The Best Industries for Foreign Professionals in Taiwan

Among the more common questions asked on the local Facebook job boards for foreigners is something like, “What industries do foreigners in Taiwan work in?” It’s a great question and it’s certainly valuable to have some idea of the answer when conducting your own job search.

The list of industries below is compiled based on first-hand knowledge of many professional foreigners, discussions with friends and peers, and regular reading of job boards. The list is by no means exhaustive, but I do believe it’s accurate in covering the majority of non-teaching industries that employ a significant number of foreign professionals. Of course, there are a number of “unicorns” out there who have very few or no peers for what they do, but the industries that employ those few folks will be omitted here. Giddy-up.

Startups

Let’s get this out of the way: startups are not an industry, I know. But startups are a fast-rising employer group that merit their own mention here. As is the general trend on this island, the startup space skews towards tech, though there are startups of every stripe. Taiwan startups are often foreigner-friendly because of the changing mindsets of so many new business owners, who are increasingly in their 20s and 30s. Many of these new entrepreneurs have travelled extensively or lived/studied abroad, and also embrace the need or desire for foreign talent, diverse perspectives, and/or a multi-lingual workforce to bring value to their company. One other noteworthy point is that many startups operate with a fairly flat leadership structure, creating a more collaborative and open workplace (some might say more western) compared to traditional top-down management style.

Computer Hardware + Software

Next to manufacturing, computer hardware is on the short list of industries that has put Taiwan on the map. Numerous hardware consumer brands and OEMs employ foreigners in a variety of roles, spanning engineering, sales, marketing, and technical writing. These jobs can be found in the highest concentrations in Taipei and Hsinchu.

Computer software and Software as a Service (SaaS) are growing industries in Taiwan, and a growing source of professional opportunities. As with computer hardware, these jobs cover numerous specialties and needs, including engineering, sales, marketing, customer service, recruiting, and content creation.

Acting + Modeling

It’s really not clear how many foreign actors and models earn all or most of their income working in Taiwan. A huge number of people have done it at least once for what sounds like easy cash (that’s often not the case), and you don’t need to stay here long to meet people who clearly have pretty frequent gigs. That being said, the majority of these gigs don’t boast impressive payouts and most of the models and actors we know personally also mix in other work to fill out their monthly schedule and bankroll.

Mobile Gaming

Mobile apps and games have boomed globally in the past decade. With some of the world’s fastest internet and world-class gamers, Taiwan is perfectly situated to host many game publishers and studios. Opportunities in the gaming industry are available for engineers, designers, sales, writers, translators, and marketing roles.

Publishing

In this section we include newspapers, educational publishers, and all other book and magazine publishers. Reaching back 10-15 years ago, publishing was traditionally the most common industry for teachers who wanted to make the jump into other professional work. One aspect that many foreign professionals and freelancers take advantage of with publishing is occasionally submitting work to newspapers that pertains to their passions or the industry they may be trying to break into, such as event planning, music and movie reviews, or international politics. With a few educational publishers, occasional scholarly university stuff in English, and a couple of English-language newspapers, publishing offers a number of jobs doing primarily what you’d expect: writing and editing.

Marketing and Advertising

This s