SINGAPORE: In a candid and fiery Reddit post on r/SingaporeRaw, one Singaporean tech professional earning around S$100,000 a year didn’t hold back his words about what’s holding back local wages in the tech industry — and he says it’s not talent, but tolerance for being undercut.
“I started my career at a sweatshop consultancy that aggressively hires Filipinos and has a branch in Manila,” he wrote, tracing his journey through SMEs to his current role at a private bank. “And let me state this first: There is no doubt a trend where companies hire foreign talent at lower salaries, pushing the rates down for everyone, including locals.”
So his advice to fellow Singaporeans was “We should hone and refine our individual unique advantages and identify areas where we can have a significant impact and add value rather than compete for jobs that low-ball our salaries. This is a more sustainable approach to career building and growth.”
Calling out companies that “optimise for cheap foreign employees rather than creating value,” he urged seasoned local tech workers to steer clear of such setups, warning that constantly settling for less chips away at collective bargaining power.
He cited Canadian author Scott H. Young’s theory that relying solely on hard work is a trap: “If quantity is your advantage, your bosses will only want more. Build on value instead. Create something people want from you because they can’t get it from anywhere or anyone else.”
However, not everyone cheered his S$100K sermon. One commenter retorted, “Let’s hear what you have to say again when your private bank retrenches you and outsources your job to Manila.”
Another fired off: “You sound entitled and tone-deaf… You don’t get how tough the current market is for young grads. Jobs are 40% skill and 60% luck.”
Yet another added an even clearer picture of Singapore’s current situation: “It’s easy for you to say this if you’re already employed and comfortable. It’s much harder for others to hold out when they’re still looking for that first job or have just been retrenched and have bills to pay.”
One pointed out the irony of the post: “You’re contradicting yourself. You say to reject low-balling tech job offers, but nobody is going to give you S$100K out of nowhere. You said yourself that you started out at a sweatshop, and you’ve only made S$100K after four years of gaining experience and only then jumping to a higher-paid job. But now you’re preaching about not settling for less, like people don’t need to work themselves up. Everyone has to start somewhere, and for nearly everyone it’s going to be somewhere small.”
Still, the Singaporean techie did acknowledge earlier in his original post that his advice may not apply universally to all Singaporeans: “I understand that this doesn’t universally apply to everyone, especially when we are starting out and don’t have a clear direction or are struggling to find even an entry-level job. But for those who’ve been around for a while, perhaps some reflection is due…”
Regardless of where you stand, one thing is sure in focus: Singapore’s tech job market isn’t just about code anymore. It’s about courage, clarity, and choosing not to be undercut.
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