Nine Strategic Steps to Secure the Dream Tech Job in Singapore 2024
TL;DR
I share a complete guide based on my experience in the Singapore tech industry. This article summarises key strategies, from improving technical skills and solving algorithms to creating impactful blogs and presentations and securing a permanent tech role in Singapore. Whether you’re a newcomer or looking to advance in this competitive field, these practical steps, personal insights, and a unique interview approach will give you the tools to succeed.
Singapore is home to many tech professionals from around the globe. Many tech people from Southeast Asia (SEA) and South Asia (i.e. Indians and Sri Lankans) have selected Singapore as their first destination outside of their native country for several reasons, including but not limited to the availability of tech opportunities in Singapore, competitive compensation, low taxes, and the convenience of visiting native places.
My Background
I am a software guy with ten years of experience in the software field in Sri Lanka and Singapore. Out of 10 years, I gained six years of experience from 3 different companies in Singapore. I work as a Senior Software Engineer Test in Grab, my third company in Singapore.
Though the title of this article points to tech professionals in Singapore, these strategies apply to any tech professional around the globe.
Understanding Job Types in Singapore: Contract vs Permanent Roles
Singapore’s job market offers various types of employment, each with unique characteristics. Here’s a breakdown of the most common job types you’ll encounter.
- Agency Contract: In this arrangement, you work at Company A (i.e. DBS Bank) but are officially employed by Company B (i.e. Helius Technologies), an employment agency. This setup is also known as employee outsourcing. Essentially, you’re a contractor for Company A, but your employment contract and benefits are handled by Company B.
- Direct Contract: This is a more straightforward contract role where you are employed directly by Company A, but only for a fixed term. These contracts typically last between 1 to 2 years. Unlike agency contracts, your engagement and benefits are directly managed by Company A without an intermediary.
- Full-Time Permanent: As a full-time permanent employee, you work for Company A indefinitely, with no fixed end date to your employment. This traditional role offers more stability compared to contract positions and usually includes a full range of employee benefits and opportunities for long-term career growth within the company.
Most people I met in Singapore, including me, are more interested in having a permanent position in a company in Singapore. This has many reasons, including but not limited to job stability, job security compared to contract roles, and benefits offered to permanent staff such as health insurance, paid time off, and flexibility. I worked as a contractor in my first job, and my previous and current roles are permanent. Hence, I have first-hand experience with the differences between contract and perm roles in Singapore.
Based on my experience, the interview process for permanent tech roles is relatively lengthy and has many interview rounds to clear. In my personal experience, the number of interviews and their nature varied very between contract and permanent roles:
- 1st Job as a Contractor: I underwent just one face-to-face technical interview. This simplified process reflects the typical hiring approach for contract positions.
- 2nd Job as a Permanent Employee: The process was more lengthy, involving seven interviews in total. It began with a phone interview, two technical interviews, an interview with the hiring manager, an interview with the Head of Department (HOD), a remote interview with the offshore team, and an HR interview.
- 3rd Job as a Permanent Employee: This time, I faced six interviews, starting with a technical test. This was followed by three technical interviews, an interview with the HOD, and concluded with an HR interview.
Because of the lengthy interview process for permanent roles, a contract role is quite famous among newcomers to Singapore as their first Job, and the interview process for the contract role is relatively shorter. However, after spending 1-2 years as a contractor, it’s quite common among tech people to look for a permanent position in Singapore. As I shared, permanent tech roles have many interview rounds to clear, requiring better interview preparation.
In this article, I will share nine practical steps to secure a permanent role for someone serious about finding a tech job in Singapore in a good company. The recommended time period for this preparation is 3-4 months.
Assume you're a Software Engineer looking for a Java Dev role
Step 01: Polish your JAVA knowledge
As a JAVA developer, you should have a sound knowledge of concepts in Java. i.e. OOP concepts, multithreading, control statements etc.; I suggest you visit the “javatpoint” website via “https://www.javatpoint.com/java-tutorial” and complete the Java course. It’s entirely free. Don’t just read the content; practice it yourself for complete understanding. 👨🏽💻
Step 02: Solve Algorithms
You should have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills as a software engineer. Plus, you should understand data structures and algorithms (DSA) well. Solving some algorithms on HackerRank is a great way to refresh your DSA knowledge. Start with easy questions and solve them one by one. HackerRank is free for developers, but if you have a great alternative, go for it. Don’t copy and paste the HackerRank question into ChatGPT. However, if you need clarification on how some data structures work, ask ChatGPT, e.g., ‘How does HashMap work?’
Personal Experience: I have solved 100 problems in 100 days with the target of getting a permanent job in Singapore. It helped me showcase my consistency, commitment and, of course, analytical skills.
Why does solving algorithms matter?
As per my experience, when companies interview for perm roles, they strongly check your understanding of DSA. They gave some problems during the interview and asked to write the code to solve them.
- Simple Example: Write a code to find the second largest element in an array only using one for loop without sorting.
Step 03: Build a Working Project
Have you heard of “Actions speak louder than words? “. It’s applicable here as well. Build a working project (a few micro-services) and connect with a DB. You can find plenty of Youtubers who teach complete courses on building microservices from scratch.
- Here’s a personal recommendation: A YouTuber, Krishantha Dinesh, has posted a complete course on building microservices from scratch on YouTube. Follow along and develop your project with guidance from Krish.
Push your code to GitHub. Make it work, consider including unit tests, integration tests between services, and contract tests, and have a Swagger document with the API details you have developed for your project. Basically, build a complete project.
During this period, open a spreadsheet and note your tech challenges.
Step 04: Expand your Software Engineering skills
I suggest you watch a few videos on YouTube to expand your technical knowledge and skills, including but not limited to the following areas.
- Understand some system designs. I suggest Narendra Lakshmana Gowda‘s YouTube channel for this.
- Understand Big O Notation and Time Complexity.
- Understand the difference between session token and JWT token.
- Understand database design best practices and SQL joins.
- Understand Scrum practises and challenges.
- Understand basic concepts of DevOps, including CI/CD pipeline with docker.
- Understand Git workflow.
While watching these videos, YouTube may suggest related videos; watch a few and expand your engineering knowledge.
Step 05: Write a Blog
Having a tech blog is a fantastic addition to your profile. Hence, aim to write one blog post weekly (or bi-weekly) about what you’ve learned and publish it on Medium (or your website).
For instance, write a blog post after learning about JWT authorization. Don’t focus on stats (views, likes, comments); just write whatever you learned. This practice helps reinforce what you’ve learned.
Step 06: Create a CV and update your LinkedIn
Create a CV using an online tool (i.e. resume.io), update your LinkedIn with all this information, including links to your GitHub, blog (or website), HackerRank profile, etc., and apply for jobs. Try connecting with recruiters and TAs via LinkedIn to showcase your work to them. They are often willing to help by forwarding your profile to hiring managers.
Step 07: Prepare a PowerPoint Presentation
I have tried this method in two interviews, and it worked well for me. I got offers from both companies back in 2022. I suggest you try, and I am sure this method will hardcode your name in the hiring manager’s memory. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation with four slides, and the slide should only contain images (no text at all)
- Slide 01: All about you. Add the logo of your university, logos of the companies you worked for, images of industries you worked (i.e. put a stock market image if you worked in the capital market domain), images of your skills (i.e. Java, docker, Githib, etc.), your hobbies and more if needed.
- Slide 02: Explain your current role in image format. Ensure not to add any sensitive information.
- Slide 03: The project you have built in Step 03. Since this is your own dummy project, you can share your system design, Swagger doc, and even your code and tests, and you can run and demonstrate it to the interviewer.
- Slide 04: Explain one of the most exciting projects you have worked on in image format. (i.e., The ETL project you worked on)
Share your screen during the real interview. Ensure to request permission from the interviewer before sharing your screen. That’s the beauty of online interviews. With this method, you will remember everything as images remind you what you want to say. Also, this is a great way to showcase your seriousness for the interview, presentation, and documentation skills. Also, your communication skills and creativity.
Step 08: Mastering the Art of Self-Presentation
Learn to describe the following with the right tone and the right way.
- Your current role and how you work in your project (using the slide deck you prepared in Step 07).
- Technical challenges you have faced and how you overcome them
- Examples of a few conflicts with team members and how you handled them
- A few initiatives you have done, how you executed them from start to end, and the outcome of it.
I suggest you explain the business briefly before describing the technical stuff. As mentioned, ensure not to share sensitive information. It’s not right and may leave a bad impression on you.
Step 09: Get a Mock interview
Seek assistance from a Senior Engineer you know. Arrange for mock interviews and ask for candid feedback for improvement. Request to conduct the interview based on the JD you shared. Attend with the mindset of a real interview. Take action for the provided feedback. Also, learn to share how to introduce yourself and handle non-tech questions.
Give your best during your self-learning period. 🎉 🎉
Change technology based on the role you are looking for. e.g., Automation Engineer
That’s it for today, guys; thanks for reading.
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Do you have a goal to find a permanent job in 2024? 🤔
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