Salary.sg Forums

Originally Posted by harrow

The chances of me getting into NUS law is slim (only 250 seats or so per year), but if I do get in, and if I do pass with a 2:2 (you need a 2:2 to practise), I will graduate in 3 years (graduate entry). SMU's JD is probably easier to enter but it costs 70k.

The starting salary for lawyers in SG is 5-6k. So being a lawyer in Singapore is not a bad career. It can rise to 10k after a few years. I know, I have a few lawyer friends.

Studying overseas for a law degree is quite pointless as you cannot practise in Singapore (unless you study in one of the allowed universities and are lucky enough to get a training contact (currently in short supply)). The main point of being a lawyer is to rake in some money. Personally, I will enjoy being a lawyer as it suits me.


Do you know in order to get something in life,you have to sacrifice something else? - 20 year old teenager :P

You say NUS slim coz limited seats okay that's understandable but you say smu can't enter law coz 70k? Wtf you're making 70k your excuse when you can actually get into the program and attain a law degree increase your job prospects,status,salary,profession and you can't achieve all this is because 70k is ur problem ? Take loan and study la or just say you aren't confident you will be successful in this field.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi TS, thanks.

So what teaching certification did you take? The TEFL?

I don't think you need to pay heed to the naysayers here. End of the day everyone treads their own path and lives the consequences of their decisions.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Now he wanna be a teacher trainer or corporate presenter liao
Waiting till he say he wanna be the next president

Originally Posted by Unregistered

are u guys really that dumb that u need to feed a troll/moron? some lepak 1 corner hippie teacher in 3rd world country claim he want to be lawyer, mnc mid top manager & u guys actuallytake him seriously....

Originally Posted by harrow

The chances of me getting into NUS law is slim (only 250 seats or so per year), but if I do get in, and if I do pass with a 2:2 (you need a 2:2 to practise), I will graduate in 3 years (graduate entry). SMU's JD is probably easier to enter but it costs 70k.

The starting salary for lawyers in SG is 5-6k. So being a lawyer in Singapore is not a bad career. It can rise to 10k after a few years. I know, I have a few lawyer friends.

Studying overseas for a law degree is quite pointless as you cannot practise in Singapore (unless you study in one of the allowed universities and are lucky enough to get a training contact (currently in short supply)). The main point of being a lawyer is to rake in some money. Personally, I will enjoy being a lawyer as it suits me.



Sure, feel free to PM me. I think most Singaporeans our age are native speakers of Singaporean English (unless you speak Chinese or Malay or Tamil at home and with your friends and not Singlish). I don't have a thick Singaporean accent (in fact, I probably speak better than probably 95% of folks in Singapore (including many news presenters)) so I guess that helps. At least I don't speak in a syllable-timed way or struggle with basic grammar etc. Being a corporate presenter/PR guy is another career avenue I am considering due to this.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Throughout my life, I have found that I am better at English (always one of the top students even if I slept through classes) and Geography, History, etc, but I struggle a little with Mathematics, complex formulas, etc.

So I have decided to stick to the things I am better at and enjoy the most.

Before I taught, I completed a teaching certificate. Having teaching experience is pretty useful.

I earn around 3-4k SGD a month currently(with a nice apartment and utility bills all paid for by my employer...this would be an additional 400-600 SGD). I will just say I earn 3k as I earn less during the holidays (I get 3 months of paid holiday each year, but I spend a lot of money on traveling sometimes, as it is usual for folks here to travel during the winter/summer holidays (peer pressure)) This is quite a standard contract/wage over here.

I can earn 4k+ or 5k actually, but that would require me to work additional part-time of at least 15-18 hours a week on top of my basic 16-18 hours. Total= 33-36 hours (still shorter than most hours in Singapore). But teaching for 35-40 hours a week is tiring (but possible if you are very motivated), you will understand if you are a teacher. There is more work to teaching than the 'classroom hours' (you normally have to spend at least 5 hours or 10 hours per week reviewing your classes, marking stuff, or planning for lessons, or reading stuff to improve yourself). So 40 hours in the classroom would mean about 50 hours working a week.

I can save most of my money quite easily. Maybe 2.5-3k a month if I really want to save up (like the past few months) , or most likely save around 2k a month (average over 12 months a year) and spend 1-2k a month. The exchange rates fluctuate but the currency has appreciated against the SGD by something like 5 or 10% over the past few years. And there are better investment returns here as well (I get 5% returns for my 'fixed deposits' here, risk free). You can also buy an apartment and pray that they don't screw things up and your money will double or triple in 10-15 years' time (which some people do here).

In Japan, the cost of living is higher (especially rent), but my wages there are higher as well. Most contracts here only require 16-18 hours of teaching, the rest of the time I work part-time for about 30-60 SGD per hour. Part-time jobs are plentiful. The more established guys go into giving group classes themselves and they can make 100 SGD/200 SGD per hour after paying for rent etc.

This is part of the reason why I am a little hesistant to go back to SG and live with my mother in a HDB in a lousy neighbourhood and put up with her nagging daily. Renting in SG doesn't make sense. I am not 35 yet so I can't buy a HDB flat, I may if I could. Here, I have a nice apartment, with a balcony, and my work depends on me, and I enjoy my work generally and I have a lot of fun and I learn a lot of things. I enjoy the four seasons as well. I earn 3-4k SGD after tax here, to earn the same amount in cash in SG would require a wage of 5-6k sgd, which is the salary of a less-experienced senior manager. Overall, in SG, you will earn more if you include CPF, but I can't touch the CPF money until I am 65.

As for finding a job, I didn't find it hard at all. I got lots of job offers when my last work contract ended, from Hong Kong, Japan, Turkey and Europe. People here don't tell me that my degree is a 'private degree' when it is a public university degree from one of the biggest public uk university (which you probably have heard of as well, albeit is it not a high-ranking one).

There are bad things about the job/life here as well. As you know very well. Lousy management, poor quality of stuff (including roads), etc. In Japan, there are also quite a lot of not-so-good stuff. Ditto for any other place be it SG or anywhere else. Just got to take care of yourself.

I am happy with my life over the past few years. Honestly. There have been ups and downs but I have learnt so much and I have been incredibly happy.



Thank you, very insightful post. I am not lost or confused, but rather, just trying to seek out better opportunities. I am glad you are doing well now and enjoy your life/job.

I will focus on finishing my part-time education masters from UCL and then start sending out a few emails. My PR application is also going to be approved soon, or so I hope, so I can move if I want to.

I have no problems making 3-4k SGD after tax (as I currently do), but the problem is, if I want to go above that it becomes a little difficult with not many clear routes. Perhaps, if I teach in an international school, or become a teacher trainer, I can earn up to 5k SGD (with some part-time work). Then after that, there is little career advancement unless I am entrepreneurial and start to organised small-group classes, or get involved with other part-time businesses.

Perhaps, I will be a teacher trainer in SG or overseas, or perhaps I will seek out other opportunities that would allow me to earn a better income in SG, etc.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hey man,Ignore people's comments here because they're only trying to belitte you in every possible way.In your initial post you mentioned Law is certainly out of the picture considering the limited seats,well if you consider it in that angle then,yeah you probably don't have hope but you know what they say? If there is a will,there is a way.You could consider taking up UOL's Law diploma and using that as an entry qualification into Universities like Kings,London.Since you're already 30 this would probably be a better route for you.Ive heard the diploma is hard but you should understand that you're choosing a profession which is very competitive so it only makes sense you work hard for the diploma and use it as a ticket into Law school.Since it's also expensive,I'm sure you will have savings to back you up on this or maybe work a year or two for it.Remember it's not too late to do anything unless you have completely given up and wouldn't even consider to try.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi TS. Im in the reverse position from you, kind of. Spent the last 10 yrs of my life working, and am having a bit of fatigue right now from a very formulaic, deskbound job. I'm
32. I have a BA with honours, so was wondering how you managed to get those teaching jobs in unis in japan and china. Dont they only hire native english speakers i.e. Caucasians? How did you get your teaching stints? If you dont mind, can i PM you?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi Harrow,

I was in a similar state like you when I was 30, lost, confused and in between seeminging "wrong" choices in career. It doesnt help that I was also idealistic and someone with entirely different value system compared to many Singaporeans who frankly speaking (from the above replies) are the typical Philistines because we tend to seek out meanings and purposes in life than exercise pragmatism (MBTI I was tested for INFJ). I found that the true purpose/calling in my career is to "value add" others with information and knowledge.

One way out (to reconcile your strong communication skills with commercial purposes) is to become some kind of a consultant. The easiest way to achieve that is to become a business development executive, or a product marketing executive. You educate the customers/key opinion leaders, and indirectly closing sales to earn commissions in the process. I had went from technical job, to teaching job, and sometime around 30 years of age when I lost almost everything (jobs, girlfriend), I went into doing product specialist job, and now I am a regional marketing manager. It took me about 3-5 years to reach there.

Food for thoughts, with many permutations!