What am I doing in Taiwan? Attention foreigners living in Asia

 What am I doing in Taiwan? Attention foreigners living in Asia

If you have stumbled upon my blog, then definitely you’re probably somebody who is living in Asia. Maybe you were wondering what you’re doing here too.

Asia is just a wonderful place with an exciting culture. I think that for me, as a North American, it’s tough to describe to people back home. And they don’t understand what I mean about Asia unless they’re Asian.

The first thing you must worry about living in Asia is the language. Second is the culture.

I think putting Asians all in one basket is probably doing them a disservice, though. Every place in Asia is different.

I mean, if you want cheap living, then you can choose places like Cambodia and Thailand. I’ve heard that the medical is good in Thailand, but in Cambodia, it’s not that great. Probably good for everyday things like medical checkups. But not for heart attacks.

I think that I’m wondering what’s in the future for me. A lot of people, when they get here in their 20s and 30s, then they think about, OK, I’m just going to be an English teacher and make lots of money. But they don’t think about what they will do after that. I was teaching online for a couple of years, and then abruptly, all of the online English teaching companies in China shut down.

So what is there to do? What are you supposed to do now? I mean, everybody knows that online is the way to go. Online everything is the eighth continent of the world. So how do we get there now?

Well, one thing you could do, is looking at other English teaching companies online. The thing is obviously because there are so many people that know how to speak English in the world, there’s so much competition as well. The thing is, though, that some people who do speak English they’re not tech-savvy, so obviously, they can’t teach English online like you or me.

Another way to go about it is maybe you could just be an online tutor and then go ahead and teach other subjects. There are a lot of opportunities for Spanish teachers, German teachers, and maybe math teachers. The thing is that these subjects need some qualifications. As for math tutors in America, you usually have to be in America to do a job like this.

So basically, I’ve been looking at coding. 

The thing is that a lot of people do think about coding and that it’s such a hassle. Coding is complicated, and I mean, they’re trying to make some apps where you don’t even need coding to make some programs. I don’t think the technology is there yet.

What I am trying to do is I’m trying to narrow down my focus to one aspect of coding. People say that if you’re trying to learn anything on the Internet, it’s like trying to drink from the ocean. You’re going to be trying to swallow too much information simultaneously. And it could be frustrating.

So I found a guy online talking about front-end development—specifically using JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and focusing on one platform. For people who are not tech savvy, concentrating on one platform, can sound like gibberish.

There are different types of platforms that you can use to program. 

One platform that I’ve discovered is Shopify. There are actually 2 million users on Shopify, and it’s a really niche market. A lot of people are using Shopify because they can’t code themselves and have money, but they need to have an online e-commerce presence.

Other alternatives are things like WordPress. 

If you know how to use PHP, then you can make these things called widgets. Without getting into too much detail, there are about 30% of all the websites online are made with WordPress. So basically, if you can fix the bugs that people have on their WordPress site, then you can have some jobs.

Freelancing is also another good way to go.

The thing is that with freelancing, you need to either be famous or technical. The thing is that, say, for example, the analogy of a mechanic. As long as you have a steady stream of people who have broken motorcycles and damaged cars, you’ll have some work.

People always want things fixed, and they might not necessarily have as much patience as you do. And as long as you have the technical know-how and you have a little patience, then I can think that you would probably be able to fix anything online. Maybe except for obviously a super technical website. That’s another story.

The point that I’m trying to make is that technology is changing, and the economy is changing. 

If you’re trying to focus on a job skill that requires you to be in person and make a lot of money doing that, it may be challenging. But people who are in their 20s and just getting out of college right now, they know that already.

As an English teacher living in Asia, that’s OK for you if you want to stay teaching English in the classroom, but for me, I think I need to develop my skills to make something online. Figure out a way to stay at home and not commute very long. These are just things that I’m thinking about. I’m just wondering if you’re thinking about that too.