from Hacker News

China Is Bombarding Tech Talent with Job Offers. the West Is Freaking Out

by doctaj on 11/27/24, 4:30 AM with 39 comments

  • by arunabha on 11/27/24, 7:34 AM

    I'm wondering if the idea of making a counter offer matching the Chinese offer ever crossed the execs/govt's mind?

    The primary value prop China is offering to these engineers(money) is the easiest to counter. I doubt many engineers would want to move to China if they can get the same money in their current jobs.

    It seems to come back to (as it often does), the makers, the people actually doing the work not being valued in proportion to their contribution.

    It's baffling that execs and govt's will do everything, including prosecuting departing engineers, but balk at the simplest fix which is to pay their key people better.

  • by ggm on 11/27/24, 5:07 AM

    We've had a case in Australia of an ex-US forces pilot trainer arrested under extradition laws because he is said to have taught Chinese pilots how to land and take off from aircraft carriers.

    Think about it for a minute: His one portable skill, the IPR behind doing a thing, a mechanical act, is deemed to be an ITAR risk. Knowing how to do it, is a weaponised concept in strategic planning.

    And ask yourself: Can this apply to VLSI design smarts, or OpSEC, or DEVOPS?

    I'm pretty sure at this stage, it applies to Cryptography so basically, be good at maths, you have no right (specifically right: you may be, you may not) to go and work in China.

    It's been true for past knowledge of workplace. NSA (see above) and probably US forces (see the start) and I would suspect, other things too. If you worked at the FTC or department of state, don't try for a working holiday abroad without permission.

  • by Yeul on 11/27/24, 7:39 AM

    I read a newspaper article yesterday about a woman of Vietnamese descent who repatriated to Vietnam. I thought that symbolised the economic shift from West to East very well. Her grandparents were boat refugees from Saigon who were picked up in the South China sea by a Dutch cargo ship and now the new generation is going back to Ho Chi Minh city because the future is Asia.

    The Netherlands is rich to be sure but it's all old money.

  • by chistev on 11/27/24, 5:58 AM

    If a Chinese person is reading this, I'm open to job offers.

  • by toomuchtodo on 11/27/24, 5:01 AM

    If you don’t invest in talent, someone else will.

  • by apatheticonion on 11/27/24, 5:05 AM

    I've been really interested in spending a few years living and working in China however it has been nearly impossible to get a visa so I gave up that idea.

    Maybe there's still hope, hey

  • by fspeech on 11/27/24, 8:22 AM

    It would be abominable if employers can own their employees. It seems the better approach would be to strengthen the protection of whistle blowers so that if someone is pressured to reveal trade secrets from their previous jobs or do something else illegal they will be incentivized and empowered to not cooperate.

  • by thunderbong on 11/30/24, 4:25 AM

  • by euroderf on 11/27/24, 9:52 AM

    Is it possible that the Chinese gov't is chipping in to subsidize all this ? If so, it's a policy challenge for the US.

  • by mostlysimilar on 11/27/24, 6:45 PM

    Maybe if US companies weren't firing US engineers and hiring offshore to save money we wouldn't have this problem.

  • by wirelessloop on 11/27/24, 12:11 PM

    Hummmmmmmm.... Have not received any job offer from my Chinese friends.... Must not be considered a talent.................

  • by phendrenad2 on 11/27/24, 1:42 PM

    I've been predicting this. When Greece had their economic collapse in the 2010s, foreign companies lined up to hire everyone with more than 3 brian cells. Right now it's China, but I assume other countries with tech sectors (Israel, UAE, and India come to mind) and the like are quietly hiring people away from US/European companies, too.

  • by dzonga on 11/27/24, 8:42 AM

    the war for talent is high now, which euro / american nativists miss. highly skilled people tend to be mobile and immigrants. so yeah the politicians might have mass rallies against immigration but that's a lost cause.

  • by viwiten677 on 11/27/24, 8:17 AM

    Former HW employee here.. they will pay you well. But will 100% screw you over.

  • by phendrenad2 on 11/27/24, 1:30 PM

    > Chinese firms are focusing on several tech hubs, including Taiwan, parts of Europe and Silicon Valley. Some obscure their Chinese origins by forming local ventures that hire the employees to avoid drawing attention from local officials, authorities say.

    Where's the proof? Sounds like FUD to me.

  • by Terr_ on 11/27/24, 8:06 AM

    I wonder whether the money will still be enough to offset cultural differences (political restrictions) for some immigrants, especially if they're leaving silicon valley.

    I mean things like the Great Firewall getting in the way of some regular internet usage, and VPNs bypassing that while handing you a different set of frustrations. Or forgetting to toe the party line in a social-media post that happens to get too noticeable, where some apparatchik marks you for censorship or retaliation. Or maybe you do toe the line, but you're also a US citizen and the PRC decides they need some diplomatic leverage by putting someone like you in jail for some reason.

    I used to live in Hong Kong back when it was a much freer place, and visited the mainland several times. But in this post-2018 high-despotism phase? The mainland is off my tourism list... or at any rate it's the kind of visit where you don't bring your regular laptop/smartphone through customs, and avoid touching your usual accounts while you're there.