I moved from Bangalore to Chentchen for the role of the background: 30,000 CNY/pre -tax month, approximately 22 km to 24 km (depends on the Social Insurance Fund/Housing and Income Tax). Real impressions: a strong feeling of safety, friendly daily costs, inexpensive services with rapid responses, and smooth tools. This job has fallen through Job Nova. Japan has tried by – Slow Process + Language Barrier, unconvincing offers; In India, it is difficult for my level to have a monthly salary of 30,000.

background

• Who I am: From Bangalore, backend engineer (Go/Python, containers/K8s), work in English. • Where: Nanshan, Shenzhen; bilingual (Chinese/English) team. • Time in role: 8 months. • Hours: Five-day week, occasional sprint overtime (comp time or meal stipend), not 996. 

Salaries and expenses (ordinary hadith)

• Salary: 30,000 CNY/month pre-tax. After statutory social insurance & housing fund plus income tax, my take-home fluctuates between 22k–24k. • Rent: Shared apartment, secondary bedroom a bit over 3k; ~20 minutes to work by subway. • Commute: Subway is 2–6 CNY per ride—punctual and clean. • Food: Simple lunches near the office 20–35 CNY; great value eating out on weekends. • E-commerce / services: From SIM cards to appliance repair—easy to book, reasonably priced; overall less hassle than when I was interviewing in Tokyo or living in Bangalore. 

Keyword: Safety is clearly better. It is good to take the subway or walk to the house around 11 pm – and lira of the night; I am not very tense, leave my laptop on a café table to order (the basic precautions are still applying).

How I found the job via Job Nova (not an advertisement – just the process)

1. Profile: Uploaded an English resume + a short Chinese blurb (tech stack, start date, visa status). 2. Preferences: Checked Shenzhen/Shanghai; open to remote; prefer mid-sized teams. 3. Matching / applying: The platform suggested several internet & foreign-enterprise R&D roles; I also manually applied to 3 companies. 4. Interviews: About a week of online interviews (fewer algorithms, more system design + deep project dives); quick process. 5. Offer / onboarding: HR followed through well and helped prep onboarding docs; after landing, someone guided me through bank account setup, social insurance, and the housing fund. 

Advice: Make the results measured – EX, “Decreased P95 transmission time from 180 millimeters to 95 milliliters / 18 % reducing costs.” The GitHub/Tech Blog includes; Your hit rate jumps.

My four concrete positives

1. Safety & order: Well-lit public spaces; orderly subways and shopping areas; friendly to foreign workers. 2. Value for money: If you’re not chasing luxury, daily costs are low without low quality; e-commerce is fast and after-sales service is responsive. 3. Low cost of “getting things done”: Housekeeping/repairs/runners are affordable and efficient, so individuals and small teams can free up time for higher-value work. 4. Efficient toolchain: Mobile payments, ride-hailing, ordering food, shipping, hospital registration—handled on one phone; high-speed rail makes intercity trips easy. 

Control and comparison (just my experience)

Why hunting jobs in Japan “did not succeed at all” (for me)

• Language bar: Many roles require business-level Japanese (N1). English-friendly roles are fewer and very competitive. • Slow process: From initial screening to offer can take 1–2 months; long communication chains. • Underwhelming pay: Offers/near-offers I saw were ¥4.5–5.5M JPY/year (non-Big-Tech SDE2/3). After taxes, social insurance, and Tokyo rent/transport, take-home didn’t beat 30k RMB pre-tax in Shenzhen. • Cultural fit: Heavier emphasis on seniority and formal process; slower to experiment. I prefer fast iteration. 

Failure to say Japan is bad – it is not suitable for me.

for. This salary cannot be reached in India (on my level)

• Salary ceiling: Roles I landed in Bangalore/Hyderabad were mid-level (below 30k CNY/month pre-tax), with FX and bonus volatility. • Rising living costs: Core-area rents surging; congested commutes sap energy. • Infrastructure UX: Not close to Shenzhen’s “all-in-one phone flow”; you end up coordinating a lot yourself. 

I still love India, but now the time is to come back to Schinshen.

Jim – Small Moods in China

• Too many apps: Your phone will feel flooded at first; spend a day or two streamlining high-frequency flows and it clicks. • Fast pace: Delivery pressure is real; self-management matters. • Holiday make-up days: Confusing the first time—check schedules ahead. • Language: Daily English works, but learning some Chinese phrases doubles your efficiency. 

Life Tips (from an Indian perspective)

• Food: More vegetarian options than I expected; plenty of Indian restaurants in tier-1 cities; spices available at import supermarkets. • Social & learning: Lots of tech meetups and hackathons; English is fine. • Documents: Follow HR’s checklist for IDs, taxes, social insurance, and the housing fund—don’t try to brute-force it. • Finance/payments: Mobile banking and payments are smooth; splitting bills and transfers are easy. 

closing

If you are a foreign information technology worker who appreciates safety and efficiency and wants to reach salaries and quality of life, China (at least SHENZHEN) deserves serious attention. My way was: polishing the CV at Job Nova → targeted applications → quick interviews on board. Welcome questions – I will try to answer one by one.