Interesting postings here.

I am not one of you in that I don't have that uncertainty in life. I am actually on the other side of this debate; i.e. have employed people who have returned from the states or UK in Nepal. Here are my few observations:

1. About a year ago, I was sitting with a relative of mine who was planning to hire an editor for his website. His firm is US based, but they do bulk of works in Nepal. It is a small firm, employing 12-20 people in Nepal in various activities and less than six in the states. Among those employed in Nepal, almost six of them are either Indians or Americans who somehow seem to want to live in Kathmandu. Two major tasks of the firm involved regular updating of website (and writing some letters to clients) and take routed phone calls of customers during off hour here in the states. They needed one editor at the time and there comes an applicant [a US returnee] whose father I knew. He was totally unprepared for the interview; not even well kempt, and his English was too fast, too rambling. My relative ended up hiring an Indian freelance journalist for the position (paying almost Rs 30,000.00 per month).

This sums up the attitude of lots of Nepali, especially KTMduites[Also reflected in this thread given the writing of these people]. They lack discipline. Something about them tells us that they have very high opinion of themselves. They want high salary, and try to unnecessarily bargain for things they don't deserve. A software entrepreneur hiring about 100 people in KTM tells me of those horror stories of people trying to increase their salary in three months by threatening to leave in the middle of the project even though their contract explicitly calls for at least six month of work before they could leave.

LESSON for those you who are back in Nepal or contemplating to go back: Nepal is actually a competitive place. There are good writers, good engineers, and there are hardworking people willing to give their best for a chance to work. Furthermore, we also have nonnepali alternative there. So, please don't underestimate the skill required to succeed there. People won't throw money at you. You have to deserve it.

2. If you are a Nepali, you have to make sure you read something useful to Nepal here. If you are studying about something that is useless in Nepal, then you should stay here. If you are a researcher, then you must learn the tools of research methodologies soundly. A good researcher is a good researcher anyway and they will be useful everywhere, the only difference being the extent to which they could use their skill. Last time, I was talking to a Nepali college owner in London. I asked him what most of the Nepali students in his college study. He said Hotel Management. It was clear that Nepali people were coming to UK en masse, without any necessary mathematical foundation, and they studied the subject they thought they had some chance to pass. We are wasting our country's precious foreign exchange subjects like those. But I also saw a vicious cycle there, the college owner was offering these easy , you-don't-need-TOEFL-to-come-here courses precisely because he needed more people to come to his college, and people choose these lousy colleges and courses because they came here with the motive that had nothing to do with good education in the first place. They wanted in, he found a way to let them in. Such students has the  burden to proof their worth after the graduation themselves.

Several people in Nepal, in particular, those who matter, know what good colleges in the states are. I am more likely to trust a Janapriya Madhyamik Vidhyalaya and Pulchok campus graduate engineer than a mediocre boarding school and a mediocre Oklahoma college graduate if I need an engineer in Nepal. If you went to a mediocre school here, you should at the minimum get a good GPA to show some evidence of intelligence. If your GPA sucks, believe me employers won't need you there.

3. People should study the subject that enables them to succeed in Nepal. I see lots of social science researchers who work in Nepal on Nepali subjects. Such researchers are likely to succeed there. Those who have degree in forestry but have no knowledge of Nepali forest system should study hard to know about our system while they are studying here. Before you choose a subject, ask yourself how you could be useful in Nepal. Because, afterall, if things go badly and you don't get to stay here, you will have to go to Nepal.

4. Yes, banks in Nepal did pay more than 1 lakh to some entry level positions. But at least some of those I knew were product of very good foreign management schools. Some CEOs made personal contacts with these people and offered them these positions. I know an experienced engineer with MS/MBA degree from a western school who is paid about 2 lakh per month in a hydropower firm.

5. In Nepal, you need different types of skills to succeed. In a firm that I have made some investment, we have a group of core board members. One of them is very good at political connections, in that he knows tons of people. The other is very aggressive, makes our CEO very disciplined, and is a very honest man. The third person is kitabko kiro, used to be ISc board, and he knows all regulations in the field. (This is a publicly traded firm). The idea of having such mix in leadership is clear: some times you may need political connection, but this alone doesn't take you far away. Whenever there is a fair game, we need man who can beat others in intelligence. The lesson to you guys is that yes, political connection is necessary, but it is not a sufficient condition to succeed. Intelligence is still very valuable.

6. My suggestion is this: if you are mediocre, stay here. Nepal can produce tons of mediocre men, and you won't really be sorely missed. It is your country, so you can always go back. If you are a very bright man, if you can eventually run a big corporation, if you can deal with people, if you are an excellent trader, if you know how to make highways, interstates and bridges, if you can manage a hydropower company, you have a great future in Nepal and please go. Nepal certainly needs you a lot now. If you are a good orator, then you should go because you will have a chance to lead the country of 30 million people, and such chances don't come frequently. We, needless to say, need good leaders too.

7.Also, no matter how bad the country is, there are always a group of people , often very bright, who will go to Nepal. Because these people think differently. They have one eye at the history. BP Koirala , for example, had a career of lawyer at Darjeeling and Nepal was under Rana rule--needless to say how bad it was. But he and several others didn't calculate nafa/noksan. I am sure there are tons of those people. These people are destined to be some historic persons. You know it when you talk to them. They think differently. 


PS: Thanks for the list of those who returned to Nepal. Anyone who goes back and generates jobs are worth praising.