PaddyMacLovingTheCraic

Hi everyone,
I am new to the forum but have been reading threads for the past six months in our never ending quest to move to Doha. I have laughed at the words of wisdom Britexpat76 and really Codurhamboy you should be on the stage with an £8 pint of stella!! Well enough of the flattery i was hoping you could help me out with a few questions?
1. Re the poor driving - are the majority of accidents minor tips/fender bender or more serious head on collisons? Utube has a video of Doha driving and it scarred the s&*t out on me!! As a mum of three i think i would give women drivers a bad name out there.
2. I am an Occupational therapist(15 years+experience) and am in long long talks with Hamad? Has anyone any experience of working with this organisation? Good bad indifferent i dont mind. It seems to be very difficult to get info of potential salary scale for allied health professionals. 22500QR per month has been mooted. Have no idea whether this is good or not. Paid housing and bused to work. Flights home for family, moving package and 40 days annual leave + end of service bonus 1 month for every year worked.
3. We have decided to source our own accomadation and like the look of beverly hills and y compound. Has anyone experience of living there with a young family (3 kids 8,3,2)
4. My husband is a (water) civil engineer with 17 years experience. He has sent loads of CVs in the past 6 months but only one company came back with an all in package of 30000QR(THIS IS NOT A TYPO) and we politely declined thanks to research on the wiki. He is now planning on going out to Doha and knocking on doors. Good idea???
Thanks and take care.

Desert Dubliner

Try Hyder consulting for hubby.

Johnnyboy11

Has your hubby got a degree in Civil Engineering? Is he Chartered? If he is, then with 17 years experience. I'd say QR40-50k per month all in would be a reasonable deal.

Other Water Industry players out here, who recruit all the time, are AECOM, Parsons International, Parsons Brinkerhoff, Atkins, KEO, CH2M Hill, CDM Smith, Khatib & Alami, Cowi and KBR. He could also try Ashghal and Kharamaa who are the two Client organisations. Then there are government backed developers like QP and Qatar Diar. The water industry is booming in Qatar to try to catch up with exponential population growth, so UK water engineers are in high demand.

[J]

co durham boy

You get 22K he gets 30K and you say all the basics are covered....?

52 K coming over the threshold without a bill to pay , no brainer !


You're husband will get a position here in his required field , superstar money i'm not sure .
Forget about the superstar salaries and deals here in Qatar for the majority of guys.
Construction prices are at an all time low and contracts are going to the cheapest bidder and that's reflected in the packages . There's plenty of work but the boom has been and the big money has been earned.

My advice is be realistic about whats on offer and tell your husband to look at STR Global and Reed . Those guys post a lot of good jobs.

Beverly Hills and the Y Village are both very good . I'd go for the Y Village as it's a new development .

The driving is shit and will get worse not better , get the biggest 4x4 you can and drive with intent . These morons on the roads are some of the most arrogant and ignorant people on the planet but you'll find that their driving mirrors everything else about them as well .

Good luck

PaddyMacLovingTheCraic

Thanks very much for the speedy replies.
Thanks DD and Just to let you know the 30k offer was made by Hyder....Hmmm...........The wrote a lovely article in the Irish Times in April promising high standard etc but as i have come to realise the devil is in the detail when you are dealing with the ME....
Johnnyboy : Hubbie had degree in Civ Eng and Masters in Environmental Engineering and 17 years exp in this field. Has chartership and PMP qualfications also. Will try the companies you mentioned and many thanks for taking the time to answer.
Thanks Co dboy for your advice. Will buy beast of a car and will try and own the road.
Cheers

OriginalSunshine

Supply and demand I'm afraid - lots of Europeans coming out to look in the ME, so salaries *are* dropping.

If you can get between the pair of you 52k per month, and all bills (schooling, flights, medical) paid then you are laughing

Johnnyboy11

In your circumstances, with young kids, I'd be looking to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in that order. Age 45+ seems to be a cut-off for visa applications, so bear that in mind.

Your hubby should be good for QR40k/m in Qatar, based on his qualifications and experience. Beware the sponsorship trap, if he takes a low offer initially, his employer can prevent him changing jobs in Qatar for 2 years.

MWH are another possibility, they have a couple of commissions in Qatar on the drainage side.

[J]

MaserMan

As I arrived last week have been looking for acomodation, the two you mention are at least 18k/month and Y Village is full. The other thing is that estate agents are saying that there is nothing available and will try and get you to make a quick decision on what they have. hat ai have found out is that a lot of the compounds are not prepared to pay for the services of an estate agent and deal direct with you. That is what I have done and got a villa on a compound the at least two agents said was full.

Driving here is ok but as I have come from Riyadh that might explain my attitude. The trick is to get out and about and not be timid or overly aggresive and you will be fine.

Best of luck.

seven seas

Just a hunch, I dunno, a gut feeling, but I think the OP might be from Ireland... not sure though.

MaserMan

To be sure, begorra.

Sorry for the stereotypical remark but it is early

britexpat76

Sound advice. Get around the Compounds, dont deal with estate agents as most of them are Arseholes trying to flog any old shite they have on their books. As regards driving, I find never giving an inch and not hesitating stands you in good stead in the ME. 95% of the prangs here are fender benders only round town as there is too much traffic to speed.

And welcome to BE and good luck.

PaddyMacLovingTheCraic

Thanks very much for all advice re companies and compounds. Hubbie planning to apply to the ones mentioned and surely something will come of it if he casts the net wider i guess.
We are irish and no offence taken to the stereotypical voice of the peasant farmer of the 1800's!! The irishnqatar website is now defunct however i didnt find it as interactive nor as informative as this one so cheers for replyng even if i'm not one of your own!
Glad to hear that the majority of traffic incidents are fender benders and not head on collusions as i had imagined. Planning on buying massive SUV just in case though.
I am also aware of people in Qatar on packages that include medical coverage. Just wondering what it actually covers and would it stretch to covering dental work for kids eg braces/retainers etc.

And finally are there any Physios, Speechies or OTs out there who can advise on salary & package for Hamad employees? Anyone working in Rumallah(?spelling) or Cidra? Does it differ hugely and in what way from NHS or HSE standards?
Slan agus slainte(Goodbye and Good health)

MaserMan

I am trying to find out exactly what is covered under out medical cover but the one thing not covered is dental so just glad that we all had check ups befpre we left Riyadh.

britexpat76

Medical here unless specified in a contract is very basic. We give employees a basic medical card which just about covers them for a pack of Paracetamol some TCP and a plaster.

You then have Hamed hospital which is akin to a NHS hospital

OleJanx

One thing worth considering is donating blood at the Hamed hospital. God forbid that you have need of it, but if you have an accident, if you are carrying a blood donor card, it saves on having to have people give blood in the case of needing a transfusion, so worth bearing in mind.