For Edward Yu, a senior engineer in a multi-national company, the best part about working in Singapore is not just the many growth and advancement opportunities he has enjoyed, but that he can build his career with his family by his side.

Family life is very important for Edward, a Filipino from Cebu who has worked in Singapore since 1995. Outings to the zoo, trips to the park or neighborhood mall, eating out at favorite hawker centers and restaurants, these are the simple pleasures that they enjoy together.

He says that ‘Singapore is the ideal place to raise a family,” citing its safety, clean environment, racial harmony and good infrastructure such as reliable public transportation. “There is also good emphasis on family life.”

The family friendly environment is very important to him because he has to travel frequently for work. There are times when his client's projects take him away for up to a month, so it is a big plus not to have to worry about his family's well-being in Singapore.

Ironically, this was not the reason he came to Singapore. Armed with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of San Carlos in Cebu, like many of his peers, he had dreams of pursuing his career in the United States. But opportunity knocked on a different door. Within a few days of joining Yokogawa in the Philippines, in 1995, he was posted to Singapore.

His first glimpse of the city-state impressed him. “I liked it,” he said, “it was a nice place to live, very orderly, clean. I stayed in a company apartment with some Filipino colleagues so I felt comfortable.”

Edward worked in Yokogawa Engineering Asia, part of the southeast-asian headquarters of the Japanese conglomerate, Yokogawa Electric Corporation. The parent company is a world leader in industrial automation and control, test and measurement, information systems, and industry support. The potential to build up his career was clear.

“It was my first time away from home,” says Edward, who comes from a close-knit family of two boys and two girls, “but my family gave me their full support because they saw that moving to Singapore would be good for my career.” He had to learn how to cook, and to do his own laundry and housework. But the most challenging part for Edward was learning how to fit into the work culture. The fast pace and demanding work schedules were an eye-opener. “It was definitely more fast-paced than back home, but I was single then, and I just concentrated on working hard and being independent,” he says of his early days. “I adapt easily,” he adds with a grin.

Taking a stake in Singapore's manufacturing growth

In 2006, the manufacturing sector, which Edward works in, grew by 12%, buoyed by the global economic recovery. The strongest performers were transport engineering – fueled by increased shipbuilding, ship repair, oil rig building and aerospace industries, and the biomedical manufacturing clusters.

In the past couple of months, global names like Denka, Bio-Rad, Alcatel-Lucent, and Genetech have announced that they will be setting up plants or expanding operations in Singapore; over 7,000 multi-national companies in manufacturing and services are already there. Yokogawa, which has been in Singapore since 1974, has recently built a new S$39 million (US$25.7 million) office building to house its operations.

Today, Edward leads mega process control automation projects for clients in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries. He manages the projects from design to installation onsite, sometimes in remote areas around the world. His job is very demanding and requires long hours, but it has also been very rewarding.

“Every client and project is different, so we are continually challenged to come up with unique solutions,” he explains.

Furthermore, he feels that working with multi-national teams of colleagues, clients and vendors has opened up valuable opportunities for him to learn, to grow, and to improve. At Yokogawa, his colleagues include engineers from the Philippines, China, India, Japan and Indonesia.

“The influx of ideas from clients and vendors, and the sharing of ideas has helped me not just in my technical knowledge, but also my interpersonal skills,” he enthuses.

His travel has taken him all over the world, to places as far as Russia and Oman, but he is always glad to come home to his family in Singapore. He lives with his wife and two young children, aged three and five, in public housing that he was able to purchase since he became a Singapore Permanent Resident.

One big plus of living in Singapore is that his hometown in Cebu is just three and a half hours away by plane. With budget carriers like Cebu Pacific now flying to Singapore, it has also become affordable for him and his family to fly back for holidays. His friends and family also visit regularly and bring him typically Filipino treats like ‘lechon', which is a dish of roasted suckling pig.

Room for more skilled labor in engineering

Having found a fulfilling career in Singapore, Edward believes there are many opportunities for his fellow countrymen, especially in the engineering and IT sector. “The government is actively trying to attract foreign skilled professionals to keep up growth,” he noted, “so those that have the opportunity should grab the chance to come.”

In fact, recruitment in the engineering services has risen sharply in the last six months and more positions are expected to open up. Last year alone, the manufacturing sector attracted S$8.8 billion worth of investments, with the potential to generate 16,200 jobs. Most of these jobs will likely be in electronics, chemicals and biomedical manufacturing.

He is confident that Singapore offers good career prospects for those willing to take the risk, and to start from scratch. “Nothing can go wrong as long as they have the right attitude,” he says with a firm nod.