Singapore:
Stone Apple Solutions Pte Ltd
51 Changi Business Park Central 2,
#08-12 The Signature
Singapore 486066
Ph: + 65 6496 8550
email: [email protected]

Thailand :
Stone Apple Solutions (Thailand) Co., Ltd
# 16-04, Q House Lumpini Building
1 South Sathorn Road, Thungmahamek, Sathorn
Bangkok 10120 Thailand
Ph: +66 677 7491 7
email: [email protected]

Malaysia :
Stone Apple Solutions Sdn Bhd
Unit 13-10, Signature Office
The Boulevard, Mid Valley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Ph: + 603 8319 5838
email: [email protected]

Hi Software Engineers,

Being a software engineer, every individual has aspiration to go onsite in life to work directly with client and to earn/save some money for their life. Don’t take any offers on contract with period of 3 or 6 or 1 year or even permanent positions. It is better, if you visit certain countries through your own parent company on skilled visa.

My advice to you: Don’t ever join any staffing company or company like STONE APPLE and screw your life. There are various staffing companies like this. None is better than other. Every company has different attributes, but same style. BE CAREFUL. IT IS YOUR LIFE AND FUTURE.

Say for example, if a company or client wants a software engineer to support them for a period of 3 months, these staffing companies will negotiate with the poor candidate like us for 3 months contract. Nobody will actually take the offer for 3 months contract (we can still see people with 3 months contract also). If they don’t get anybody for 3 months contract in the market, they will say the contract is for 6 months or 1 year contract and take engineers on board. Practically, they know the project is only for 3 months. After completion of tenure, you will come to know that you are not billed, when you approach them, they will claim that they are trying to place you in some other project. Placing you in some other project is usually another requirement from the other organization. Why they need to pay you, when you are not billed. The only way they have is, they will ask you to leave the job. The projection and planning of human resource is very poor in these staffing companies.

These staffing companies exploit many professionals for their own revenue & profit.

There are lot of software engineers from Indonesia/Philippines/Malaysia/India/Singapore and Japan with above kind of offers and suffering a lot with uncertainties and surprises. Everyone feel that they can take another job (Assuming their rich experience and the branded companies which they had worked in the past) in near future after taking the current offer in new country. The people who had returned to their own home country were more when compared to the people who got some other job within the stipulated period. Even, the people who could manage to get the job were not paid for their experience and talents. Few people were needed to take some jobs for survival as they had shifted their family from their homeland.

Several instances of contract:
1. 3 or 6 months or 1 year contract.
2. 1 year contract followed by permanent position.

In all cases whatever the contract is, whether 3 or 6 or 12 months, the joining date will be immediate ie within 2 weeks. They will provide you everything to take you on board.

BEWARE AND ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND: CONTRACT EMPLOYEEs are recruited only for shorter period to suffice their requirement. It is impossible to make you permanent. If though they make, the requirement should fall for a permanent position.

Difference between Permanent and contract position: Permanent employee will be the last person in the team to be sacked or asked to leave. Contract employee will be the first person to get notice of termination.

Similarity between permanent and contract position: Both have notice period of SAME ONE MONTH.
 Permanent position - GOODBYE with some dinner or lunch.
 Contract position - GOODBYE with an EMAIL (even without visiting the office or visiting the office only on last day to do relieving documentations).

Common Reason for Dismissal/Separation/Relieving/terminating the contract:
1. Performance (Client is not happy with you)
2. No current projects (If you are based in Malaysia, they will say they don’t have projects in Malaysia currently)
3. Transfer (You would have settled in the place recently, they will ask you to transfer to Malaysia/Vietnam/Singapore/China/Indonesia)
4. Highly billable resource (If you consider the market rate of you, you will be only below average, still the company/staffing company will claim you are highly paid).

NEED for software/Staffing companies:
1. When you are applying for a job, whatever they had mentioned in the Job advertisement, if you could manage to mention the same in your resume, the chances of your resume getting shortlisted is high. You can prepare all topics which they had mentioned in the job description and you can easily clear the interview.
2. Though you have rich experience in one version of software, if they need some other version. Ensure that in your resume, that you had worked in that environment or version.
3. Immediate availability.

Salary for Various nationalities (For same years of Experience and expertise)
• Indonesia/Philippines - low - USD 1500 per month
• Chinese/Malaysian - Average - USD 2000 to 2500 per month
• Singaporeans/Indians - High - USD 4000 to 6000 per month
• White Skins (Europeans/Americans/Australians) - Very high - USD 7000 to 10000 per month

When you consider the average salary @ Asia pacific is only 2/3 salary of any profession/environment/domain in Europe or Australia or America.

These staffing companies don’t have any professional ethics. Once you take the offer and join the client of staffing company, the communication or response will be very poor when you actually need it. They will invest on you for all things till they take you on board. We can work until we are billable. Once there is no billing on you, they will sack you out of the company with some excuse reasons. The definitions for all contract or permanent position are same only excluding some medical/insurance benefits.

It is very difficult to get jobs in any country for foreigners. Though you could see lot of openings in JobsDB or monster or any job web portal, it is very difficult for anyone to find a job. In every country, unemployment is there for their own citizens. Every company needs to justify the local government for approving visa for employing a foreign national. So please imagine the situation of local people also.

FOR THE EXPATS WHO MOVE OUT OF THE HOME COUNTRY

CRETIRIA ON WHICH YOU GET JOBS/CONFIRMATION/PROMOTION (other than all your experience and expertise)
1. SKIN/RACE
2. LOCAL LANGUAGE (CHINESE/JAPANESE/MALAY)
3. GETTING ADJUSTED TO THE BOSS/ENVIRONMENT

DONT GET EXPLOITED...FOR SAKE OF SALARY...DONT GET INTO A WORLD OF UNCERTAINITIES & UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT...ALL STAFFING COMPANIES WILL EXPLOIT YOU LIKE ANYTHING...BETTER STICK TO A STABLE/RELIABLE COMPANY WITH RIGHT PACKAGE IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY...MALAYASIA AND SINGAPORE are WORST IN EXPLOITATION of SOFTWARE PROFESSIONALS...
They will provide you flight tickets/initial accommodation to take you on board, once they don’t want you (not billed), you will fall under a pressure to get a job/stay in that land being foreigner. Many are compelled to fly back to their own country without job and due to which, a lot of consequences to affect their normal life.

THEY WILL SQUEEZE YOU LIKE SUGARCANE TO GET JUICE OUT OF YOU...THEY WILL THROW YOU OUT LIKE BAGGASE...

DON’T SEE ONLY THE LUCARATIVE SALARY…PLEASE THINK OF YOUR STABLE AND COMFORTABLE LIFE ALSO.

FINALLY TO END: ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD…an old well-known saying

Please friends…share your own experience ….which can make our fellow professionals to consider and to be careful while taking decisions to take an JOB in foreign countries.