In 2017, veteran American expat Jay Demetillo made a fateful leap from the US to APAC. Here’s an inside look into how he navigated his tech job search, salary negotiation, and getting promoted.

Today in 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

• 🛣️ How Jay jumped from US to APAC

• 🇸🇬 Salary negotiation in Singapore

• 🤝 How he approaches promotions

• 😨 Jay’s mistakes and advice 

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🤩 Expat Spotlight: Jay Demetillo, Design Leader and Consultant

Jay Demetillo is a design leader and consultant. He has 10+ years of experience working with tech companies like Grab, Twitter, Pinterest, and Yahoo across Singapore, China, and the US. He was an adjunct professor at CCA in San Francisco and has taught in China for ACG.

In this spotlight, we’re going to deep dive with Jay into the spicy topic of salary negotiation and promotions 🌶️ 

You can find out more about Jay on his Linkedin.

🛣️ Tell us about your tech career journey going from US to APAC.

I started working in tech around 2013, catching a wave of innovation in Silicon Valley.

It was the golden age of the Valley. Companies like Apple and Google were just starting to innovate (i.e. launching the first iPad, app stores for customers, developer tools for the community, 2nd generation phones).

It was a wonderful time especially for me as a designer. Everyone was just starting to get into product design. Product design had always existed. But around this time everyone started thinking about how to scale their websites on mobile devices, build for app stores, and add more interactive polish.

I worked at a few large tech companies in the Valley for 8+ years. But I always wanted to go back to my Southeast Asian roots.

On top of that, I personally experienced the bamboo ceiling effect. If you’re not aware of it, Jane Hyun, an executive coach, coined the phrase bamboo ceiling to describe Asian Americans' puzzling lack of leadership representation (more here).

I like using the analogy of a soccer player when working outside of the States. Most soccer players want to play in top-tier leagues like the English Premier League or La Liga aka Silicon Valley, but there are other leagues out there to test your skills and grow. So I decided to head to APAC to grow my career in product design overseas.

I think it’s paid off because of my international experience. I’ve had to deal with funky cases such as country regulations and communication with different stakeholders from different countries. It’s helped me stand out as a candidate.

🇸🇬 You’ve worked at Grab in Singapore for the past 5 years. How did you make the leap to Grab? How did you approach your comp package discussion during the hiring process?

A recruiter had reached out to me in 2015 but I turned the interview down because I had just gotten a new gig. However, afterward, I lived in a few ASEAN countries to experience using Grab myself. Along with trying to give back to Southeast Asia, I was sold on trying to help build some amazing experiences with a great team.

Navigating comp was hellacious for me. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into in terms of how much a designer makes in ASEAN: base salary, signing bonus, relocation, stock options.

Based on conversations with multiple ASEAN companies, they suggested to expect a 20-30% pay cut with stock options vs similar positions in the Valley. Some extended offers with 40-50% pay cuts without stock options, which initially surprised me.

Relocation varies and can be a sticking point. I have seen companies tie relocation to a signing bonus or sometimes they offer more stock to compensate for the low relocation.

Here were my key learnings from this period:

1/ Positions may target locals vs expats, which shows up in budget.

Back then it was super vague, but nowadays, who the position is for is usually listed.

This is important because there is often a budget used for foreigners versus locals due to relocation and incentives. I observed this in my discussion with companies based in Vietnam, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Always ask upfront because the comp budgets may vary.

2/ Build good relationships with internal AND external recruiters. 

Keep it courteous and clean as I’ve been occasionally surprised by how much information they will tell me on how to negotiate and budget.

Some recruiters have been super helpful by sharing cost of living, explaining tax laws to me like a child, encouraging me to ask for more, and thoroughly running through my offer. External recruiters are also helpful as they have knowledge of the base salary for your position and what the industry is paying in the current economic climate.