Can we make a tier list for countries based on difficulty?

[Malarazz]

I mean a tier list for Asian and Latin American countries based on how easy or how difficult it is to land a job there.

For example, Venezuela ought to be the easiest due to the political crisis, so maybe let's call it tier 4. I'm not sure which is the hardest but I'm guessing Mexico, so let's call it tier 1. I'm assuming China and Sri Lanka (based on someone else's comment in another thread) are easy too, so let's call those tier 3 or even tier 4.

I'm specially interested in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines (do they even have international schools there?).

Of course, I know there are more important factors, such as the specific city you're applying for and specially which specific school you're applying for. But really I'm just curious.

If people like the idea of this post, feel free to discuss European (tier 0 lol), African, and Middle Eastern countries in this thread. But I personally am only interested in those two continents for the time being.

[fine dude]

If you are aiming at top-tier schools, these three cities/countries could be incredibly competitive as they pay some of the highest salaries and benefits in the world:
1. Bangkok, Thailand
2. Singapore
3. Tokyo, Japan

[PsyGuy]

Weve done it before already. What your looking for is more a hardship and desirability index of locations. Every region has a full range of tiers from Elite/first tier too third tier including the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

I dont know why you would think Mexico would be the hardest.

In the LCSA Cuba is the hardest theres two ISs and all the other problems. Next would probably be French Guiana much more livable but theres one IS there and it can be pricey. Ive heard debate that Montserrat is difficult theres 1 IS and a rather nice though pricey place to be.

In Asia, Macau is the hardest to get into, theres one IS there and a vacancy pops up every few years.

The DR is popular with divorced male ITs, not a lot of coin. Columbia is popular with single female ITs, youll make more than you will in the DR but salaries in the LCSA are generally low and shared housing is common at the lower tier IS.

Of the Asian regions you mentioned the order would be (top to bottom):
Malaysia,
Philippines
Indonesia
Vietnam
Indonesia is a bit of a problem between Jakarta and Bali, if your living and teaching in Bali than it would be above the Philippines. Vietnam has some of the worst ISs on the planet and theres one maybe 2 tier one ISs.

[Malarazz]

Sorry I didn't realize we had done this before. Any idea how I could search for or find that thread? I have no clue how to use the search function correctly in this forum.

So Malaysia is the hardest of the 4 to get hired at, Philippines is kinda hard, Jakarta is kinda easy, and Vietnam is the easiest but only because the ISs suck. That correct? And then China is even easier still, specially since it's a massive country. Where would DR and Colombia land in that scale, when compared to Asian countries?

[Thames Pirate]

This is almost impossible to do by country. How hard is it to get a job in China? Well, incredibly easy because there are so many schools. Or are you only talking about top schools in a given country (top schools in Japan vs. top schools in UAE)? If the former, what would you count as an international school?

Basically if you want to work in a country, you can probably find something. Whether that something gives you any benefits or assistance with visas, shipping, etc. or pays decently or is a place you would actually want to go or is an international school in name only is a different question.

Perhaps if we knew more about what information you wanted, it could help.

[PsyGuy]

@Malarazz

When I think of responding to this type of question, I think of the competition between regions were a generic IT candidate at some fair and had similar offers between ISs of those regions, as opposed to which is harder and which is easiest. The rule is there is a job for anyone if you will accept anything.

I wouldnt want to put the DR and Columbia on the same scale as Asia as those locations are in the LCSA, and the priorities between the two regions that appeal and dissuade ITs are just too different. However, given the same scenario of a generic IT at some fair with similar offers from comparable ISs and they had to be rank ordered based on very, very broad generalizations:

Malaysia,
Bali
Philippines/Columbia
Jakarta
Vietnam
Dominican Republic

Columbia would basically be tied with the Philippines. The coin just wouldnt be there for the DR, compared to Vietnam, and yes Vietnam has some horrible ISs, but my assumption is that all the ISs were comparable to one another.

[Illiane_Blues]

There's a good school, named after a woman, in the Dominican Republic where you can save 10-20K per year. But not many teachers are keen to go to the Dominican Republic because it's not very safe.
The same is true for a few other Latin American countries, but in most of those you'll save less.
There are not many safe countries in Latin America either where you will save more.
I'm not sure how competitive it is to get a job at this school though. A good school is a reason for some to turn a blind eye to the country & city it's in.
If you look at only the top schools, I think the ranking would be like this:
1. Malaysia / 2. Vietnam / 3. Indonesia / 4. Philippines / 5. Dominican Republic / 6. Colombia
There are really good schools in all of these countries but Colombia. If it wasn't for the excellent school in Manilla, among the very best in the world, The Philippines would be much lower on the list though. And the same is true for Jakarta, where the school is also the main draw rather than the city.
But if you're ok with any school, you can find a job in all of them.

[Heliotrope]

Yes, the 'excellent school in Manilla' is basically my dream school, but unfortunately it's not exactly in a dream city. I hear they get loads and loads of applications though, despite being located in Manilla.
It's an interesting country for travelling though.

[Bookworm]

Bangladesh and Yangon are two very difficult places, being very low on the international list for modern living. Poor infrastructure, widespread corruption, lack of healthy foods, poor health/hygiene, prevalence of mosquito borne diseases and periodic poor air quality. I would include many Indian cities for terrible air pollution; Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) for almost lethal air quality. Libya, Tunisia and basically most of north Africa would deeply concern me because of instability and high risk of terrorist incidents and kidnapping/murder. I would start off with Syria at No.1 and work back from there.