Hello.Kitty

I've PM'd you. 40k/month is a lot in this climate. Companies are actually offering less now... in proportion to how many people are desperate for a job. Mr Kitty's company wasn't offering that kind of money last summer, when it was still "the crunch will never happen here" time... but maybe they're just tight.

may11

ohhh dear, the way the company put it, thats its tax free.. and a big increase on what he's getting in the uk.

danjar

As you know, Civil Engineer is a very broad term. What is your role? Eng, Snr Eng, Site Manager, Project Manager, Planner? Consultancy/Contracting? I moved out here 2 months ago as a Site Manager, it's really tough at the moment due to all the redundancies, I have quite a few friends who have recently been laid off and they're finding it quite tough to find work.

If you can't get out here for 6 months then I wouldn't start looking yet, things change so quickly over here. When(?) things start to pick up again there should be a big shortage of people like yourself as a lot of the expat Civil Engineers are heading to other ME countries such as Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

The general rule of thumb of uk salary +10%-15%, tax free with car, accommodation, fuel, health and school fees would give you a pretty accurate ballpark figure.

australiamaybe

Chuckie,

As a CE with 10 years experience you will be looking at 30k at best, even a year ago while things were booming I was hiring and not paying more than 30k for your level. By the way being chartered (a complete waste of time imho) doesn't mean too much around the ME and thinking it does indicates a lack of experience and understanding to what does. Nationality (rightly or wrongly) and type of experience including previous overseas are much more important factors in determining salary.

I would be very careful about making a move to ME just now the dust hasn't settled yet.

chuckie76

got figure of 37k to 42k from a friend of mine working for project management company in dubai (got his job 8 months ago) - same expe as myself....point taken about dust not settling and also re chartershio - load of cr#p but consultancies place value on it

australiamaybe

Only in the UK where they use chartership card or more precisely lack of it as an excuse to pay you less than you are worth when you start out in your career. By the way I am with a consultant and MICE CEng.

8 months ago there was some crazy things happening here.

chuckie76

so could you live well on 30k do you think? assuming its just me and not family

chuckie76

and most importantly save!!

also since u seem to be from uk (am in ireland myself) - what is going rate in consultants and contractors for 10 years - im getting £40k thrown at me by agencies- seems very low??

australiamaybe

The misery of being a civil eng in UK, I left 20 years ago cause of crap earnings, obviously it has not changed.

ME is in a carnage situation at the moment stubbornly high rents and falling wages, you can bet wages will drop faster than rents. Frying pans and fires come to mind wait a year.

chuckie76

yeah have heard things are bad over there might batten down the hatches in ireland for a while!

australiamaybe

If you are into water Australia is place to look at longterm. In fact water is the best place to be as a CE full stop.

chuckie76

yeah agreed, things gone quiet there too though in last month or so...just back froma reccie mission over there where there were loads of offers (tentative) and interest, all are being a bit quieter now though! but will pick up again

busybee2

what wages were being paid 8 months ago may not be the case now, if they still are in a job. if you have a better offer i would stay away from the ME