working / living in middle east ?

[DiscoStu]

iamaprat

see?

[DiscoStu]

n o r k = iamaprat

what's a n o r k?

You don't want to go there!

[Mich the Tester]

From wikipedia;

' Nork is a residential area of the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is located between Banstead and Epsom Downs. The main road through the area from north to south-west is Nork Way, along which a parade of shops is located at the northern end.'

[Moscow Mule]

n o r k = iamaprat

what's a n o r k?

I dunno, nobody's ever shown any to us...

[Bunk]

siamaprateling = siamapratelling

No idea HTF that happened

s n o r k e l l i n g ?

I just spat coffee all over my monitor and clientco are now looking at me strangely. Oh the joys of a swear filter.

[MPwannadecentincome]

Yeah I'd like to go to - a word of warning though rents are VERY VERY expensive in the big cities in UAE. I don't know what contract rates are like there but most people go there as permies on expat packages where the accommodation is part of the package.

I've heard as well that there has been a rush of people looking for jobs in the middle east since Oct from USA, UK, Europe and Australia.

[Churchill]

I dunno, nobody's ever shown any to us...

Speak for yourself!

[Sysman]

I think their is a reasonably good life to be had in places like Dubai with a lot going on.

I met some European chaps when I was on holiday who have lived in Dubai and now run a recruitment agency in Kuwait.

Reckons to me that it is fine to live there if you are happy to be treated like a second class citizen. You are basically there as an Arab resource and thats it. Having said that I have a mate who does siamaprateling and diving charters in Saudi and he loves it.

IMHO, bearing in mind I havent been there

a) I believe most salaries are paid tax free in $ which is more attractive now that the £ has tanked.
b) Hot hot hot, you will be praying for a bit of grey UK tulipe weather

Going back 20 years or more working in the Middle East was stonking good money, but largely because life there was as boring as hell. Since they built nice sports complexes, satellite TV became the norm etc the money hasn't been quite so good.

When the rebuilding of Kuwait started, quite a few folks I knew fancied a dabble but all they were offered was what they were earning in the UK plus maybe 10%, but no tax to pay. When they turned down those offers, they were regaled with "But it's tax free!". Not worth if it means taking your kids out of school, having to go through the hassle of renting your house out etc., and if you don't last the course, you might find that you haven't spent enough time out of the UK for it to be tax free at all.

So if you can negotiate good pay, fine, but don't get blagged into going there for peanuts.

[OwlHoot]

I thought the rates had dropped because these days most IT contractors there are Indian. Suppose it depends on your skills though, and whether or not these can be sourced from India.

[Sysman]

I thought the rates had dropped because these days most IT contractors there are Indian. Suppose it depends on your skills though, and whether or not these can be sourced from India.

Aye. Going back all those years there were two different rates - one for the Indians, and another much better one for the Europeans.

And judging by what I used to see, the Indians were overpaid!