm gonna officially graduate - passed all my courses the last term.

For some reason I feel like real shit, like I wanna cry or something - like that feeling you get at the back of your throat when you wanna just cry but fuck it, why should I?

Apparently graduating is having some kinda impact on my psyche I don't wanna really figure out on my own - not to worry, seeing my psych tomorrow.

Applied for masters programmes and also part time work as some kind of network/crypto developer.

Got a new philosophy of life for myself - two parts, quite simple.

1) Stay alive

2) Try to learn how some system/machine/protocol/program/whatever other somewhat complicated shit works each day.

Part 1 is the priority for now. Just gotta make it through to the next stable point in my life.

 

[onesteptwostep]

Congrats on graduating, must have been tough gritting it through.

On your current predicament, how about spending some time with your family? It seems like you do not live with them in your current country of residence? Maybe you'll find yourself a subtle inspiration while you rest and enjoy the comforts of home. Also, for lots of people, finding a spouse is the next course of action after college, (this is very much so in western cultures, especially America). In Asia, at least in Korea and to some extent Japan, marriage comes after employment, but maybe you can shake things up a little?- Hope that gives some insight.

Also as you've most likely already noticed, there are a plenty of Aussie users on the forum, so if going abroad to somewhere you've once been seem like a fruitful avenue for you, perhaps a research here and there and helping hands along the way wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Bertrand Russell's Barber]

On your current predicament, how about spending some time with your family? It seems like you do not live with them in your current country of residence? Maybe you'll find yourself a subtle inspiration while you rest and enjoy the comforts of home. Also, for lots of people, finding a spouse is the next course of action after college, (this is very much so in western cultures, especially America). In Asia, at least in Korea and to some extent Japan, marriage comes after employment, but maybe you can shake things up a little?- Hope that gives some insight.

I do live with my parents actually. We're all immigrants.

I'm not interested in marriage or being in a relationship for now. My parents and siblings, friends and other interaction with people (like here for example) are for now more than sufficient.

But yeah, thanks for your concern.

For now I'm just taking it easy and reading stuff here and there mostly.