I’ve been out of work for a while. I haven’t had any offers lately, but I am very active on LinkedIn and I manage to generate a fair amount of attention in my field. (Amusements: arcade, family entertainment centers, etc.) I’m a bit of a specialist, so one of my big problems is a limited number of potential employers. And of that number, many can’t or won’t pay the tech staff well, so I try to keep my options open.
Someone asked me a couple days ago if I’d be interested in working in Saudi Arabia.
Well, I won’t rule anything out so I’ve been researching. It would be difficult to leave the family for a long period, but I get the impression that US Ex-pat’s can make quite a bit of money working in the Middle East. Sounds pretty lucrative. Enough to support a family stateside and still bank a lot?
These days I’m somewhere between agnostic and atheist, but I’m not evangelistic about it so I don’t think I’d be running afoul of the Muslim sensibilities.
Perhaps I’d need to give up my penchant for wearing hot pink items.
I’m pretty sure I like hot more than cold.
I’m a 39 year old white male. Probably would not take the family.
My cousin (female) works there. There is a world of difference between Dubai and Saudi.
Can you provide more details on which country would be your employer, and what they are offering for relo and on going living expenses?
In general, it will be easier on you and your family if based out of Dubai- but there can still be concerns.
I worked in Saudi Arabia for a few weeks (Jeddah). A bigger armpit of a city I could not imagine and I’ve been all over Asia and lived in Asia for 10 years… Though I hear Riyadh is worse. Completely dry country. Even the Saudis leave every Thursday evening for Dubai as there is ABSOLUTELY nothing to do in SA. The expat compounds can be fun I guess, though apparently much less than before as they’ve cracked down on booze in compounds (brew your own). Some of the expats I worked with said there’s some good hiking though… I had a couple job offers in SA, for multiples of what I currently make, and turned them down after two weeks there. But if you’re the kind of guy who could ignore they’re living in an awful place for couple of years in exchange for $, then it would be great.
Dubai is completely different. Lots of friends have lived there and enjoyed it. Great if you want to get into offroading (motorcycles, jeeps, etc.). Expect you’d get paid less in Dubai as it’s not a real hardship post.
I live and work in the region with my wife and 10 month old
The spectrum of countries in the region ranges from Saudi and Kuwait at one end to Bahrain at the other with the Emirates, Qatar and Oman between the two.
there is a divide with saudi, kuwait and qatar being conservative and the others more liberal
income is a function of seniority - tech jobs tend go to migrant workers from other developing countries
i’ve no idea what your specialism is, my wife and I our senior management / director level and our own experience and that of our colleagues is that one year here has been worth 5-10 at home
our package is broadly; housing, two return BC trips home / year, car, utility, telephone allowances
our single biggest expense here is travel - 8-12 trips for us plus paying for family to visit
in the three conservative countries ramadan is restrictive, summers are hot - our city centre is over 40 from April and probably closer to 50 in june, july and august. the weather is cooler late oct to march
I work in Saudi, making 3 - 5 trips per year for 3 weeks at a time. I’m based on the east coast in Khobar, which is really close to Bahrain. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. Housing is usually living in an expat compound, you’ll save boat loads of money, weather is hot, there’s not many fun things to do so most people vacation a lot, etc. There’s no issue regarding running afoul, there are only a couple things that visitors need to be aware of.