Asian Workplace Culture: An Unintentional Dictatorship

One of the questions that I really wanted to answer about Taiwan (and Asia in general) was why the  (terrible) work culture exists and how it came to be. Having done internships in many different companies in different cities/countries and working full-time in the US for 2 years, I felt like there was no way that these Asian work cultures could exist or that employees would not just go to find better ones.

However, after 6 months of working in Taiwan and living here for more than 1.5 years, I have come to realize that there is a non-insignificant number of Asian companies that do not reward ability and actually discourage their employees from thinking. These things combined over a long enough  period time create an unintentional dictatorship where the employees with ability are told not to use it, not question management and just accept worsening working conditions.

Ideal/Traditional Asian Working Cultural Values

If you want to understand Asian working culture, you first need to understand Asian cultural values. As I mentioned in my previous article on Asian cultural values (link), these values might be great in moderate amount, but once these values get taken to the extreme, you get essentially a lack of using your brain/critical thinking. In a similar way, Asian companies who most follow these workplace cultural values will actively discourage the use of thinking in their workers.

Rewarding Relationships（關係）and Time（前輩）Over Ability
The first thing to understand about Asian working culture (and Asian culture in general) is that it is primarily relationship-based. Basically if I know you, I will treat you very well, but if I don't, I won't even look at you. One example was when I was interning in Shanghai and looking for a badminton coach. I had to go through about 5 people (starting with a badminton coach in Canada), meeting them and having them introduce me to someone else (either by e-mail, WeChat or in person) to find a coach that was in my area.

There is also a cultural value of respecting your elders ("Respecting Authority"). This manifests itself in the company where the "elders" at the company are those that have been at the company the longest. The longer the person is at the company for, the more "loyal" they are and the more likely they are to get promoted. In fact a lot of managers get their jobs because they are the "last survivor"; they just happen to be the person who has been on the team the longest when that team's manager position opened up.

"聽話" or "Don't Think, Just Do" Workers
Another major cultural value is that workers should  聽話 which means that they should listen to authority (ie: managers) and not talk back. This goes back to "Respecting Authority" which I mentioned in an earlier post (link) and is basically ingrained into Taiwanese children starting at a young age. It is immediately obvious when I see how people communicate in Taiwan. I've seen parents basically lecturing or yelling at their child and the child just nodding. I've also noticed this in meetings where it sometimes seems like I am the only one interrupting and asking questions or clarifications.

Stability
The last cultural value that is really important in an Asian's life is stability. When it comes to working, staying at one company and doing the same thing for 30+ years is seen as a good thing. Conversely, if you move around or decide to work on a startup or change companies to find a more suitable job, you will be seen as someone who isn't "reliable". In fact, I've heard from the older Taiwanese generation that the "best" job is to become a government worker （公務員）because they are the safest, most stable jobs that you can work until you retire without worrying about being fired.

The Unintended Consequences: A Spiral Down Towards Incompetency 

Rewarding Relationships（關係）and Time（前輩）Over Ability

If relationships or time at a company is weighted much more than ability, eventually the employees will stop trying so hard (since they won't be rewarded). Instead they will try to survive or have a good relationship with the boss (which don't have as much value to the company as producing work). Over time,  high-ranking positions might not be held by competent people, leading to a lot of mismanagement. This can eventually lead to incompetency all around.

"聽話" or "Don't Think, Just Do" Workers

By having a culture of  聽話 employees, the boss essentially has an army of employees to follow his orders. If everything is known and the boss is competent, he can give his "orders" to his workers and they can be successful. However, if an unexpected problem occurs, then it takes significantly more time to adjust since it has to go from the employee to the boss and then back to the employees. If the boss is incompetent, there might be a lot of miscommunications which none of the employees stop to think or clarify. As well, since no one talks back to the boss, he doesn't get any constructive feedback to improve (and can just blame his employees even though he is incompetent). 

Stability

By valuing stability extremely highly, that Asian company is extremely slow to react to changes. In these companies, people don't try to do things that are risky or outside their comfort zone meaning problems could last for many years or grow worse and worse. It also means that people don't want to argue with their boss to change the behavior (習慣就好了). Finally, even if the working conditions are poor, these workers will not leave the company because they value the stability of  the job over the (immense) pain of working that job and will not look for another job. This is why so many Asians tolerate poor or toxic working conditions.

Final Thoughts
As I mentioned before, these Asian workplace values may have good intentions and successful in the past. However, as time goes on, employees become more obedient and less willing to give feedback, then they stop thinking. They will then end up just settling and doing things in the same way. The once competent people at the top will be replaced with people of less and less ability and the company will begin to decline. If there is a significant change in the outside world (ie: rise of technology), these companies cannot react quickly or in an intelligent way. If they don't drastically change, they will go into a death spiral where they eventually use up all their resources and the company is forced to close, sell, or just become irrelevant.

With all that being said, I think that not all Asian companies are like this (or to this extreme). Even for those that are still like this, I believe there is still time to change their company culture (a post for another time). As I mentioned before, I believe it is (mostly) unintentional and there just hasn't been a successful demonstration of a different way of doing things. However, with a willing company and employees, I think it is possible to change these unintentional dictatorships into intentional meritocracies.

Why Would You Want to Stay and Work in Taiwan?!

It's been over a year since I came to Taiwan and I recently came back from Canada and the US. Going back and catching up with friends, especially my old coworkers, has really made it clear how bad I am at updating people. So long story short: after quitting my job at Microsoft almost two years ago (!), breaking my foot (!!) and studying Chinese in Taiwan for the past year, I have decided to stay in Taiwan and work. (!!!)

"Why" Stay in Taiwan?
When I tell people that I will be staying in Taiwan to work the reaction from a lot of people is: "Why would you not want to go back to work in the US??" Although I do understand there reactions, I do have a reason (that's good enough for me) why I chose to work in Taiwan as opposed to going back to work in the US: to push myself and make an impact.

A bit of backstory; my initial plan was to stay in Taiwan for 6 months (2 study terms) and then decide what to do next. After studying Chinese for 6-7 months, I realized that I really enjoyed the life and convenience of living in Taiwan (another post?!). The only negative I had heard of living in Taiwan was working. A lot of people said the salary was low, hours were long, and the employees are treated as if they were mindless machines.

All of these things really intrigued me; obviously the work environment sounded terrible, but there had to be reasons behind it and how it actually came to be. The thing that made me saddest was that the Taiwanese people I talked to had so much potential to be happy, but a few things made it so that they were unhappy. I felt like I had the skills necessary to come up with what I thought were the reasons why and maybe some ways to improve it based on my work experience in other places (thanks Waterloo!). But those were just theories and initial broad thoughts, the best thing was not just thinking but verifying by doing which is why I decided to work in Taiwan.

Picking the Right Job
So after Chinese New Year, about 9 months in, I decided to look for a job. But what type of job at what type of company? Hearing some firsthand stories of certain types of more traditional companies, I knew there were some that I wanted to avoid the experience. At first I interviewed with any company that was interested in hiring me. After about 7 or 8 interviews (in Chinese), I started to understand what type of job and value I wanted to bring. I got a bit tired of interviews and just tried to pick those that I felt met my needs and a few through headhunters. It became clear that it would be easy to find a job, but it would difficult to find the right one.

After the copious amounts of interviews, I knew what I wanted: to see if there was a way to use or take parts of the western ways of thinking to improve the work situation in Taiwan. The first thing I had to keep in mind was do something I was good at (programming/software). After, I ideally wanted to go to a more traditional company's experimental/new product division where they were looking to innovate but might have some of the more traditional mindsets still in place. That also meant I de-prioritized "American"-style companies or companies that were relatively high paying but maybe very traditional and conservative in their process.

The job and team I finally picked was in a new technical area that I have never dealt with before. The manager I talked to three (yes, three) times and he was a real leader (not manager) with a lot of ideas, but he was struggling to implement them effectively. The way I positioned myself was that I wanted to be a role model of what a good employee and mentor is in the US. I told him that because of the background of the employees, there would have to be a balance between the way things are done in Asia vs. the US and that we could work together to figure out what that balance was. Needless to say, I was very happy that I found a manager that was willing to listen and work together to create an even better team.

What If It All Goes Wrong?
A lot of people have basically asked "What if it turns out working in the US was the better option?" The way I look at it is that I have a lot of very interesting questions that I want answered as well as expectations of what it would be working in Taiwan that nothing but real experience would answer. Even if I'm wrong, that gives me a lot a great information and experience of what not to do in the future. It's like having a mental model of what I think/believe, test it by having experiences, then update my mental model and come up with new assumptions/questions and do it all over again; it's an iterative learning process (ie: the scientific method).

And that's where I am now. I have chosen a team that should be technically challenging and a manager that is culturally open to change and is trying new things; I have a real environment to put my theories into action. Instead of planning every small step along the way, I have only decided my next step: do my best for the first 3-6 months and just be open and learn the Asian work culture and process. Maybe after that I realize I need to continue learning or make new relationships, maybe I can start taking a leadership role, maybe I realize writing blogs like this (in Chinese?!) would be beneficial. After those first 3-6 months (basically when I feel comfortable at work), I'll plan out my next step.

For me the vision and the path of my future is still unclear. However I believe I can bring a unique perspective and unique skill set to Taiwan; a person who is culturally western but can understand both the Asian and Western (US) ways of doing things and thinking. I think that this will be very valuable in the future, but who really knows. If it turns out not to be the case, I will be fascinated to know why.

Unproductive Asian Mindsets in Taiwan: Reasons and Solutions

A Year in Taiwan Talking With Taiwanese Locals
So I have just recently passed 1 year of living in Taiwan. In that year, I've learned a lot about not only myself, but about Taiwan and Asia. Being here has allowed me to talk to all sorts of Taiwanese at all different paths and stages of their lives. In general Taiwanese people are very friendly and positive. Unfortunately, I've also come across quite a few Taiwanese who have 1 of 2 unproductive mindsets. However, with a few mindset changes (see the end of this post), I think that it is possible to eliminate or at the very least limit the influence of them.

2 Types of Unproductive Mindsets
1. Toxic Mindsets: Mindsets which not only negatively affect themselves, but everyone around them. In most cases, nothing can be done to change them unless the person themselves is willing to change, no matter how hard other people try to help them.
2. Unaware Mindsets: Mindsets which aren't negative, but strongly hinder future growth. Oftentimes, the person themselves just need a mentor, some guidance, a new environment/experiences or even just a bit of self-reflection.

Since my parents are Taiwanese who moved to Canada for university, I grew up with some of the best parts of Asian culture: stable and loving family, investment in education, and consideration for others; the three Asian Cultural Concepts I mention below were not a significant part of my upbringing. However, growing up or being in an environment which follows these three Asian Cultural Concepts too closely can yield to these unproductive mindsets. It's why I don't solely fault the person, but the environment as well. If I grew up in such an environment, I'm sure I would also exhibit some of these unproductive (toxic and/or unaware) mindsets.

Asian Cultural Concepts
1. Obeying Authority (Parents/Elders/Teachers/Bosses)
In Asian culture, there is this idea that authority figures are always right and that you should listen and obey their instructions (for family: 孝順). In the workplace, disagreeing with your boss, or even giving another option can be seen as a sign of disrespect and is frowned upon. There are often many times that the individual "goes along" with their boss while completely disagreeing with the boss' decision, but not saying anything (except after work, complaining to friends).

2. One Right Answer/Path
This is essentially a manifestation of Asian philosophy of group over individual (群體). In Asian culture there is this idea of group harmony so everyone should think alike. Having a different opinion or doing something different from the group makes that individual an outsider and "wrong". Therefore diverse opinion is seen as a negative, causing everyone to think alike. This is most evident in the education system, where everything is multiple choice (as opposed to open-ended questions) and if you ask any parent what they want for their child, they will say that they should be one of a doctor/engineer/lawyer etc...

3. Face/Group Think (Showing your "Best" Self)
The last thing related to the emphasis on group is the concept of "Face" (面子) which is basically how the group sees this individual. There is a belief that everyone should hold the same opinion (group think) and diverse opinions, because of the "One Right Answer/Path", are seen as "bad". Additionally people tend to only show their "best selves" (group identity) which can drastically differ from their actual selves (completely different opinions, emotions, etc...). An example is living lavishly when you actually don't have that much money or girls who are 30 and aren't married yet cause the family to "lose face", even if the girls are very happy themselves.

The Results: Two Types of Unproductive Mindsets

Toxic Mindsets
1. Seeing Things as "Good/Bad"; Not Considering Tradeoffs/Whole Picture
Some people in Taiwan can have very simplistic thought processes or decision making. The idea of the "One Answer/Path" makes people see a decision or something as "good/bad", "right/wrong". They don't really understand under what circumstances make a decision "right/good" and when they try to apply it to a situation which has different circumstances, they make a "wrong/bad" decision. For example, some people will value money/prestige vs. day-to-day work differently. Based on perspective, the day-to-day work person could see the money/prestige person as greedy or unfulfilled while the money/prestige person could see the day-to-day work person as not providing for their (future) family. In actuality, their job choice can both be "right" for themselves, based on their own standards.

Another example is not understanding tradeoffs. In Taiwan, there are several engineering companies where you can make a lot of money (relatively speaking) and so a lot of people want to work there. However, those companies are also notorious for long working hours, poor management and a traditional "Obey Boss" work environment. The workers will complain about the poor working environment (not acknowledging the high salary); outside people will be jealous of the high salary (not acknowledging the poor working environment). Neither fully understand or appreciates the whole picture. As the saying goes: "You can't have your cake and eat it too."

2. Comparing to Other People
In Asian society, no matter how different two people are, if they are the same gender and around the same age, they will undoubtedly be compared and judged to each other. Because "Face/Group Think" is so important, people (especially parents) tend to use the same standard ("One Right Answer/Path") to judge their own and other people's kids in a very superficial way, focusing on things like career, money and boy/girlfriend while neglecting things like individual personality, interests and happiness (which are much harder to compare). As Einstein said: "If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid."

If you listen to a conversation between family members during holidays, "Your daughter is 29 and doesn't have a boyfriend, that is such a shame, she is actually quite good-looking." Or sometimes with younger people, mostly girls: "X's grades are so much better than mine (Y)", not realizing X puts in many more hours in school where Y puts her time into things outside school. None of these comparisons actually make a difference or have a tangible effect on their life. The only effect is that you are "right/wrong" or "better/worse", but that doesn't change any meaningful circumstances.

3. Lack of Personal Responsibility/Negative Talk/Complaining
From a local Taiwanese: "No matter how insignificant a problem is, (some) Taiwanese love to complain!" This actually stems from doing something you don't fully agree on. It is a combination of all 3: "Obeying Authority" when you do something someone tells you, even if you don't agree; "One Right Answer/Path" when you just follow the "right" path or reply with the "correct" answer; "Face/Group Think" where you do things for the group (as opposed to what you personally would do). Because to these people, they do not make their own decision, they blame others and do not take personal responsibility for their actions.

Talking with certain Taiwanese, they will often complain loudly and frequently about their jobs or blame others. They do not take a proactive role or see that they are in fault in any way or are unwilling to change (like quitting a terrible job). They will often say things like "If only I was/had..." or "It's not my fault, I can't do anything" which makes it very frustrating to talk with them and conversations just seem to go in circles. Again, complaining will not have a meaningful effect (apart from emotional); something that will have an effect is to take responsibility and do something about it.

Unaware Mindsets

1. Lack of Personal Identity/Self-Awareness
Many Taiwanese seem to lack or hide their own personal identity/personality. Stemming from "One Right Answer/Path", people, especially those in the same social groups, seem to be almost identical as they all try to be the same type of "ideal" person or have the same opinions as everyone else. As well, to give "Face/Group Think", you only show the "best side" of you which removes a lot of personal identity and personality from showing through. As a result, these people often struggle between their two identities (group and personal) and can have trouble adjusting to new environments where the group (and therefore what they think is their identity) changes.

A very common example is when you talk to someone about their job/school in a group setting and then you talk one-on-one. Their responses and opinions are often are completely different. When I ask them why don't have the same opinions when asked, they tend to reply they have to "respect the group." This can lead to them working or studying and be seemingly satisfied on the surface, but deep down they can actually be very unhappy and don't know who they are or what they want. It will often take a large (external) event for them to realize/change.

2. Lack of Different Opinions; Lack of Problem-Solving/Critical Thinking
The education system in Taiwan (before university) is strongly based around multiple choice tests. In an effort to pass these tests, students will unknowingly fall into the (only) "One Right Answer/Path" mentality; studying becomes about memorizing and accepting "right" answers at face value without critically thinking about them. Outside school, people might not actually consider under what constraints/requirements this is the "right" answer or whether someone's advice does actually apply to themselves. Because of "Face/Group Think", some Taiwanese can not think of a different opinion/answer to the "right" one. This can lead them to all follow the same path which might is very often not suited for them for what may be months, years or even decades.

A lot of people I talk to, especially those that go to the "top" schools which have the "top" students exhibit this the worst. The "best students" always give the "right answer" but have a hard time grasping a different perspective/opinion. If they are looking for help and describe a stressful situation at school/work, I simply follow up with: "Why?", "What do you think caused it to happen? which they often have a hard time to answer clearly. In other situations, I ask "Why can't you do X?" and they are often surprised because although X may solve their problem, it is not way other people would take. An example would be they have a hard project to do, I will ask "Why don't you ask your boss for clarification?" which they reply with it will make them seem not "good". I often calmly ask "What do you want? Not understanding and doing a bad job, or asking for clarification and doing a good job?" which (hopefully) leads them to do the latter and take a more proactive role.

3. Inability/Unwillingness to Proactively Change their Situation

Many Taiwanese seem to be stuck in a same, unpleasant, ongoing situation which they can be in for months or even years. As part of "Obeying Authority", their family and education has taught to respond and react to other people's wishes. This causes them to be more passive/reactive, waiting/hoping for something to change instead of proactively making a change themselves. Even if they are proactive and want to change, they might still end up not doing it, because it is risky and would cause them, their family or their company to lose face or seen is  "wrong" because of "Face/Group Think".

A good example is the multitude of students who don't seem to be satisfied with their major. Many of them are in their fourth and final year, having seemingly auto-piloted through their education up to this point. Now that they have to think about what they want do next, they seem to want to stay safe (continue studying a masters) hoping that the extra time will (magically) help them realize what it is they want to do without them having to do anything. If it doesn't help them, they might continue to study a PhD or go working still hoping to find an answer. Again, the result is that they can often spend several years or even longer struggling in the same situation or with the same problems.

What Can Be Done to Change These Mindsets
If you are a Taiwanese/individual, the best thing is to self-reflect and think about the three Asian Cultural Concepts in relation to your environment and mindset.  Once you understand that they are influencing you, you can change them slightly for success (especially for toxic mindsets):

1. Obey Authority => Make Own Decisions
Although it is important to respect authority, don't just blindly follow their decision. Make your own decisions and take responsibility for your actions. If you can't and to have to follow someone, understand why someone is making the decision and why you are following it.

2. One Right Answer/Path => Each Answer/Path has Tradeoffs; See the Whole Picture
No decision/thing is perfect, there will always be good and bad tradeoffs no matter what it may be.
Try to ask yourself "why" an answer/thing is "right/wrong" or "good/bad". Are there any other "right/wrong" answers? Under what requirements is this answer "right/wrong"? Am I considering all the pros and cons of this (ie: seeing the whole picture)?

3. Face/Group Think => Individuals in a Group; Support Diverse Opinions/Personalities
Understand that while you are part of the group, each individual in that group does not have to be the same, they should have their own personality and goals. Instead of negatively judging the differences, you should celebrate and respect them. Let and support others to be themselves and say/do who they truly are without judgement and be yourself in the same way without caring about what others think.

Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, I don't think all Taiwanese people have these unproductive mindsets, it is only a few that have left a deep impression on me (toxic mindsets). Frankly, there are a lot of Taiwanese who have so much potential (unaware mindsets); they just need some guidance or mentoring to help with their mindsets/paths. I also think compared to what I've heard/talked with friends about other Asian societies (Japan, Korea, China), Taiwan is actually the most open-minded about changing the value of these three Asian Cultural Concepts. If the culture can shift, I believe that Taiwan will end up with much happier, well-rounded people and society. Taiwan 加油!

After a Year, Quitting Microsoft and Coming to Taiwan: Right or Wrong?

One Year After
So it's been a bit more than a year since I left my job at Microsoft (link). In that time, I've broken my foot, adapted to Taiwan and started working on a mentoring program (posts for another time). Since it's been a year (6 months recovering from the broken foot and 6 months in Taiwan), I thought it'd be a good idea to reflect and see if the decision to quit my job and take a risk to come to Taiwan was "right" or "wrong"/how do I even know?

Tradeoffs
As mentioned previously, one of the key determining factors in me leaving Microsoft was that I was not pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I also wanted to come to Taiwan and see if I could adapt and create a life for myself. However, when I made my decision I knew that there were definitely tradeoffs with making my decision: from Microsoft, losing a ton of money not just in current salary but also career growth, to Taiwan, where I would really have to figure out a lot of things without much help.

What's Happened
Over the past year, Microsoft as a company has done extremely well. Based on my actual salary with benefits and potential career growth, I probably lost 2.5+ years worth of salary for the 1 year I took off (which will continue to grow until I go back to work).

On the other side, coming to Taiwan was a struggle, mostly trying to adjust to a new country with minimal support (a post for another time) and experiencing a lot of culture shock (another post). Even though I've been in Taiwan for half a year, I am still learning to adapt to some of the culture.

Hindsight and Reflection
Based on the above, it might be easy to say I made the "wrong" decision, that if I had stayed at Microsoft and continued to work, that my life would be nice and comfortable. However, that is exactly the reason that I quit in the first place; to stop being complacent. Coming to Taiwan was about pushing myself; if I didn't struggle, I must be doing something wrong. So the real question shouldn't be whether I made the right or wrong decision, it should be whether sacrificing money and stability of working at Microsoft was worth the growth and knowledge I got from coming to Taiwan.

Worth It? Right Decision?
Although I did lose a lot of potential earnings and definitely have found it challenging living in Taiwan, just the fact that Taiwan is such a different environment has helped me learn about myself and push me further. In my 6 months here, my Chinese has gotten significantly better, I've started to understand local Taiwanese/Asians mindsets and culture more, and I've also managed to answer a lot of the "What if I...?" questions that I had while I was working at Microsoft. If I could redo my choice, I would not change my decision. Although I might have not pushed myself to the fullest extent possible, looking back, quitting my job and coming to Taiwan was (and still is) worth it and the "right" decision for me.

Why Go to Taiwan to Study Chinese?

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
During the Christmas of 2014, I was starting to feel like I needed a change (see post). When I got back to work, it was increasingly obvious that I needed to make a move. But should I move teams/companies? Travel around the world? Go back home? It took me the next several months to figure out just exactly what I wanted.

Decision Making
Instead of trying to decide exactly what I wanted to do, (one decision with all the choices), I made a series of decisions with fewer choices. It not only made making the final decision easier, but it also prevented me from getting overwhelmed at any one stage of the process to not continue.

1. Seattle/US/North America: Stay vs. Leave 
The very first question I had to ask myself; did I want to continue working or go overseas? This one was relatively easy for me to answer. As mentioned in my previous post, I felt like switching teams or companies was only a temporary band-aid fix and so leaving US was the right decision.

2. Moving: Short-term Travel vs. Longer-term Move
The second decision in my tree was to decide if I would travel around the world or move to a new country and try to live there. Maybe it's because of my internships, but I really enjoy living somewhere (3+ months) and feeling like a local. I also felt like staying in one place would allow me to push myself to not get too comfortable as opposed to travelling where you don't stay long enough to get comfortable. Again, this choice was relatively easy and I chose to move longer-term and live in a new country.

3. Asia: China vs. Taiwan?
After I decided I wanted to do something longer-term, I knew that I wanted to live in Asia, specifically somewhere where I could use/improve my Chinese. Although I did have a 4-month internship in Shanghai, I felt I could have used it more effectively (a post for another time). I decided on China and Taiwan mostly because of familiarity; I had interned in China and my family was from Taiwan.

Choosing between China and Taiwan was the decision I spent the most time on (several months). I asked many people about their experiences both living, working and studying in both China and Taiwan. It felt essentially like there would be a lot more job opportunities in China, but living in Taiwan was more comfortable/Western-like. After talking with people and thinking about it for more than a month, I felt Taiwan was a better fit for me for a couple of reasons.

Culture + Chinese Characters
When I was in Shanghai, I felt very uncomfortable. It's not that everyone was mean, but there was not a lot of common courtesy. I remember waiting in line for more than half an hour as people cut in front of me or yelled louder than me. Another really annoying thing was that I couldn't go onto Facebook, YouTube or check my email without going through a VPN. Finally, China uses Simplified, which I have never learned when studying Chinese (another post?!); if I learned the Simplified characters before Traditional, I would have to re-learn a lot. Taiwan, compared to Shanghai, felt a lot more polite, friendlier, and I could actually recognize the Chinese characters.

Relationships
One of the biggest lessons I learned from Shanghai was the importance of relationships in Asia. I remember trying to find a badminton coach in Shanghai online was almost impossible. I ended up asking my coach from Toronto to email her friend in Shanghai who talked with a badminton coach not in my area who finally introduced me to someone who was; it took 4 people before I actually found what I wanted. China is very big and the city I chose would not necessarily have a good network of people I could contact. However, in Taiwan, I had already had some contacts (family, friends, mentees) that could help me out. It also helped that the city I wanted to live in, Taipei, is where seemingly 99% of Taiwanese people are from or know someone there.

4. Taiwan: Work vs. Study
After deciding Taiwan, I was faced with essentially my last major decision: work or study? While at Microsoft, I talked with the engineering manager for Taiwan and another from China; they both essentially said they would really like someone with international (ie: North America) experience (why? That's for another post). In the end, it boiled down to making sure I actually liked what I was doing. Moving to live in a new culture/country is pretty nerve-wracking. Add in trying to work and represent the "Western" workforce while also following the local working culture would be even more stressful. Instead of stressing myself out by living and working in Taiwan, I decided I would get used to seeing if I liked just living first by studying Chinese in Taiwan.

Final Decision: Move to Taiwan and Study Chinese
At the end of the day, instead of trying to choose from many options, I tried to break it down into more decisions. Stay or leave? Travel or move? China or Taiwan? Work or Study? At each decision, I had to go back and think about what I really wanted and be consistent. Even though I broke my foot just days before I going to Taiwan (another post for another time), the decisions I made were still sound. I ended up coming to Taiwan 6 months later than I originally planned, but feeling just as good about my decision now as I did before I broke my foot.

Quit Microsoft and Move to Taiwan?!

Why?

So many people have asked me what made me decide to leave my job at Microsoft and go to Taiwan. The main reason I made this decision comes down to two words: Comfort Zone.

Work

After graduating in 2013, I moved to Seattle to start working at Microsoft in the same year. Over a little bit of two years, I have been through major and minor re-orgs (post for another time) and grown a lot as an engineer. However, as I came back home for Christmas in 2014, after a year and half at Microsoft, I realized that I was learning things that were no longer interesting to me. When I got back to work, it became abundantly clear that my career and what I was learning would take multiple years to fully master and I wasn't passionate enough to put in that much time.

Life

Outside of work, I had also started to stagnate. Although I had a great group of friends, again, I felt too comfortable. I very rarely, if ever pushed myself to meet new people or proactively tried to develop the relationship. That's not to say that hanging out with my friends was a bad thing, but there were a few instances that it was painfully obvious just how bad I had got at developing new relationships (stories for another post).

Options

So basically I knew I needed a change both from a work and a life perspective. Thinking about it, I came up with a couple of solutions:

1. Changing teams at Microsoft
2. Switching companies in Seattle
3. Moving to a different part of Seattle
4. Moving away

Although the first 3 were all appealing, I felt like they would only be band-aid solutions; it would be too easy to fall back into the same patterns in work and/or social life. Thinking about the last option was the scariest and most exciting; I would naturally have to break out of my own comfort zone and push myself in a new environment (why specifically Taiwan are for a future post).

Timing

Once I had decided I was going to leave, I started to think about the timing. At the time when I had the idea to move away, it was Christmas of 2014. After coming back and a couple of milestones at work, it became clear that barring any financial concerns (which I will get into another post), there were two major breakpoints that I could leave: 1. Windows 10 (July 2015) and 2. Windows 10 Update (October 2015). As it got closer to the first date, I realized that I should stay until the second one; the reason being that there were loose ends and still a bit more to learn. I formally quit my job at the end of October 2015, 10 months after I first had the idea of leaving.

Finishing

Even though I knew I was leaving, I wanted to make sure I left the team in a good state: I completed all my tasks to a high standard; I wrote better docs so that handoff would be smoother; I talked with my teammates about anything unresolved and then summarized in e-mail. So when I finally told my boss I was going to leave, I left feeling like I had left the team in a good spot and not just that I bailed on my responsibilities. Visiting my old team before going to Taiwan 6 months later, I was really happy to hear that they managed to integrate my work without many problems.

Conclusion

In all honesty, what it all boiled down to, was that I got too comfortable. I started noticing I wasn't pushing my comfort zone both in work and in my social life. After making the decision to quit and move away, I worked hard to make sure I left in a good state. Even after breaking my foot and staying in my bed for basically 6 months/half a year (story for another time), I still felt that leaving my job and moving away was the correct decision and the reason I am in Taiwan now.