rowell

Similarly when Andy Murray is doing well he is British but when he is crap he is Scottish

BurpusMe

Dubai has great hard infrastructure: airports, airlines, hotels, shipping ports, public transit, hospitals, residential and commercial housing stock, financial, technology and media clusters, entertainment (malls, country clubs, etc). Soft infrastructure needs work.

It's the most livable city in the middle east. Safe, comfortable, and now affordable. Within a 2 hour flight of Dubai there are more than a billion people for whom Dubai represents a great living opportunity. I've been to most countries in the region and none of them are as comfortable and safe as where we are. I find KSA, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar to be extremely boring and oppressive.

As things improve in the rest of the world, they'll improve in Dubai. Not overnight by any means, but eventually.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I've noticed an uptick in job offers over the last few months. Not sure if I've noticed any other positive signs? Nobody believes Dubai will return to the boom times, but it seems to be evolving into a normal and livable city.

For career reasons, I'm always considering other destinations. But as I do, I realize that we have a good thing here and I guess we'll stick around till we're lured onwards?

Millhouse

You and me both. Life here is pretty easy once you have settled in but I know it's the wrong thing to do!

Shehryar

I'm in the same boat. However, the only issue over being here for a number of years is that one simply 'loses' those years from the career - if I go back to the City now, my Dubai experience would be heavily discounted, if considered relevant at all.

Millhouse

correct. especially now the place is hardly booming too.

Dilmun

I can give you a very simple comparison to have an idea about what will happen here:

If you look at a compound with western management and a compound with f.x. indian management you will see after just a few years a big difference:
while the compound under western management is well maintained and constantly improved, the compound under the said indian management is run down, no improvements, any maintenance or servicing is just done in patches with big band-aids instead of proper repair.

Now the ME countries started to replace expansive western employees. There is a kind of brain-drain going on. So just wait and see, what will happen in the next couple of years.

NaimTakieddin

Ok, cool, But we can`t deny that the main incentive of every foreigner to come Dubai is the remuneration factor; I mean everyone knows this. if economic recovery picked up again then there will not be any distinctive packages for foreigners as what was going on before the omnious year 2007.
But hey I like the fact you are impressed by the infrastructure of Dubai as this feature of Dubai makes a lot of people adhered to Dubai.


Cheers

NaimTakieddin

Hey, are you sure about this point, you meant if you or I spent 4 or 5 years working like a RoBoat in where we are in this area of the world then our experiences would be disregarded or despised or diminished!!!!!!

Do not let me book my flight ticket within 2 hours from now buddy!

NaimTakieddin

hahahaaaa, you got it perfectly here as one of life defenition in KSA is ; live easy everything is attainable and accessible. i ll Tell ya something funny;; me being deprived from a decent vehicle in where i ve been along with watching my pocket cautiously but now I can articulate that I got spoiled 100% probably because in KSA there is no social life especially for a white single half european person like me ; so alternatively the tiny elements of civilized living as like the decent car and accommodation became the most precious and valuable things which oblige you to stick you here...

seriously I am starving to live among an open society NO KIDDING

NaimTakieddin

Yup I noticed this inclination taking place in where I am working, there is a joke spred widely here;


An american worker went to work in KSA and he got a dispute with the HR regarding the salary then he started bragging he is american and he can go wherever he wants....A manager approached him saying ; your flexible mobility without barriers should not abide you to come here but rather to go america freely ..

mission

total concur

BurpusMe

Regarding the "remuneration factor" ––
I've been getting moderate interest from recruiters lately (3-4 JDs per week). The packages offered are attractive even by 2007 standards. You can still make money here, and with the cheaper rents you can save more of it. I'm not saying I know what happens next, but at the moment it's okay.

Regarding the infrastructure ––
The Dubai metro makes the city quite livable. No other city in the region can compare. Hell, there are a lot of American cities that can't compare to Dubai in this respect. The airports and flight availability compares favorably to other major centres. This stuff matters.

I really don't mind living here. Even less so when I compare it to other options in the far east or USA. I don't even consider EU or UK as remote possibilities.

expo09

Looking back now it is pretty obvious that the way Dubai was going there was always going to be problems. A lot of the projects going on were just dreams that were unsustainable. So many massive projects had been planned and they were not all going to work out. Some have and some haven't.

I do think, though, that Dubai still has a string future, but things will have to be considered a bit more carefully and any potential problems thought about.

Sandboy

after nearly 8 happy years I'm becoming weary.... there's no reason why things can't work properly and people be reasonable and a lack of tax only hides that for so long

still love the sunshine mind

NaimTakieddin

I just received some bad news about new wave of lay- off s there in Dubai after yesterday `s declerations of an extended scope shrinking of the on-going investments.

any comments from the dudes there!!!!