What Makes Korean Software Engineers Continue to Stay in Silicon Valley?

This thesis seeks to understand what prevents Korean software engineers from returning to South Korea and examines the motivations and concerns that Korean software engineers have in deciding whether to return to Korea or remain in Silicon Valley. Because Silicon Valley is known for attracting top foreign skilled talent, the Korean government has made many attempts to mirror Silicon Valley’s startup environment in places such as Pangyo and Ayang (SBS News, 2013). As a result, I had initially hypothesized that Korean software engineers desired to stay in the U.S. primarily due to their attraction to Silicon Valley’s innovative and startup environments. Instead, key identifying factors that made Korean software engineers desire to continue working and living in Silicon Valley included higher paying salaries than those in South Korea, better cost and quality of living, stable residency status, self-identity, and participant status. My research thesis will be outlined as follows.
My research thesis acquired demographic data on a sample size of 100 Korean international software engineers who have already left South Korea to work in Silicon Valley in order to better understand what has made them decide against physically returning back to South Korea. My thesis research (i) provides background information on brain drain in South Korea, (ii) how the causes of brain drain are different today, (iii) what South Korean policymakers have been doing in attempts to reverse brain drain both in the past and currently, (iv) present key empirical and qualitative findings, (v) present limitations from my survey results, and (vi) concludes with suggestions on turning brain drain into brain circulation and brain linkage based on the findings from my thesis research. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to provide more insight on what drives these Korean software engineers to continue working in Silicon Valley. It is my hope that such insights will allow for more relevant suggestions on how to turn this brain drain into brain circulation and brain linkages.