And the most important part.... your healthcare and insurance for repatriation, just in case.

I'm surprised some of the more cynical people here are still in Spain given how they clearly feel about the place!

If anyone should consider moving back to blighty, I can tell you where there will be a good well paid IT job and awesome apartment going in about 6 months time.



Appreciate all the good advice and positive comments! Thanks for the location advice, I am now focused on the southern coast.

¡Moy bien!

Don't ever confuse realism for cynicism..
(& if you head Malaga way, make sure you pack wellies and a umbrella)

Oops, your 1 hour of Spanish didn't go too well yesterday then

Sorry, couldn't resist

You know, I reckon you guys are going to be juuuuust fine!!

Have fun

My other half is TEFL qualified and has just had to turn down an almost fulltime contracted job offer from a language school in San Pedro due to other work commitments so that kind of work is still out there, even here. Based on her background I'd suggest you get qualified then go work out in China/South America/somewhere scary for a bit to build up your teaching skills as this did her the world of good. Be prepared to go find this work though, rarely is anything ever advertised. She found the addresses of all the local language schools and dropped her cv off personally - it took a while but a lot of them got back to her with occasional offers of work over the last couple of years.

Web designers are two a penny here but if you're good, have a proven track record and charge sensibly then there is generally always some work to keep you in cañas (we're always searching for decent/cheap ones!)

Over the last month we've seen a marked increase in work from new businesses and investment in existing companies both locally and from the UK so fingerscrossed things are going in the right direction

Neither of those two roles are likely to give you a great lifestyle here but if you can live cheap, have a bit of backup cash then in my opinion it's a much better place to be than the UK (aside from the constant rain at the moment) but if all else fails there is always IT work in Gib as a contingency

There is one language school in San Pedro who is always advertising for language teachers. Almost every few months for the past 15 years

some are like that - work the teachers to death for rubbish pay then on to the next mug

The rate wouldn't have won any awards but it would pay the rent, no idea if they are the ones that advertise all the time but they took about 10 months to reply to her so they can't be in that much of a hurry/need!

I find that you need to just keep chipping away.

Work won't flood in but I am finding now in Asturias after being here a year, I have established a good little group of people are suggesting and helping me to find work...

...I am sure with time. Start off simple and it grows with a bit of effort.

word of mouth is the best advertising

mind you - it works both ways if you're rubbish

I have never done more than hand out a few leaflets outside a couple of schools - & that was when I was first starting

personal recommendations have kept me as busy as I want to be

Realism is subjective - <<snip>> < my personal interest website.

Lynnxa you seem to know what you're talking about and I 100% believe in this. Do a quality job in the first place and you'll find more than your fair share of good enjoyable work coming your way.

Rich

Edit: Oh didn't realise - as in keeping with the forum rules I've moved it to my sig instead. Ta.

Cheers Andy.

I'll have a great lifestyle whereever I am mate, that's just the way I am

It you're living over here then the two most important things to think about are tax and healthcare. You'll find taxes are higher here than in the UK - and very likely they'll be much higher pretty soon given the state of the economy. Healthcare - if you're working here you'll be paying tax of course, so you should be covered, but you probably want private on top - otherwise you could be stuck unable to earn whilst on a waiting list. You're young and without prior conditions private cover won't be expensive.

Web design? I suppose it depends on the type of web designer you are! There are plenty of ex-UK binmen and coal miners who have transformed magically into expert web designers as soon as they stepped off the plane. You can spot them a mile off - charging 100-150 euros for a website, target market: english speaking estate agents, builders and hairdressers, and they're all broke at the moment.

On the other hand I run a new media company in Spain and 2009 was our busiest year... Spain is 15 years behind the UK so if you understand accessibility, validation, e-commerce, usability etc and have a good network of contacts then you'll find both big budget development and 1,000+ a day consulting jobs easily. Yes it's less money than in the UK but the jobs are genuinely easier. Just be prepared to travel!

Seriously, my best advice to you is to dump the idea of bar work and TEFL - and focus on making a go with the web business - you can't steal second base with one foot on first! Dust off your LinkedIn account and start networking...

I just wish I was that age again! Good luck!

All very well, but he'd need 5 years of Spanish lessons first. Spanish companies expect a high level of Spanish from their contractors. Unless you're just talking about the Marbella/Gibralter market?