islamm

Hello members,

I trust you all are well!
I really needed your experience and advise here. Bascially I have been offered a position in Doha and need to make my mind up in the next few days, though I think I have already! It is for a Network lead (Cisco stuff) position offering approx £58k (as a package incl. accomodation allowance of approx £14k). I have been told it would be approx 28,000 per month in QR as a whole package per month.

Questions:-

Is 28k QR reasonable for a position like this out there? I have 7 years Cisco/network/IT experience and long CCNP, CCSP and CISSP.

What is it like out there in terms of living and working? Are there things to do after work/weekends?

What is the cost of living? I have a family of four with two young children (6 months old). What would I be looking at?

How much is it to rent out there for a 2 bed apartment? What sort of locations should I be checking out? Can I rent for 6 months or does it have to be 12 months? Do I have to pay upfront etc?

Car, how much are they to rent. Example, standard saloon?

I am of a Bangladeshi origin. I hear arabs are slightly raicist, is this true? If so should I be concerned?

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***Any advise, information, pointers, numbers, addresses etc provided will be highly appreciated.****
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Working in ME is something I always wanted to do, but just not sure about a few things. Additonally, my wife is pregnant and is due to give birth in December (twins!) and should I accept this position I would have to start in January! If it does work out right, I was thinking about taking the family sometime after 6-7 months.

Many many thanks in advance.

Mo

Patsy Stoned

Firstly, do a search please, there are lots of threads covering all your questions.
Yes Arabs ( and others)are racist.
I don't think on that money with 2 children and another 2 on the way will support you.

I am in a good mood, look here.................

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ht=doha+living

flares

Two kids born 6 months ago and two more due in 2 months... !!!!

Fair play to Mrs Mo.

islamm

apologies, I meant two on the way only!

MaserMan

If you don't have accomodation being paid for then that would be very tight unless you want to live further out of the city.

Again it also depends on your style of life. There are people living over here on not much more than 1000 riyals month.

With regard to arabs being racist, yes they are but from what I have found you don't work with any as a lot of the offices ares full of Indians, Pakistani's and Bangladeshes, so not an issue.

I laugh when I think back and was being asked in my interview if I understood arab culture etc.

islamm

Why do you think 28k QAR is low?

From my research, I have seen 2 bed compound villas going for approx 7-10k. I would add another 7k for living and transportation. That brings it to approx 17k QAR, leaving me with 11k min.

Are my assumptions above too low and modest?

Also, places such as Abu Hammour, what is that like?

EastWest

Yes, I agree
Arabs in the Gulf are very racist, like Bangladeshi in Bangladesh, German in Germany, Indian in India, etc.
So my advice don't go there in order not to expose yourself to their racism.

Patsy Stoned

or live with it.

MaserMan

It is all relative and what is good for you. I could turn around and say that I spend 30k a month on just having a good time, that does not mean that you can't live on 28k.

I have a friend who lives down in Abu Hammour in a stand alone and the impression of the area is that it has either undergone some form of regeneration or that there is a lot of new build over there. Seems an OK place to live and my friend likes it.