Originally Posted by Paraic

Hello all,

Apologies for hijacking the tread but seeking your opinion.

I am interested in working in the Middle East. I have been offered a position in Doha working as a quantity surveyor for a consultancy. The offer is circa £38,000 sterling per annum (which if my calcs are correct equates to circa 220,000 Qatari Riyal) as well as accommodationallowance (not sure if its full value of accommodation, health care and two flights per annum.
I have no previous middle east experience, i have 4 years UK experience, no kids.
Is this a reasonable offer to be able to save money?
Thanks in advance
P

Originally Posted by Paraic

Hello all,

Apologies for hijacking the tread but seeking your opinion.

I am interested in working in the Middle East. I have been offered a position in Doha working as a quantity surveyor for a consultancy. The offer is circa £38,000 sterling per annum (which if my calcs are correct equates to circa 220,000 Qatari Riyal) as well as accommodationallowance (not sure if its full value of accommodation, health care and two flights per annum.
I have no previous middle east experience, i have 4 years UK experience, no kids.
Is this a reasonable offer to be able to save money?
Thanks in advance
P

Originally Posted by co durham boy

So it's all ok because it happens elsewhere..........

yawn

Originally Posted by co durham boy

If i hated it i would leave , end of mate . Your completely missing my point . I'm here because of my work and to provide for my family , nothing else as thats my job in life . The thing that keeps me here is working for a good company and having a great financial incentive to stay and providing stability and a financial cushion for the future.

I can be totally objective in my opinion about any place i've worked in as i have no ties with any of them . Qatar doesn't offer me any rights as i'm under sponsorship on a working visa . I'm a temporary guest in this country and will be treated as such . I could profess unrequited love for the U.K but the HMRC stops me doing that .

The things i do not like about Qatar are probably the inherent racism , hypocrisy , lack of enforceable basic law , poor working conditions for labour , poor working business environment , below standard decision making , the ignorance and arrogance of certain members of society coupled with a sense of superiority based on birthright . I have arounnd 500 guys to look after on this project now comprising around 12 nationalities , seeing them dipped into varying depths of buckets of shit dependent on passport is indefensible . Does it happen in other Gulf countries , yes it does . Does that excuse it here , no it doesn't .

The best things would be a good hub for travel , a decent airline , good job , good financial benefits , good sporting facilities . Plenty scope for work and future projects plus i've met some good people here .

If i had a choice i'd go back to Hong Kong , Dubai , Singapore or Muscat but alas ive been and done the first three and work is thin on the ground in most of these locations .

I don't come to these places to immerse myself in the culture and find myself , i come because it makes my exit back to reality quicker .

Until that time comes i'll tell it as it is just as and be as cynical and scathing as ever when things are wrong and generous with praise when deserved just as i did when i was on this forum and working in Dubai .

Dont believe the hype lad

Originally Posted by mrblast

Firstly, thanks for taking to give your opinion, always interesting to hear people's viewpoints.

Apologies if it appears as if I'm really trying to pick holes in what you're saying, I'm not. It's just that I've seen you regularly criticise Doha on here to the extent that it seems (to me) that you have had a particularly bad experience or know something I don't or have experienced something that you really didn't expect prior to coming here. However, your comments seem more like general reflections on aspects of society here. The points you've mentioned are all aspects that I (and I'm sure other people) would have expected to encounter here and therefore just accept it, knowing that there is little that we can do to change it, other than refusing to come here.


Which of the issues that you have mentioned have a direct influence on your lifestyle (as callous as that sounds)? When I lived in Kazakhstan there was a real danger of being attacked by the local guys because generally the Kazakhs disliked all expats. I was arrested once and threatened with a knife for walking on a grass verge. Legislation was once quickly introduced specifically to targert the type of business I worked in and make it illegal for us to operate. Recently there was a spate of terrorist bombings in the town I used to live in. These types of problems that directly affected my quality of life and were not what I expected when I first moved there and ultimately lead to my departure. Whilst the general mentality of the people and way the country was run was frustrating at times I just accepted this and didn't see it as being a major issue or anything particularly unique to Kazakhstan.

You mentioned that you would prefer to live in Dubai. Do you feel that the issues you face in Qatar do not exist there? If you do feel they exist there as well would you therefore not class Dubai as a shit hole too?

Originally Posted by tb22

I have recently been offered a job in one of the american university outposts in education city in Doha, no prizes for guessing in petroleum engineering.

The package is approx
USD 3800p/m
+ free housing
+ relocation
+ car allowance
+ 1 return trip p/a home

I understand the housing is in a compound which has several staff and a shuttle bus operates to and from the campus.

Now I have read quite a few threads on this forum and others about how boring Doha is!

Is it really so bad? What is there to do in Doha for leisure?

As well I would bring my wife (we have no children). She is especially worried about having some difficulty meeting people and filling her time. Is she right to worry about these things?

The salary is approx what I would get in the UK but obv. no taxes and the extra allowances makes it worth a bit more. It seems the cost of living in Qatar is about the same as the UK (except alcohol)? So would it be possible to save any significant amount of money on this salary?

Originally Posted by Paraic

Hello all,

Apologies for hijacking the tread but seeking your opinion.

I am interested in working in the Middle East. I have been offered a position in Doha working as a quantity surveyor for a consultancy. The offer is circa £38,000 sterling per annum (which if my calcs are correct equates to circa 220,000 Qatari Riyal) as well as accommodationallowance (not sure if its full value of accommodation, health care and two flights per annum.
I have no previous middle east experience, i have 4 years UK experience, no kids.
Is this a reasonable offer to be able to save money?
Thanks in advance
P

Originally Posted by Tockalosh

QS's are generally dull, with few friends other than other QS's so they rarely socialize and so dont spend money on nights out. I have never met a QS who can hold his beer so they wont blow much at the liquor store. They would rather live in a basic apartment and count the beans they have saved and so wont blow bucks on fancy villas. Budget in your Golf lessons so you can turn up on freebie golf days without embarrasing yourself and you will be fine. Apologies for the generalization on the disease that is QSing

Originally Posted by abbey08

Dubai is shithole, its just has a lot more hookers and boozers and a bit more to do.

Doha is also a shithole, however it is a shithole that currently has more construction work than anywhere in the world and more importantly the money to pay for it.