umair

Hello guys,
This is my first post at Middle East forum. I have some queries to ask regarding abu dhabi.

I have been offered an IT job from a firm based in UAE. They are offering me 12k Dhs Gross/month which includes every thing. Please let me know the following:

1: Is it a good offer for an IT Administrator post?

2: Please guide about the average living expense in UAE for accomodation, food, travel. etc for one person(me).

3: Out of 12k how much I can save in pocket after all expenses.

Guys please share your experiences and opinions.

Thanks..

Blue Cat

it's not good but it depends on your lifestyle really? would you share accomodation or want to rent your own place?

NorthernLad

You will struggle. Not worth it.

umair

Please let me know about both shared as well for own. So i can easily compare it.

Thanks..

Blue Cat

there are many Pakistani/Indian Nationals who would be jumping for joy at that salary offer. Check out accom on www.dubizzle.com.

Dilmun

I don't know how you want to survive on this, I know, I couldn't.

umair

Thanks for letting me this site

CeeBee

I don't know how you can say this without knowing the guy's (i'm assuming guy's) lifestyle.

One could quite easily find a room for a few grand a month, i'm assuming he won't be a big drinker (coming from Karachi) which is often westerner's biggest expense.

Me, i spend between 50 - 100 Dhs a week on lunch, probably 150 - 200 on other meals and of late i've not been going out boozing. I know many non-western engineers that aren't on any more than 6 - 8k a month (plus accomodation).

If the OP doesn't need a car this will be better. To be quite frank many people don't need cars as most of us are just far too lazy to take public transport - which isn't actually as bad as people think. Find a flat near the office though and your sorted.

Buying food to cook yourself is very very cheap. All the ingredients you could ever want are available for not a great deal of cash.

It is very easy to get by in Dubai without spending a great deal of cash. This I have recently come to notice as i'm fairly sick of being lazy with my food and throwing everything up the wall on beer.

umair

Thanks dear for the reply.
Can you guide me about accomodation expenses?

Update.

Ethos83

Minimum cost for a small one bedroom in a Western expat environment is going to be 3,000 AED/month, but it's better to budget for at least 4,000 AED. Maid's room in Marina flats can be had for less than 3,000. Possibly 2500 if you're lucky.

A lot of young Pakistani professionals share rooms in Oud Metha or Barsha, and their half of the room is probably around 2,000 AED a month.

You can live on 12,000 a month in Dubai if you are willing to live the lifestyle common to many of your fellow countrymen. You'd actually be better off than most of them.

If you don't have a car and take public transportation or a shuttle offered by your company, you can budget 3K for rent and 2K for living expenses, and save the rest. Not bad, eh? You could probably save even more by cutting additional corners, sharing with more people and so forth. The advantage of being Pakistani is that you aren't subject to the pressure to live a Western lifestyle as a westerner would.

Millhouse

I did start posting a reply to this thread earlier but gave up as the question is actually quite hard to answer.

Will you be working a 6 day or 5 day week?

To be honest, I think you will be fine and should find it easy to send home 3000-5000 Dirhams a month, potentially more.

It really depends on what you want to do and how you live and eat etc (which I assume might be different to how a spoilt British expat will think).

Example, you could share a room for 1000-200Dh / month, and eat for around 15-20Dh a day for two meals of good quality pakistani food. So that's around 1000Dh / month on food and 2000Dh / month on accommodation. Which means a send home rate of maybe around 8000 Dh/ month (I know a lot of brits that can't do that).

However... things here are expensive. A pint of beer in a dubai bar could be 40Dh, or a coke in a bar 16Dh. On a night out people on this sight might easy drink 10 drinks - i.e. 400Dh in one night just on drinks!

Kitycat is a regular poster who - I think earns 20k / month - and claims to send home 6k / month. i.e. she survives on 14k but that includes (i suspect), nights out in expensive bars, clothes, and lots of taxi travel (and a 42inch TV purchase). She also has her own accommodation (i.e. does not share). My point is that she leads a very expensive western lifestyle on not a lot more.

I guess, in summary I think that you will be fine. Can you check with any friends you have that actually live here?

NutellaIsYummy

Hi, umair. Not sure if the salary is great or not (would depend on how much experience you have, your education, etc.), but at my last company, 12K/ month was more than much of the IT team was making.

As others have said, how much you will save will depend on how you live. Rent is the biggest expense, and it would range from dhs 500/ month for a bedspace (i.e., sharing a room with 3 or more other guys) to dhs 5000/ month for a private room with ensuite in a nice villa or flat in "new" Dubai. The next most expensive thing would be transportation, which could be as low as dhs 300/ month if you can rely on public transport or as high as dhs 2000/ month if you are renting a smaller car (Toyota Yaris); this assumes that you will be able to get a driving license (which is not easy if you have to take the test).

If I were you, I would budget like this:
- Dhs 3000 for furnished private room with shared bathroom in Satwa/ Karama/ Bur Dubai/ maybe Jumeriah if you get lucky; when you do sharing, you generally don't have to worry about water/ gas/ electricity/ internet bills, which is nice
- Dhs 1500 for groceries - this assumes that you buy only basic stuff (e.g., no organic produce)
- Dhs 1500 for going out - bars, restaurants, movies, etc. If you are a big party guy, then this will not be enough, but if you don't party/ drink much, this should be good
- Dhs 1500 for random shopping (clothes, video games, whatever)
- Dhs 500 for car share service to get to/ from work (not sure how this works, but a girl at my last job used to do this so they definitely exist) as well as the occasional taxi for going out, doing errands, etc.
- Dhs 200 for mobile phone credit (depends how much you call home)

With this budget, you would be able to save at least dhs 4000/ month, which is 1/3 of your salary, not bad!

Millhouse

the alternative is probably a lot less.

Millhouse

I suspect that there are many british expats who are unable to save a third of their salary (or in fact 4000Dh) each month.

NutellaIsYummy

This is 100% true. When I first moved here, I had a teammate who barely had dhs 5000 in the bank after working here for more than 2 years at a salary much higher than 12K/ month. But he was renting a room for 5k/ month and a car for 2k/ month. He was also someone who liked to buy a lot of clothes/ books/ drinks/ presents for girls/ etc. And he ate out most nights. And I guess that's where the money went.

On the other hand, I know an IT guy from my last company who makes about 6K/ month. He and his wife (who makes ~4K) somehow manage to have a flat, a car, money for bills, money for fun, and money to send to their parents each month. I really admire them for that.

So it may not be easy, but I think it is possible for umair to save 4000/ month. But yes, it is also possible that it will be a challenge to save even 1000/ month.