IT Support - afghanistan/North Africa/Middle East

[territt]

Hey Guys,

Sorry for my first post being one where im asking for advice

I work as a perm in London doing IT support, and was talking to a couple of the contactors we had in for a while who spoke about contracts they had do overseas, Afgan/Iraq that sort of thing that pay well. so i was wondering if you guys had any advice on this sort of work? is it still around? worth doing?

Im so bored of working in the city, in a boring office and am looking for something more challenging, interesting and of course better paid.

[BolshieBastard]

Hey Guys,

Sorry for my first post being one where im asking for advice

I work as a perm in London doing IT support, and was talking to a couple of the contactors we had in for a while who spoke about contracts they had do overseas, Afgan/Iraq that sort of thing that pay well. so i was wondering if you guys had any advice on this sort of work? is it still around? worth doing?

Im so bored of working in the city, in a boring office and am looking for something more challenging, interesting and of course better paid.

Is the money worth the risk!?

A number of people including IT workers have just been murdered in Algeria. Sorry, but there's no money on Earth that would make me take a job in any of the places you mention.

You are a sockie and I claim my prize.

[Moscow Mule]

I used to work in a few supposedly dangerous places, but I really wouldn't consider those countries - they just don't play by the rules.

North Africa has always given me the jitters every time I've worked there.

Surprisingly, Beirut was ok a few years ago - got a lot more dangerous recently though...

[badger7579]

Im so bored of working in the city, in a boring office and am looking for something more challenging, interesting and of course better paid.

You prefer bullets and car bombs???

[territt]

I used to work in a few supposedly dangerous places, but I really wouldn't consider those countries - they just don't play by the rules.

North Africa has always given me the jitters every time I've worked there.

Surprisingly, Beirut was ok a few years ago - got a lot more dangerous recently though...

What companys where you working for there? if your allowed to tell me? :-)

[Moscow Mule]

What companys where you working for there? if your allowed to tell me? :-)

Nothing special, just a medium sized software firm with multinational clients.

I'm strictly a homebird now though. Working away is a young man's game and I am almost the dictionary definition of middle-aged..

[northernladuk]

I don't know about war areas but the money for working in places like Africa and the Middle East just isn't worth it now. There are a million Chinese and Indians that will do it for a fraction of the price. Last time I was looking for work in the Gulf the rates were almost comparable to home rates and would have probably lost out over the contract due to flights etc.

To get in to war areas you need to have something special or know the right people. They obviously don't have nice air conditioned server rooms and run of the mill PC equipment so need specialist skills to work on military or satellite kit. Any experience gained in a nice UK office will be useless IMO.

As much as I wanted to do something similar years ago it's just a waste of time now. What I did do however is get a gig with a multinational on a global project and got 4-6 weeks a time at some pretty random places but that stopped when they cut travel so it's not going to be easy to find a role and again you are going to have to bring something to the table they can use. You won't get a gig cause you fancy giving it a go.

Think you are on a hiding to no where with this one IMO.

[NDawg]

That's a bit of a shame. Was interested in getting some time out in Afghan/the Middle East as well.

[Boris]

There's another way

If you really have the urge to work in warzones then you might consider looking at the WHO (WHO | World Health Organization) or UN (Member States Portal - Home) for roles. They frequently have well-paying roles in far away places. Medicins sans frontieres (http://www.msf.org/) is another good place for 'out of the ordinary' gigs.

[bobspud]

There were a spurt of highly dangerous roles the year before last so they must be due to come round again in the next 18 months or so. For the record most of the ones that I saw required DV as minimum and possibly ex military types as others have suggested. What I would say though is that I worked with a chap that did time out in Iraq with a weapon and his point was "I'd rather be on the front line with bullets whizzing past my head, than work in the civilian privateer mob making a fortune." The reasoning was simple. Some of the guys you get to guard your life are not always worth the effort while at least in a battalion you know who is guarding your arse...

My recommendation is if you are going in cold you are likely to be given the really dangerous stuff because the guys with the time invested will know when to say no.

If you want thrills, take up kite surfing.