Shanghai

Shanghai gets a split verdict from Reddit: as a city, many foreigners love it; as a software-engineering career move, people are much more cautious. Residents praise it as safe, international, exciting, food-rich, well-connected, and surprisingly comfortable for daily life. Several long-term foreigners say they came for adventure and stayed for years, and some compare a high-income Shanghai lifestyle very favorably with places like New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore, or Paris.

The career side is less glowing. Redditors warn that foreign software engineers are not automatically special in China’s huge tech labor market, and local competition is intense. The best outcomes seem to come from MNCs, expat-run startups, or niche English-speaking roles with reasonable hours, but those are not guaranteed. Local-company work can mean lower pay than Western engineers expect and exposure to 996-style overtime culture.

Financially, Shanghai is a paradox: purchasing power is strong compared with many tech cities and day-to-day life can feel affordable for a global megacity, but taxes are relatively heavy, net income is only mid-pack, and buying housing is among the least affordable outcomes in the dataset. Rent can be manageable if your package is good, especially with housing support, but property ownership is unrealistic for most relocating engineers.

Overall, Shanghai is a high-upside but high-friction move. It is one of the best places in China for expats and offers a genuinely compelling lifestyle, but the visa process, job-market uncertainty, language barrier, pollution, and work-culture risk keep it from being a top-tier relocation choice for software engineers unless you already have a strong offer.

Shanghai is one of China’s easiest cities for foreigners to actually enjoy: Redditors repeatedly call it international, comfortable, and far better for expat life than most Tier 2 cities.

Excellent transport and connectivity: residents love the metro, cheap/easy public transit, and direct trains and flights across China and internationally.

Strong quality of life if you earn well: people praise the food, shopping, delivery/logistics, foreign products, walkable neighborhoods, and the ability to live very well compared with other global cities.

Very safe by big-city standards: commenters describe Shanghai as super safe and pleasant to walk around, which matches its strong safety ranking among tech cities.

Good social and cultural scene: Redditors mention nightlife, world cuisines, old and new neighborhoods, architecture, underground music, galleries, and enough expat circles to avoid isolation.

Some decent English-speaking tech roles exist: people cite MNCs, startups, headhunters, LinkedIn, and roles with English as the working language, sometimes with remote work, housing allowance, and non-996 schedules.

Software engineering jobs for foreigners are not easy-mode: Redditors warn you compete with countless local developers, foreigner hiring is limited, and even experienced locals may spend a long time job-hunting.

Visa sponsorship is a real gatekeeper: commenters repeatedly said you generally need a proper job offer and usually a degree for a work visa, with post-2020 rules described as stricter.

Compensation can disappoint vs. Western SWE markets: several people said China SWE pay often feels low relative to US/Western tech, especially once taxes and weaker foreigner leverage are considered.

996 and overtime culture are a major risk: engineers specifically warn against ending up in local-style companies where long hours are normalized, even though some MNC/startup roles are more relaxed.

Housing is the big financial pain point: daily life can feel affordable for a global city, but apartments are expensive and buying property is extremely out of reach on a local tech salary.

Pollution, bureaucracy, and language friction remain part of the package: Shanghai is more international than most Chinese cities, but air quality, paperwork, apps/platform restrictions, and limited Mandarin can still wear on newcomers.

Relocating to Shanghai as a foreign software engineer is possible but not straightforward. The practical route is usually a sponsored work visa through an employer; commenters emphasize that without a degree, or without a confirmed job offer, long-term legal options become very limited. There is no simple digital-nomad-style path for most people, and visa processing can involve leaving mainland China depending on circumstances.

Shanghai is still one of the most foreigner-friendly cities in China: English-speaking workplaces exist in MNCs and some startups, recruiters/headhunters are active, and the expat community is large enough that social life is much easier than in smaller Chinese cities. But Mandarin matters for daily life, bureaucracy, housing, banking, medical visits, and deeper integration. Culturally, the city is open by Chinese standards, but job-market access, internet restrictions, work-permit rules, and local business norms make the move notably harder than relocating within Europe, North America, Singapore, or Japan with a standard tech offer.

Best for software engineers with a sponsored MNC/startup offer, curiosity about China, tolerance for bureaucracy, and a desire for a dense international megacity. Avoid it if you expect Silicon Valley-style compensation, easy visa flexibility, fully English-speaking daily life, or refuse any risk of local overtime culture.

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