“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
— Confucius
Finding an ideal job should be one of the most important things for all undergraduates. In this article, I would like to share my personal view to some of companies that I had interviews with and provide other information such as company’s focus in regional offices and compensation. I wish this article is helpful to graduates who are still looking for jobs.
Please note that all information is subjective and either based on my personal experience or my friends’ sharing. It might include bias and inaccurate information, but I will try to describe it as objective and precise as possible. Therefore, you can only take this article as reference and must make their own decisions independently.
All positions described in this article are New Grad Software Engineer (Full-time) and mainly locate in Singapore. Average salary only considers base salary and simply represents listed New Grad position ( 5 > SGD 8,000/month & 1 < SGD 3,000/month). Companies are listed in Alphabet order.
1. Bytedance (Singapore office)
Position: Software Engineer
Average Salary: 4.5
I had interviews with Bytedance for full-time position in 2020. Bytedance is a young and dynamic company and it is currently the largest unicorn in the world. It has popular apps such as Tou Tiao in China and Tik ToK. Its Singapore office opens in late 2018 and starts to hire engineers massively in 2019. The working pace is fast and Bytedance is suitable for self-driven students.
2. Dyson (Singapore office)
Position: Software Engineer
Average Salary: not sure
I had interviews with Dyson for summer internship in 2018 and full-time position in 2020. Originated from United Kingdom, Dyson is the symbol for luxury household appliances. In 2019, Dyson moved its headquarter to Singapore and both R&D and manufacturing are based in Singapore. The environment is quite chill and their museum is fancy. However, the interview process is extremely slow (1 to 2 months between each round).
3. Facebook (Singapore office)
Position: Software Engineer
Average Salary: 4.5
I took a hackathon at Facebook in 2019. Compared to Google Singapore office, FB Singapore office opens much later and starts to hire engineers in 2019. Their engineering focus is building products and exploring Asian market. Working environment is very similar to Google and free meals are provided as well. People are outgoing and I had a super nice hackathon journey.
4. Google (Singapore office)
Position: Software Engineer
Average Salary: 4.5
I had a company tour at Google APAC center in 2018. It is a 5-floor (or perhaps 6? Cannot remember) building and top floor is their free canteen. Needless to say, the environment is super chill and people are very outgoing. There are game rooms, gym, bedrooms for nap and massage. A big portion for Google APAC center is marketing. As for engineers, their main focus is Next Billion User Program.
5. OCBC (Singapore AI Lab)
Position: Full Stack Engineer
Average Salary: not sure
I had interviews with OCBC AI lab for full-time position in 2020. OCBC is one of the biggest banks in southeast Asia. Full stack engineer at AI lab is more about integration for AI products. OCBC has many advanced AI financial products such as transaction detection to monitor money laundry.
6. Panasonic (Singapore R&D Center)
Position: Software Engineer
Average Salary: 2
I had a 20-week internship at Panasonic R&D center at Singapore in 2018. Their R&D department is a small portion of its APAC center and only has around 50 full time employees. As a Japanese company, its working environment is relatively conservative.
7. Qualcomm (San Diego office)
Position: Software Engineer
Average Salary: USD 100,000+ per year, not comparable to Singapore
Qualcomm is a leading chip and communication company. I had 2 summer internships at Qualcomm in 2018 and 2019 in San Diego, California. During my internship, I was in data team and mainly focus on data generated by antenna.
Working environment at Qualcomm is awesome. There are free gyms, swimming pool, basketball courts, tennis courts, beach volleyball courts and broad lawns for people to chill. In addition, people there are super friendly and outgoing. Colleagues are very willing help each other and tasks are clear for everyone. I really enjoyed my internships there.
8. Sea & Shopee (Singapore office)
Position: Software Engineer (Sea) & Backend Engineer (Shopee)
Average Salary: 3
I had interviews for both Sea and Shopee for full-time position in 2020. Relationship between Sea and Shopee is same as Alphabet and Google. Engineering office for sea is called sea lab and their focus is Sea Talk while Shopee is the platform for online merchants in southeast Asia. Working environment for both are quite awesome and dynamic. Meanwhile, New Grad’s salary varies a lot and experienced graduate could get a very nice pay.
At Shopee, some lucky students can easily get an offer without any technical interview. Based on my Shopee interview experience, the duration is too long (90 mins) and coding questions are not very common. I believe students will do it better if it can be divided into two 45-minute sessions.
9. Visa (Singapore office)
Position: Full-stack Engineer in Infrastructure Engineering Team
Average Salary: not sure
I had interviews with Visa for full-time position in 2020. Visa has 2 offices in Singapore and have around 1000 engineers. People are outgoing and I had nice interview journeys. However, their interview process is very slow.
10. YiTu (Singapore office)
Position: AI System Engineer
Average Salary: 4
I had interviews with YiTu for full-time position in 2020. YiTu is one of the leading AI companies and their current revenue mainly comes from 2B business. YiTu has 2 offices in Singapore and working environment is very high-tech. For example, YiTu implements facial recognition to unlock their restrooms.
Originally published at https://www.nianliblog.com.
