[AMA] I'm an Australian Working in The US, AMA

Ldown-under on 03/05/2020 - 13:09
Last edited 17/05/2020 - 14:55

Long time lurker, first time poster. Now seems to be an interesting time to do this AMA :). Hope I can answer all your China / Chinese related questions.

Currently working in software related area, but I had experiences in different industries across different disciplines, and recently thinking about starting an aquaculture business.

Of course, I'm not representing any groups, and all my answers will be my personal opinions.

Edit: Just before the post is locked, I changed the title from Chinese Australian to Australian, I know in Oz we care more about country of citizenship than race, and I like it :) (In the US it’s a bit different)

Introduce Yourself

closed Comments

  • DiLs on 03/05/2020 - 15:40
    -4

    What are your thoughts about COVID occuring due to eating live animals and virus jumping species from animals to human?

    • down-under on 03/05/2020 - 16:12
      +4

      Not an expert but I think eating live animals could transmit the virus. But regarding "eating live animal" itself please refer to the other message I replied to your comment LOL

  • WreckTangle on 03/05/2020 - 17:54

    You go to Canada much?

    • down-under on 03/05/2020 - 18:04
      +1

      Yes I have a close friend in Vancouver and I visit him regularly, it’s a 100 minutes drive door to door if I cross the border before 8AM (in busy hours, crossing the border alone can take more than 2 hours if unlucky)

  • [Deactivated] on 03/05/2020 - 18:23
    +1

    What a weird strange topic, should be merged with the rest.

    • WreckTangle on 03/05/2020 - 18:41

      Is that you Mr Trump?

    • Jugganautx on 03/05/2020 - 20:05

      Waiting for the "I'm a Syrian Australian working in Russia AMA."

      • [Deactivated] on 03/05/2020 - 20:58

        That's just even ahh (who regulates these posts) 😤😤😤😤

      • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 03:57
        +6

        Please notify me when someone does that AMA… :D

  • Prince K on 03/05/2020 - 20:17
    +2

    How difficult was it to get the e3 visa and how long was the whole process? Any tricks or tips from first hand experience? I’ve been researching a lot into it and I only meet the bare minimum requirement of the visa (3 years bachelor degree) and is calculating my chances. Thanks for doing the ama!

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 04:11
      +1

      If you meet the hard requirements, which you do, then as long as you can find an eligible employer to sponsor you, there's no other obstacles at your side. I think for requirements for the employer are, currently not having too many foreign employees, and your salary should be above a line determined by industry and location.

      The employer needs to apply for a LCA (Labor Condition Application), which takes approximately 2-3 weeks, then you apply for the visa (normally takes another 3 weeks solely because you need to find an available time slot for the visa interview), plus a few days for preparing documents, overall it takes between 6 to 8 weeks after getting the job offer.

    • no not me on 04/05/2020 - 16:11

      Please be aware that 3 years is the average length of an Australian degree. The average U.S. degree is 4 years, so you can't rely on just having done a 3 year degree. A general rule of thumb is that each 3 years of professional experience equates to one year of university experience. So you'd need 3 years study + 3 years of work experience, or 4 years of work experience. You can get your degree certified by a few organisations in the U.S. basically they'll claim that it is equivalent to a U.S, degree, this might work. But also be aware that having applied for and failed to get a Visa can make it harder to get one in the future. It's better to not have the failed attempt against your name, at least, that's what I read about when I was looking to apply for overseas jobs.

      • Prince K on 05/05/2020 - 22:02

        I've read from other visa forums that a bachelor degree in Aus is equivalent to a US one, regardless if it's 3 or 4 years. I'd include that post here but I've read so many I can't find it anymore… Is your info from first hand experience?

        Edit: I just found this forum but it isn't the one I read previously. If you Ctrl+F and search "3 year" it'd pop up
        https://britishexpats.com/forum/us-immigration-citizenship-v…

  • Choc83 on 03/05/2020 - 20:44

    If I know Java/ASP/SQL from 18 years ago but have worked in different industries, how hard would it be to re-skill for the modern dev world?

    • [Deactivated] on 03/05/2020 - 21:11
      +2

      Depends if you're a fast learner or not. My wife started out as a system analyst then became a social worker for a decade and is now back to programming. They didn't cut her any slack. She had to be just as good as someone who had been in the industry for 15 years. The first 3 months was brutal and she's a fast learner.

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 04:22
      +3

      Software development is really just a different kind of labor works… As long as you can code, you can come back to this industry at any time. I have a colleague who started coding in his 50's.

      Modern or not is less important, the fundamental idea of programming didn't change.

  • dufflover on 03/05/2020 - 20:57

    How many guns do you own?

    • ilikeradiohead on 04/05/2020 - 01:42

      Foreigners can't buy guns so probably zero.

      • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 04:25
        +3

        Foreigners can buy guns, just need to apply for a permit first.

        But yeah, I do not have a gun. The gun culture here is one of the things I don't like.

  • hashtagbargain on 03/05/2020 - 21:33

    How was your e3 visa experience? Timelines? Have you had it renewed? Family on e3d? Overall thoughts?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 04:38

      For foreigners who want to work in the US, e3 visa is a privilege only given to Australians. (plus special visa for Canadians and Mexicans and special H1B quotas for Singaporeans and Chileans, people from all other countries need to compete for the super limited H1B visas)

      So overall it's pretty ok, no complaints, except that US's visa system is a bit weird in general. It took approx. 6-8 weeks to get the visa (including employer's part), family on e3d, and I had it renewed just before the pandemic, and after the renewal the visa type is actually called e3r.

      • tik tok on 04/05/2020 - 13:06

        can partner work on the e3d/r ?

        • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 13:23
          +1

          Yes, no restrictions (need to get EAD separately, which takes around 2 months)

  • aussieprepper on 03/05/2020 - 21:42

    Do you talk like an Aussie still? Do you need a translator? lol
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Ixz3Uv5Bo

    Also do you ever talk like crocodile dundee just to play with people?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 05:05
      +3

      Hahahaha. Unfortunately my Australian accent has never covered my Chinese accent. When doing the driving test here, the officer looked at my NSW driver licence and asked me why he didn't hear my Australian accent, I told him "G'day mate, how the bloody hell could I know"

      With that said, I prefer Australian English. E.g. I do not like rhotic English (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English), and I bake chips (not fries) for my son, etc :D

  • christopher8827 on 03/05/2020 - 23:11

    Do you work at FAANG? I would love to work in the US - mind telling me how you managed to score a position on the E3 there?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 05:11

      Prefer not to state my employer :)

      For software developers it's a standard process, get an interview (internal referral helps a lot), and nail it (it's all about some 'predictable' tech questions).

  • Trioboy on 04/05/2020 - 07:45

    Will Trump get re-elected?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 09:05
      +3

      Before the virus, yes. Now, still likely yes. The difference is, now what happens in the next 6 months became a more important factor than before

      • [Deactivated] on 04/05/2020 - 11:18

        What does that man have to do to lose the election? Are the American people masochists?

        • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 12:41

          First question is easy… he doesn't need to do anything to lose… :D

          • Trioboy on 04/05/2020 - 15:49
            +3

            @down-under: Perhaps the Democrats need to come up with a better candidate? (not Hillary though lol.)

  • justwii on 04/05/2020 - 12:07

    How did you move your house or stuff over there? Did the company organise accommodation? If yes, is it a must for them to provide accommodation for overseas employees?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 12:20

      I used the relocation service offered by the employer. It's not a requirement for them.

      From what I heard, normally they let you choose between a relocation package or a lump sum payment, but they made the decision for me, possibly because I have a family… But for me it was totally worth it.

  • 50centscheaper on 04/05/2020 - 12:33

    How do you find the working culture between Aus vs US? Thanks

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 12:40
      +1

      I think the differences between companies are many levels bigger than the average difference between Aus and US, so my answer is, it's something you can ignore.

  • Agarwal on 04/05/2020 - 13:47

    Why do the Mariners suck so much?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 14:38

      At least they have a team. SuperSonics is gone.

      • Agarwal on 04/05/2020 - 15:21

        Yes, that is a shame.

  • penguin286 on 04/05/2020 - 13:50
    +2

    I had this sense Americans can sometimes come off lacking knowledge with different cultures internationally but still remain outspoken. A former American colleague theorized that it could be the fact America having 52 states is almost like 52 different sub-cultures which they learn on top of cultures of other countries. That and the fact they tend to talk more in general.

    Is there anything here you can confirm or readjust given your experience there?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 14:36
      +2

      Yes, if you turn on the TV, it's all about US, US and US.

      It's also true that there are much bigger differences between states in the US than in Australia, mainly because here state/county/city governments control more stuff than in Australia, for example, the shops 1 km north and 1 km south from my place, have different sales tax (gst) rates, isn't that amazing. No wonder why differences between states are much bigger.

    • ak47wong on 04/05/2020 - 15:48
      +1

      52 states?

  • titanity on 04/05/2020 - 14:49

    How's the pay/opportunity for software engineers in the US compared to Australia?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 14:59
      +3

      Significantly higher, especially when taking current USDAUD rate into consideration. https://www.levels.fyi can give you some numbers.

  • JoBevo on 04/05/2020 - 17:11

    Is there a rise in harassment and/or assaults in the US against Chinese or Asians in general there?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 17:24

      Answered this question at the beginning of this thread (the 4th question, by Blue Cat)

  • ajdj10 on 04/05/2020 - 17:27
    -4

    Do you find the Asians that are born there aren't as bright?

    • down-under on 04/05/2020 - 17:42
      +1

      Comparing to what? But I guess it doesn’t affect my answer. I don’t have a full picture of the US born Asians, and the ones I know are mostly my colleagues. Almost every one of them reminds me of these guys https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2018/july/us-wins-… 😂 I think that means they’re bright enough, to me at least.

  • MementoMori on 04/05/2020 - 21:15

    Thank you for your AMA. I work in IT as well.

    How do you find the office culture, notice many differences? (longer hours, more reserved socially?)

    Are you contract or permanent?

    Also, can you share information about salary/rates compared to Australia? I imagine they are better now with the strong USD.

    • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 04:57
      +1

      Previously I mentioned that the differences between companies are much larger, which makes the differences between Australia and US insignificant. But later something did come into my mind, like, in the US people don't appreciate humbleness very much, and here political correctness is really a thing, especially in the big companies.

      As an E3 visa holder, there's nothing permanent and in general employments in the US tend to be "at will". If you mean if I'm an 'vendor', no.

      Regarding salaries, https://www.levels.fyi can give you some numbers for the IT industry. In the US pay rates varies greatly in different industries, and minimum wages are really low.

      • MementoMori on 06/05/2020 - 13:40

        Thank you.

        That is a very useful site to see big technical salaries at big name tech vendors.

        Are they less at an end client? i.e. say if you worked for a Energy/Utility company in IT or similar.

        Edit: Actually, to make it simpler, if you were earning $150k total package here in Australia as a perm in IT (Solution Architect, PM, Senior Dev, anything really), what would you expect to get in the US?

        According to that site it looks like $150k USD, which is almost double??

        • down-under on 06/05/2020 - 17:18
          +2

          Yes, at current exchange rate, it's likely more than double (AU$150k in Oz is normally senior, while US$150k in big techs is for junior)

          • MementoMori on 07/05/2020 - 08:07
            +1

            @down-under: I just compared with Monsters salary feature.

            https://www.monster.com/salary/search?q=Cloud%20Architect&wh…

            https://www.monster.com/salary/search?q=Big%20Data%20Archite…

            The salaries on this website seem much, much closer? If the Australian dollar got 15% stronger than they would be roughly the same.

            Were you referring only to roles the premium big tech Giants like Apple, Netflix, Google, Amazon and Facebook or all IT roles?

            Based on my limited research it seems like these crazy salaries are only possible at these prestige tech companies. Even IBM and Oracle seem in the ballpark with Australian rates.

            Any further information on this you could share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

            • down-under on 07/05/2020 - 08:31

              @MementoMori: Sorry my knowledge about salaries is limited to these few companies only, but good news is, they have dozens of thousands openings all the time and it's not hard to get in. If interested, you can interview with each of them once / twice every year, if really unlucky, you can do it again next year. Try to get an internal referral when applying (so that you'll be more likely to get the interview)

              • MementoMori on 07/05/2020 - 09:49
                +1

                @down-under: I've heard through friends who work at Amazon (AU, US) and Google (AU) that they are slave drivers.

                Being US companies, phone calls at 11pm at night and that type of thing. Constant evaluation and monitoring from your peers and boss. A firing of the 'bottom 10%' each year and a never expiring job ad to keep fresh guys coming in and cycling through them.

                It made me wonder if this is why they pay sign up bonus that have anniversary payments or stock options that don't vest to keep you in for at least two years - so you've been molded into their way of working by the end of that.

                Might be worth the big bucks depending on what stage in life you are at, although if you had a new family or something it sounds terrible.

                Have you found this to be the case? Would love to hear your experience, mine is only from about 4-5 people.

                • down-under on 07/05/2020 - 11:46
                  +1

                  @MementoMori: Yeah, that’s very Amazon.

                  And in most of those companies if you work on an online service then there will be on call duties, 24*7, but some services are robust while some others are not.

                  Amazon and Facebook are known to be very busy.

                  • MementoMori on 07/05/2020 - 13:33
                    +1

                    @down-under: The idea of a big salary at one of these prestige Tech companies sounds great, as long as you don't have to kill yourself in the process!

                    I suppose the only way to know is to ask around as well as try and few and see. I'm sure it also depends on which specific part of an organisation as well (some teams might be OK, some might be terrible).

                    Thanks again and also thanks for doing this AMA.

  • jeka1103 on 04/05/2020 - 21:17

    I have a few questions…

    Are you concerned about getting COVID? The Australian media is painting a very bleak picture of the US, however that is mostly concentrated around New York and the general madness of Trump. Whats the deal with health insurance? Did you have it included with your job package? Could you access testing for free/covered by insurance if need be? Is the US health system at all a concern for you?

    You mentioned you moved with your family, do you have kids? If so, how are their schools dealing with the pandemic? And, generally, how are you finding the US education system compared with Australia?

    • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 04:42
      +5

      I'm not very concerned because I work from home, but I do wear masks when going to the grocery stores. The situation in New York is indeed really bad (based on the numbers). About health insurance, seems the employer is paying around $17k per year for my family (4 persons), which is outrageously high… I'm not sure but I think I do have some special access to testings not because of the insurance but thanks to my employer.

      The US health system is a big concern to me, not only because everything is super expensive, but also because I couldn't understand why you pay similar out-of-pocket cost with/without insurance. I mean, if you don't have an insurance, the providers give you huge discounts, and if you have insurance, sorry no discount, as a result you pay similar out-of-pocket prices, in some cases you can pay more of your own money if you have insurance. This is just so wrong.

      My kid is only at year 1 of primary school so I don't know much about the differences, for now I see they don't have uniforms, and yellow school buses are everywhere. but I have the impression that US schools are very different from Australian schools. Currently they're all studying at home.

      • sarahlump on 05/05/2020 - 14:42
        +4

        the whole health insurance industry in the US is wrong, backwards, upside down, and spun around 8 times.

        The yellow busses are pretty simple, they'll pick up and drop off your child every day, and if you see a yellow school bus stop, no matter which side of the road you're on you have to stop. the stop sign is a road sign. Very important for the safety of children and your wallet.(the fines can be big). Don't get me started on the bus drivers, some of them are absolutely mad.

        The school system there is a bit different from Australia but mostly just in that they'll cover American law, American history, etc. Things that are relevant to your children being an american.

      • MementoMori on 06/05/2020 - 14:06

        The middle class paying $17k per year is the part people who love Obamacare don't hear about or recognise.

  • gstfree on 05/05/2020 - 00:36

    Does the States people know what is capsicum?
    Do you pay tips at the time of paying restaurant bill?

    • josetann on 05/05/2020 - 03:29

      Capsicum = bell pepper

      If you want to put the tip on your credit card, then you pay the tip at the same time as the bill. If paying cash, you just leave the tip on the table and hope no one else swipes it. The only time I hand a cash tip directly to the server is if the server takes payment at the end of the meal and I'm paying cash (if I have appropriate bills, I'll leave enough to cover the bill plus tip and tell the server to "keep the change"; else I have to wait to get change and then leave a tip on the table as normal).

      • gstfree on 05/05/2020 - 16:40

        Thanks.

    • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 04:24

      They possibly do not know capsicum. Last time I asked they had no idea what rockmelon is.

      Yes I pay tips (otherwise prepare for war), but when I'm not with others, I go to fast food restaurants where tip is not required.

      • luffyex2010 on 05/05/2020 - 09:11

        Which is your favourite fast food in us.

        Have you tried Popeyes, Taco Bell, Wendys and etc, are US fastfood better or worse compare to Au fastfood.

        • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 09:43

          I don't care too much about food in general, so they're not very different to me… In Australia I prefer normal restaurants.

          • sarahlump on 05/05/2020 - 14:43

            @down-under: ooh, you should hit up cookout, and try some hush puppies(they're pretty disappointing but part of the experience), erm, try hardies, and erm, yeah that's about it, fast food is pretty disappointing in general.

        • Hamlet on 05/05/2020 - 20:37
          +1

          In N Out is the bomb dude.

      • gstfree on 05/05/2020 - 16:40

        Cheers.

    • Eeples on 06/05/2020 - 18:11
      +2

      Rocket is Arugula.

      If that helps.

  • sarahlump on 05/05/2020 - 08:48

    what are your thoughts on papers about interesting galaxies that don't actually contain any pictures of said interesting galaxies?

    • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 09:41
      +1

      Sooner or later they will be moving away from us faster than light and lost forever, let me focus on Mars first.

      • sarahlump on 05/05/2020 - 14:38

        to be fair, soon and even later in this case is a strange term to use to describe the expansion of space in our universe eventually being faster than the speed of light when it's currently faster than the speed of light and also it's a bit strange to use soon or even late in cosmic time scales. I appreciate your answer.

        • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 15:11

          Phew, almost revealed myself. 😄

          • luffyex2010 on 05/05/2020 - 16:32

            @down-under: NASA? Working for ex nazi bosses 😂

            Just did a mental count…. they should be over 100 in 2020 or dead.

          • LordPanda on 05/05/2020 - 21:27

            @down-under: I've a few friends working at JPL and Lockheed :) Or perhaps you're working for that half-brilliant and half-wit Mr Musk :)

  • rlay3 on 05/05/2020 - 13:54
    +2

    Any chance you are an ex-google or ex-facebook tech lead?

    • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 14:02

      Unfortunately, no :)

  • sarahlump on 05/05/2020 - 14:47

    Have you seen many of the tourist attractions? you're in dc, so just over the border in VA there's quantico, just south of VA in NC there's a nice beach, erm, there's loads of nice outdoors places too! it's getting into summer so you'll also get glow bugs, (I lived in north Carolina for 7 years). I'd definitely recommend visiting some outdoors places. The rivers there can be nice for kayaking or just lazily floating down in an inner tube. They have drive in movie theaters over there. Idk, lots to see and do.

    • down-under on 07/05/2020 - 15:19

      Oh previously I thought this is replying to mungas's deleted comment. I'm in Washington State not DC, but good to know there are nice outdoor places there, yeah, if not the pandemic I should be in south east states last month, I've thinking about visiting there for a while already.

      Yes I saw fireflies in the DC 2 years ago, very interesting!

  • love2buy on 05/05/2020 - 17:53

    Is rc racing a big thing over there? When I ask people visiting from the states, they don't know what I'm talking about.

    • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 18:53

      Not around me. But I know someone is making a killer robot (remotely controlled, not necessarily radio controlled) for some competitions.

      I think it really depends on if you’re in that circle or not. It’s definitely not a public sport yet.

  • [Deactivated] on 05/05/2020 - 18:40

    Do you miss Australia? If yes, what do you miss? If not, why not?

    • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 19:02

      Yes I do. Basically everything, if I have to name 2 of them: friends and the coastlines.

  • BuyoTheCat on 05/05/2020 - 18:54

    CoBOL programmer are back in demand in USA. I heard CoBOL and I broke into cold sweat. Some cobol programmers have rised from the grave to reclaim the world

    • down-under on 05/05/2020 - 19:08

      If you can't beat them, join them? 😂

  • Yaren24 on 06/05/2020 - 07:17
    +1

    Hi OP, how do you feel overall about US's healthcare system as opposed to Australia's? Do they have have systems similar to Centrelink? Thanks

    • down-under on 06/05/2020 - 07:53
      +2

      Like sarahlump commented earlier, "the whole health insurance industry in the US is wrong, backwards, upside down, and spun around 8 times."

      For unemployment benefits, I don't have personal experiences but a quick search shows in the US they're managed at state level, so each state may have different rules. Homelessness in US is a much much bigger problem than in Australia, so I assume their coverage is not very good.

  • [Deactivated] on 06/05/2020 - 10:06

    What was your motivation to move to the USA? And how does it compare to Australia?

    • down-under on 06/05/2020 - 14:01

      US for work and Oz for life :D, hahaha. (not going to details as already answered some similar questions and others also contributed a lot on this topic)

  • khomeini on 06/05/2020 - 11:55

    Thanks for your post & I hope you are enjoying yourself in the grand ole US of A.

    What are your thoughts on the persecution of the Uighur population in western China? From forced "rehabilitation" to rape & death & everything in-between. I feel that the world has turned a blind eye to this due to it being either "too hard" or a "well it's Muslims so…". Imagine the outcry if it were Jews or Europeans to whom this was occurring.

    I'm always interested in the views of those within China or with "Han Chinese" ethnicity and their thoughts. Is it an issue - is it conflated? Do you think they brought it on themselves?

    Below is some scary reading if you don't know this already. (And from many more non-bias sources if you care to look)

    Links:
    https://www.businessinsider.com.au/muslim-woman-describes-ho…

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2020/04/04/the-fat…

    • down-under on 06/05/2020 - 13:48

      Oh, I like geopolitic topics but I have never thought much about the Xinjiang conflicts.

      I think ultimately interests (a general concept, not necessarily money) drives everything, it's less reported possibly because there isn't much interests for major powers (except China). (based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_conflict, East Turkestan Independence Movement (ETIM) was supported by UK and Japan in 1933-1934, by Soviet Union before 1989, and now by no country, only some organisations)

      I wouldn't think "they brought it on themselves", unless it's proven that every one of the affected people are active members or closely supporting ETIM, which is not likely to be the case.

      But if someone 'really' wants to solve the issue, I don't think hitting on human rights violations is the right direction, because this is a public unrest, without solving the underlying problems there's no way human rights can be assured.

      On the other hand, I guess situations may be not that bad, otherwise people can always go to other parts of China easily.

    • ToTheMoon on 06/05/2020 - 13:50
      +1

      I was born in China and am a Han Chinese.

      Personally, I think the precaution that putting extremist people and who is on the way to be an extremist into rehabilitation taken by the Chinese Government is pretty similar to Western Governments doing to people who or whose family member joins ISIS - surveillance their communication, making them stay at home rather than go overseas for jihad. Rape& death & everything else in-between is pretty similar to what is happening in jails in other countries like you imagine and I don't see anything in particular to China.

      links:
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-01/momena-shoma-court-ca…
      google "prison rape", "prison deaths"

    • BuyoTheCat on 06/05/2020 - 14:53

      when I was in china, I was stuck on a long train ride with a chinese man. He got really chatty when he realise i could speak chinese. He showed me his travels over china and most of south east asia. I asked him about Xinjiang, his reply was "Pffttt. why do you want to go there. There is nothing there worth seeing." By and large, it seems to be the sentiment I got from a few other Han chinese. This is by no means a rigorous survey.

      There is another muslim group, Hui. They do not suffer as much oppression. My anecdotal observation is: It is not strictly about religion but also culture and compliance. The Hui differ from in term of religion. Appearance, culture, language, they are almost the same as han chinese. The uyghurs are not.

      I have read that seeseepee is starting to infringe upon hui's practise of religion, I do not have much information though

      This is just my anecdotal observation.

      • down-under on 06/05/2020 - 15:38

        Based on my limited experience, I think it’s more related to region, Uighurs in East China seem to live just fine (there are noodle shops owned by Uighurs everywhere, and I love it)

        Regarding travelling, it’s a bit too far away, most people only made to Qinghai (half way on that direction), and Xinjiang is known to be not-very-safe, riot is really a thing there. Even if someone is in a mood of travelling to somewhere like Xinjiang, he may end up thinking about Tibet. So it doesn’t have to mean that he thinks Xinjiang is bad, he just really doesn’t know much about it (like me :D)

  • lainey13 on 06/05/2020 - 14:00

    What's the ball park figure for IT salaries in your experience? Mostly interested in dev and testing work rates. Just for curiosity on comparison. I'm guessing cost of living is lower in the US if you eliminate health care costs?

  • hopper on 06/05/2020 - 14:33

    can u but baby formula without limit for what ever purpose you might. As we know its a big problem in our country

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