question for skinny:

how come youre living in HK? if youre working for yourself and all... cuz of the wifey or what?

From my perspective, Ap Lei Chau is not the most convenient location as there are no MTR stations nearby. It's in the southern part of Hong Kong Island which is accessible via mini-bus / bus. The bus ride to Aberdeen (very close to Ap Lei Chau) from West Kowloon takes over an hour long. Nonetheless, it is convenient and definitely a viable option if you work in Central / Wan Chai etc.

In comparison, my friend located in Prince Edward (Near Mong Kok) is in a 300sq-ft 1 bedroom flat in an older building, next to an hourly motel, and rent costs ~$6000 because of its convenience near MTR station.

Other friend who rents a 120 sq-ft 1 bedroom flat in TST pays around $4000.

I think TKO is a really good place. I go there about twice a month staying at an Aunts place. Specifically Hang Hau. The area is developed imo, everything is nearby. MTR, shopping, groceries, schools, bus station, doctors office etc..

Where as when I stayed in Mong Kok (Ladies Street), it was horrible. So crowded, noisy, and relatively dirty.

How much is the typical salary for a newly grad in HK? In China it is a measly 2000-2500RMB/month. Which is barely enough to cover rent/food/utilities/and entertainment.

I have a few friends at LOHAS Park, and although the price per sq feet is lower, the sizes are bigger and out of my budget. It's still developing, but the land there is just too much for my liking. And it's still in construction so it's a 5-10min walk to the MTR station. It does have it's own direct line, but it shares a train with Po Lam. As there are less people in LOHAS, it's roughly 1 train for every 3 for Po Lam meaning you might have to wait a bit at TKO station.

I guess I will just have to see how the property market goes this year. Hope the expected 15% drop will come true :D

As for wages in HK, as a friend grad you are most likely going to make $10,000HKD or under per month depending on your field. The average income is also $10,000HKD per month. Taxes are low, but the indirect tax of property is the killer.

#'s are just estimates. Give-or-take depending on individual's credentials / experience / market etc.

$11,000 Big 4, ~$20,000 bank management-trainee, $40,000+ i-banks, $16,000 - $20,000 engineer new-grad

I know for i-banks, reg bonus would be 2-4 months, good being 6-12 months; banks less, not sure about big 4. Engineer depends firm-to-firm; I've heard i-bank type bonus to very little.

any computer scientists in HK? lol

and Skinny, im curious as to what you do exactly. i see you run that hardware review site among other things...is that keeping you afloat comfortably?

Bah, I lumped engineering with comp-sci. I actually interviewed for an Embedded Systems Eng. (C-programming) position which I guess relates to comp-sci... so that salary range might be applicable

Anyone know of the salary range in PwC from the starting to say senior manager?

Just FYI, if you require a working visa for HK, most likely you won't get it unless you are very specialized in your field or highly sought after with your unique talents.

As I already mentioned, PwC 11k starting. Not sure about senior positions.

haha C-programming is definitely comp sci.

i asked because my friend who is in HK tells me the comp sci industry is crap there...generally because people treat it the same as IT ?

Yeah it's not the greatest if you need to spend a lot of time away from HK island. It should be better in a couple years when the MTR construction finishes but I found it was really nice for me since I did spend most of my time on the island and worked in Cyberport. Also, my gf lived in CWB for a while and I honestly wouldn't be able to handle walking downstairs straight into mayhem like she did...

And for those who haven't tried yet, I'm sure there are a lot of these around but Ap Lei Chau has a great wet market! I would load up with seafood downstairs and bring it upstairs to get it cooked. All in all, we would spend around 100HKD per person getting totally full on only seafood and it was delicious! Highly recommended!

Yeah I suppose I got mine pretty easily since there aren't a ton of experienced game designers in HK. I heard that they're starting to tighten up on the whole Macau deal too. Some people in my old company were staying in HK without a visa and would head to Macau for the day, resetting their allowable time to stay (I think this is pretty common). Apparently a couple people who tried that recently came back and they never reset their allowable time... Not sure though... Might be because they were from the Philippines or something.

What...?!! That's pretty fucking cheap! If I remember correctly, everytime we ate, our bill was over 1000+ HKD for 7-10 people and that's before any seafood, after seafood our bills are usually above 2k+ easily.

Well, keep in mind that it's basically a cooked food market which I think you can find in most districts. Here's the place I'm talking about:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Ap+Lei+Chau+Market+And+Cooked+Food+Market,+Hung+Shing+Street,+Hong+Kong&hl=en&ll=22.244516,114.155717&spn=0.002123,0.002411&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=58.598104,79.013672&oq=ap+lei+chau+market&t=h&hq=Ap+Lei+Chau+Market+And+Cooked+Food+Market,+Hung+Shing+Street,&hnear=Hong+Kong&z=19
Just make sure you buy your seafood from the market below and get it cooked upstairs. The fresh scallops steamed with fun si and garlic are my fav.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...21_83526_n.jpg
:sweetjesus:

Are you gonna live near the newer developments next to the Airport? It's pretty nice all around and when you're bored, you can just sit on the balcony and watch planes land LOL

I did that a few times last year but it's still pretty fucking hot at 3am..

Sounds like a pretty sketchy company :pokerface:

Having people employed without the proper visa is a huge risk for the company. But I guess having idiots willing to work without the right visa fits the company rofl.

There's a similar place in Tuen Mun I went to. Picked up seafood from the local market, then brought it to the nearby restaurants to cook.

https://photos-3.dropbox.com/i/xl/hC...%2000%20AM.jpg

Spoiler for food pics

Yeah tell me about it haha. There's a reason why I left the company.

Curious to know, aside from rent, if you live by yourself and only need to support yourself, around what kind of expense budget are you looking at?

my aunt lives in NT tai wo, its quite nice over there with fresh air & stuff but i work in china so there isn't much living in hk for me but i might consider tuen mun (but not too far out cuz i like the city) if i need to buy house in hk since i hear its much cheaper there

but seriously hk is run by evil big corp real estate company so its quite expensive to live there now

I'm doing OK by living in a cheaper village house instead of a 30K apartment others are living in.

People say it's expensive to live here, but actually aside from rent, just about everything is cheaper than Vancouver. I probably wouldn't be able to do what I am doing living in Van, especially since I would need a car.

It's just because I like it here. That and the aforementioned lower cost of living...

This is true, but not in all cases. There seem to be ways to get in the back door, because i know someone who just got a work visa as an IT specialist even though he has zero IT experience, and the job isn't even in IT, it's basically bartending. He had ONE credential, an MS certification from 10 years ago, that he didn't even know he had. But they went through some solicitor, and it got approved somehow :rukidding:

well... the size of the "bedroom" in HK will pass off as the size of a washroom here.

As for the washroom... maybe your closet?
TV/Living room will fit MAYBE a civic

Yeah well.. I'll be working AT the airport if it all goes to plan

My village home is 600 square feet, and unlike an apartment which is usually only 60-70% of their claimed footage (seriously), it really is 600 square feet. And we also have a nice roof top with a nice view, which itself is another 600 square feet, and a balcony with a BBQ, etc. I pay around $1000 CAD a month for rent.

I don't live in HK but do have family there and stay with them when I go back. I still have my own bedroom in my grandma's house which is in Sai Wan Ho. I think it's a 650 sq ft 3 br flat.

MTR is convenient. 15-20 mins ride to Central/CWB. Buses in HK are slow due to traffic. And it's expensive to bus from the "rural" areas to the city (I think).

My aunt also has a 800sq ft 3br in Sai Wan Ho currently for rent. I think it's going for $20k a month. This is not the new developments. It's the ones built back around 1985-1990.

For my field (economist), going back to HK to work is not really an option because I can't really write in Chinese anymore. And working in a bank or i-banking is more competitive in HK.
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