Hi

Just wondering if anyone on the forum is up on the IT job situation in Cape Town in comparison to either the UK or Australia.

My background is Java/J2EE with 10y experience and I would be looking for senior roles.

If you could give me an idea of the salary range Id expect that would be great.

Cheers
Andy

If you are a white male, don't even think about it. You will not be able to get a job due to Affirmative Action.

This is bullshit. Look at www.careerjunction.co.za . If you are senior level IT and white - you will be employed and would earn anything from R180-000p.a to about R300-000p.a in Cape Town with your 10 years experience.

Capetonian

How is the city coping with the power-cuts? Especially in IT, I imagine it must make things difficult without electricity. Is there a date set yet for restoration of normal service?

Pablo

The power cuts lasted about 2 weeks where Cape Town experienced unpredictable load shedding across various suburbs in the city. Cape Town businesses lost a lot of money. Especially the smaller guys. Theres no point in sugar coating it - it was a mess.

The power has been back on for a number of weeks now and the rotar to replace the damaged equipment at Koebergs second reactor arrived this week.

One looks at this incident in one of two ways - the pessimist who will tell everyone they meet that Cape Town has a chronic power problem and is rapidly becoming Maputo . The realist who will acknowledged that someone messed up and the city suffered commercially but that the chances of this ever happening again once the second reactor is repaired is slim. The city has has its wake up call and will be undertaking infrastructure projects to significantly increase MW capacity. They have tax money coming out of their ears.

Capetonian

Thanks for that. I wasn't quite sure what the current situation was in CT as regards power cuts. I thought they were still going on, and would be until Koeberg's broken generator was repaired sometime in July... and indeed, even after that, because the first reactor at Koeberg will then have to be taken down for refuelling. But I did read elsewhere that attempts were being made to bring in temporary emergency generating equipment, to be run from barges, I believe.

Anyway, from what you say, there are no more power cuts down there. Where is the additional electricity coming from, with Koeberg still (partly) down?

How are you finding the cost of living in CT nowadays? What do you find you need to spend on medical cover, for example? And energy costs (when you have it)? Property prices, etc?

Have you been there long enough to gain a view of the state of the education system and hospitals?

Pablo

Pablo,

There have been no wide spread cuts subsequent to the initial two week incident. There will be pressure on the citys power supply until the second reactor is repaired. Cape Town is getting auxillary power from hydroelectric sources. City residents are however being advised to be conservative with their power usage until Koeberg is back at full steam.

You can find some more details here :

http://www.eskom.co.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=1205
http://www.eskom.co.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=1201

On your cost of living question.

I earn R13900pm after tax on an 18kpm salary. I own my car, a golf 4 which I purchased for R120-000 from equity I took out of my flat.

My current bond on my flat is R191-000. The flat is 80m2 and worth R700-000. The mortgage payment is +- R1700pm . If I owed on the full market value it would be about R6200p.m I am in this relatively fortunate position because I bought 5 years ago and then worked in London for about 3 years trying to save as much as possible.

Property in Cape Town is not cheap. It was cheap 5 years ago. But now a house will cost you R1mil - R1.5mil. This for a 3 bedroom townhouse with a small garden. A good place to look at property is here :

http://www.pamgolding.co.za/
http://www.seeff.com/

On medical,

My father, 70 has prostrate cancer and has been using Groote Schuur - a state hospital for his treatments. He does this because he doesnt like spending money in private hospitals and is not on medical aid. I wouldnt do the same (he is not on the bones of his ass) - but his choice. I visited him on numerous occasions when he was in hospital and found the facility to be clean. It typically receives very little bad press - like the hospitals in London do. He has never complained. However - I would use one of the excellent private hospitals for which you need medical - or deep pockets.

Medical costs me R720pm with discovery healths coastal saver plan of which the company I work for pays half. This gets me about R2148p.a 'out of hospital' expenses - doctors appointments etc as well as comprehensive 'in hospital' cover should something bad happen - such as a heart attack.

You can look at the various plans here to get a good idea of the cost of ZA medical :

https://www.discovery.co.za

Your grocery cost depends on how extravagant you are. My grocery cost is about R1500pm - R2000p.m . That is just food. Add another R200 for toiletries etc. I eat out sometimes - so I pay more on food. If im eating at a decent place like here :

http://www.dining-out.co.za/member_d...berID-378.html

It will cost me

R80 - R100 for my main course
R12 or so for my beer.

Energy costs are cheap. I pay R120 a month for my flats electricity.

I pay R500p.m to insure my car and also for R100-000 household contents insurance.

Telephones , cell phones and ADSL are all unfortunately quite expensive. Cell phone contracts are more competitive than landline telephony because there are 3 providers. ADSL is so expensive I wouldnt even bother unless the company I worked for wasnt paying for it. This is because the monopolistic provider Telkom has a stranglehold on infrastructure. The cell phone providers provide wireless broadband - I would use this rather than Telkom - just out of principle.

I dont have kids but if I did I would send them to one of the better southern suburb schools. The quality of education seems to be - as in many countries a case of you get what you pay for. At a national level the year end examinations are well organized and controlled and tertiary education at the Universitys/Universitys of Technology is of good standard.