I'll admit there is a small part of me that gets slightly irritated every time we go through a hiring cycle and everyone who shows up for the interviews is Mandarin speaking Chinese-- because it cant be that only Chinese people are applying for these jobs; the odds don't favor it.
That said, I love my job, I get along with everyone at work, and actually feel like its a great opportunity to learn about another culture up close without having to travel across the world like the parent poster.
I guess the point is anyone (white, black, asian, etc.) can be culturally isolated in any country or company. Some people have an easier time assimilating, and other still don't ever feel the need to assimilate.
It makes me wonder if there is something unique about "white" culture that causes "others" to feel more isolated than when the reverse scenario is true. I've never worked for a man, and have never worked for a white guy, yet I'm a white guy myself. Beyond the slight irritation i mentioned above about hiring, its never bother me a bit.
I experienced the 1st generation chinese/russian linguistic barrier myself too. I think the big reason why is because there is an engineer shortage, or science grad student 'shortage', so many candidates are going to come from their social networks, which are probably mostly russian or chinese. They themselves don't feel comfortable with the external language and culture, so they associate with people they feel more comfortable speaking with and it self perpetuates. It only goes away when their children are born in the next generation, or they are isolated enough that they are forced to integrate.
The author of this article describes a sense of collectivism when she moved to Oakland. For whatever reason, she views black people as more "like her" than others and enjoys the resulting tribalist feelings. Take that away and she feels something is missing.
I too am the odd man out - obvious foreigner in India. I do not get to enjoy feelings of tribalism. But I don't feel different than in the us - stick me in a room full of lower middle class Americans and I'm still not enjoying any particular sense of belonging. They aren't "my people", they are just people. I never get to enjoy these positive feelings of tribalism.
It depends, some of those firms offer comparatively low salaries to Americans and can positively exploit their own people (same ethnicity as company founders).
So at least for some companies with HQs in CN or TW, it's not surprising that you'd see few Americans --of those you see some are resurrecting their careers --so they'll take the cut.
Even though you don't feel you fit in in the US, do you ever feel relief at just not getting attention for being different?
> Even though you don't feel you fit in in the US, do you ever feel relief at just not getting attention for being different?
I've never really had that feeling before; I never get into the situation where I feel like I'm with "my own people."
Good luck with the research gamble from someone like-minded.
We generally feel a lack of belonging; some of us try to fit in and are successful at it, but some of us just live with it. Our management team really does try to help out, but there is also some pressure to participate in lab-wide activities that leads to tension (e.g. no, I don't really want to sing, dance at the gala this year). While working, side conversations are often in Chinese (I speak Chinese better than most of us, but still not enough to participate very well), and there are all sorts of comical culture shock experiences even after being here for 7 years. And really, what can be expected when the workplace is 90%+ one way? I think our lab handles it as best as it can.
Here is the twist: there is no pressure to assimilate because well, I could never be Chinese. But back in the states (or even Europe), I don't feel like I really fit in either despite matching the ethnic and gender standard. There is not much to match me to my colleagues, and there is a lot of pressure to assimilate since at first glance, I should be able to.