Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Working in Dubai

Hello,

I am thinking of working overseas and working in Dubai looks like a good option, problem is I am not sure it would be financially viable for me, so I wondered if anyone could offer me there advise!!!??

I am 28 years old and currently work as a Senior Software Tester for a large international Insurance Company (London Markets) in the City and have 2/3 years experience.

My current salary is 50K plus benefits (bonus, pension), for my age and experience I appreciate that I am in a very good position but I am very keen to work overseas for the different lifestyle, as I am kind of bored working in the city at the minute.

Do you think I would be able to find work as a Software Tester in Dubai and if so what sort of salary would I be able to find, would it be more or less than my current role in the UK? Obviously factors to take into account would be tax savings and the inflated costs of accommodation in Dubai.

Anyway any advice on this would be much appreciated, also any advice on the best way of finding a suitable job would also be great as well.

Thank you so much in advance.

Are there any IT professionals out there that could help to shed some light on this?

There are a few other threads about IT jobs in Dubai, might want to look for those.

50K pounds is 273,000 Dirhams a year. I'd be asking for more than that if you wanted to live here in a nice expat lifestyle, 'specially if you have kids.

You're looking at 100-200K a year for rent alone.

As for the IT jobs: There are software companies out here (MS, Oracle, IBM, Cisco etc) but as other people have pointed out I'm not sure how much development is going on here, as opposed to just having a presence.

I think the best way to find a job is to try and use your contacts and find someone working over here already. Failing that maybe try to cold-contact someone on Linked-In. I have been disappointed trying to find jobs using recruitment sites and the like.

I'm currently working as a Software Engineer, but it's for a company contracted to the defence force here, so a little different to the private world.

You say you have a finance background? There are definitely lots of finance/banking companies here, but again, how much IT development is done here rather than overseas is unknown. Is you current company multinational? Do they have a presence here? Maybe that would be a good place to start contacting people.

Good luck!

Hi Captain Australia , Thank you for your reply.

Yes I have a finance background (Insurance) and I think the company I work for does have offices in Dubai, however I’m not sure if they are going to have much of an IT workforce in Dubai, however it is definitely worth looking into though.

I’m not sure a move to Dubai would be as financially rewarding for me as staying in London taking into account a pay review I am due at xmas, but I think I would no doubt have a better lifestyle, which may be more important and appealing to me at the moment.

I suppose the first step is to start getting a bit more pro-active and contact a few companies over there and just see how I get on.

Thanks again.

Dubai has companies that use software or firms that sell and implement software. There no software development. So testing prospects are very less unless you fancy working in a bank who does testing during User Acceptance Test once they buy the software.

UAE is good for businessmen, real estate and trading professionals

Apart from Mercator, who developed and sell the airline booking software almost every airline now uses...they are part of Emirates.



Knight

hamertime wrote:Hello,

I am thinking of working overseas and working in Dubai looks like a good option, problem is I am not sure it would be financially viable for me, so I wondered if anyone could offer me there advise!!!??

I am 28 years old and currently work as a Senior Software Tester for a large international Insurance Company (London Markets) in the City and have 2/3 years experience.

My current salary is 50K plus benefits (bonus, pension), for my age and experience I appreciate that I am in a very good position but I am very keen to work overseas for the different lifestyle, as I am kind of bored working in the city at the minute.

Do you think I would be able to find work as a Software Tester in Dubai and if so what sort of salary would I be able to find, would it be more or less than my current role in the UK? Obviously factors to take into account would be tax savings and the inflated costs of accommodation in Dubai.

Anyway any advice on this would be much appreciated, also any advice on the best way of finding a suitable job would also be great as well.

Thank you so much in advance.

Hello Hamertime,

If you are serious and really interested in Dubai, I would like to inform you about a customized software company on sale.

If interested, this is the best opportunity, as this company is established since 5 years serving more than 500 customers.

Actually this is company of my friend, who get caught in the global financail crisis, he lost millions in currency trading on Forex and now he has no other option to come out except to sell out his well running company.

If you are interested, please do contact me on sdc1011(at)yahoo(dot)com

Take care,
MMK

Hi Also have a same thought about work on overseas