What do I need to be good at to earn a good living in UAE

What do I need to be good at to earn a good living in UAE

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Discussion

wildoliver

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

223 months

Wednesday 18th June 2008
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Hi, I'm 26 soon to be 27, currently running a business restoring classic and sports cars, come from an engineering background, only uni degree is in Animal management rolleyes yeah I know......

Can do anything practical, no criminal record, extremely hard working, honest, and like to work hard for good wages.

Is there anything out there that would fit? I'm really looking at ways out of this god forsaken country and working out in the middle east is one of them.

Kind regards

Oliver

S1MMA

2,433 posts

226 months

Wednesday 18th June 2008
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wildoliver said:
blah blah blah Animal management blah blah blah
PMSL! Why dear boy? Why? Can animals not manage themselves? Why would you do it to yourself? Why? Why? Why?

wildoliver

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

223 months

Wednesday 18th June 2008
quotequote all
Ok ok it was a mistake. All I have to say was Engineering 90% male 10% female. Law 60% male 40% female. Animal management, science and zoology 2% Male 98% female! Oh and an equine block next door when you ran out hehe

S1MMA

2,433 posts

226 months

Wednesday 18th June 2008
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My bro did a Mech Eng degree, and he told me there was one so called "girl" on his course, and the guys had a nickname for her..........

They called her "it".

wildoliver

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

223 months

Wednesday 18th June 2008
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She was the 1 was she!

Anyway who can help?

yorky500

1,715 posts

198 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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Difficult given your professional qualifications. Sounds like you should eb working for the SPCA out here and doing restorations as a "side".

Like with most things UK trained professionals are in very, very high demand, perhaps more so than those from other Countries (shoot me down!) however, you are up against the Sub-continent i.e. India/Sri Lanka/Pakistan etc, who command a lesser salary than you will, therefore you have to find a niche for yourself.

Tough call to be honest. Not sure how to help.

Rob_J

13,569 posts

228 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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Hmmm not easy with them qualifications, basically hard working & practical, covers what most of the Indian/Pakistani/Phillipinos do out here.

Just as an aside why do you think the mid-East is the answer?

If you've not been out here, might be an idea to come out for a couple of weeks, get around in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, talk to the expats, see what they do, somebody may have some thoughts. It will also enable you to get a feel for the place & see if it is really what you want. It's not all glamour & glitz.

This is what I wote on another site describing my conditions:

"I would if i could except that cameras, including phones with cameras are not allowed in the oil field area. We get searched coming through the military roadblocks into the zone & they do get confiscated. As a consequence the smuggling of booze in has also dried up.

However if you imagination is good I shall try to describe it.

Think of room about 3m x 4m. In the room there is a small fridge, a tiny single bed, 1 desk, 2 chairs & a wardrobe. No TV. The room is lit by a single bare bulb. The floor is vinyl tiles, the walls covered in a sort of formica type material.

I have a bathroom off of the all purpose room about 1 1/2m by 2m, containing a sink, toilet & shower cubicle. Again lit by a bare bulb.

The weather is dire at present as the winds have whipped up the sand, which is now in everything, through the buildings and we can barely see the sun.

And thats it.....as you can see the price of oil counts for nothing when it comes to our accomodation!"

If this is what you want then you may have a chance!

yorky500

1,715 posts

198 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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Rob,

sounds a hell of a lot better than being stuck in countless traffic jams here Dubai, Sign me up please! hahahaha

wildoliver

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

223 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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I knew the qualifications would be a stumbling block, I'll be honest when I say that the main attractions to saudi are the money and the heat, but as you say without the right qualifications your up against a lot of cheaper labour, is there anything out there that can employ British who are "handy" even manual or unpleasant jobs?

Rob_J

13,569 posts

228 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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yorky500 said:
Rob,

sounds a hell of a lot better than being stuck in countless traffic jams here Dubai, Sign me up please! hahahaha
LOL! It can drive you mad thinking there is the relative civilisation of Abu Dhabi 90mins up the road from here. You wander into town on a Friday & it feels like the scene in Lawrence of Arabia when he wanders out of the desert & goes straight to the officers bar.

Rob_J

13,569 posts

228 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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wildoliver said:
I knew the qualifications would be a stumbling block, I'll be honest when I say that the main attractions to saudi are the money and the heat, but as you say without the right qualifications your up against a lot of cheaper labour, is there anything out there that can employ British who are "handy" even manual or unpleasant jobs?
Oliver,

you probably should understand that you are dealing with very different countries out here in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is one extreme, Abu Dhabi/Dubai the opposite. Kuwait is much closer to Saudi in style, where Bahrain & Qatar are closer to the Abu Dhabi/Dubai style. By this I mean your ability to live a "normal" lifestyle, free from restrictions. Abu Dhabi/Dubai by way of example do not require visas just turn up as you would for France or Spain. Bars are all over the main cities, you can buy most things including pork. In short they are very tolerant & western in style. Saudi is not. You would need to select your destination carefully.

Anybody may employ you as manual or "unpleasent" labour, but you will not be able to afford to live. Imagine a UK cost of living on £50/wk......

...it's probably not impossible to find employment out here I think you wil need to assess carefully how you can aply your skills to something a little different to what you may be used to. What works in your favour is that there is no real need to demonstrate that you are skilled in any area before the authorities will let you work here. I wouldn't give up on the idea but there may be some others who can come along to help out more. I'm basically in the oil & gas here which would be very difficult (ni on impossible) for you to get into.

Good luck if you can get here, you should enjoy it. Most do.

wildoliver

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

223 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
quotequote all
Thanks Rob, I think the difficulty is I can't see me moving to any Middle eastern country and setting up shop there, so it would literally be moving out to work for someone else, if there isn't going to be an application for my skills then it all but negates any chance of a move, with the best will in the world unless I could find a management job to use my degree for then it doesn't look promising, I don't want to work with animals in this country never mind elsewhere.


Emeye

9,775 posts

230 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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Rob_J

13,569 posts

228 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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Emeye said:
Except more have been killed in London by terrorists than in any of the Emirates.....

....don't see anyone not going into London?