When you are young, and if you are a graduate, you have the feeling that the world is your oyster. You feel that you are able to get a job in any company, get a good job and start enjoying the feeling of making money. You have plenty of headroom to climb - or so you think - to the upper echelons of a corporation.
Where I am now - solidly in mid-life - middle aged, mid career, life doesn't look or feel so rosy anymore, especially in this place called Singapore.
You see my friend, companies are typically top heavy creatures. Lots of entry level jobs doing the real work, a moderate number of middle level jobs for people to middle manage others and then, a tiny few top level positions. In the company that I work for, a software product company, it is no different.
In a typical homogeneous society like Japan or Europe (this is slowly changing however), this would still bode well for mid career managers. You should have similar thinking similar background people above and below you in the organizational hierarchy. Your bosses should understand you, know that you are aiming to move upwards, and also understand the societal norms i.e. what holidays mean in terms of importance e.g. never scheduling project deadlines near Chinese New Year, for example and other responsibilities that parents face e.g. taking leave to accompany children during exam periods (admittedly a Singapore idiosyncrasy).
In Singapore, however, if you are working in MNCs and not a government organization (which is pretty homogeneous i.e. typically all Singaporeans) or are pretty lucky, this situation will not typically happen. "Foreign talents" fill the upper spots of the company hierarchy. They also fill the middle slots and the lower slots but the upper spots are typically all FT territory. They live a rarefied upper class life in Singapore, living in posh places, drive the Lambos and Ferraris, send their children to expensive private schools and don't know (or give a rats ass) what problems Singaporeans face. It probably wouldn't feel so bad if these FTs are smart and capable, fair and respectable but it sure stinks when they are nearly all stupid (cunning), lazy etc ones.
As a mid-career worker and in a middle level position in Singapore, you feel stuck. I feel that there is no way that you will rise further in a corporation as the FTs are entrenched there and will never give up their positions to others anymore. Its like a glass ceiling however it feels more like a brick wall. So this is what the future looks like.
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