Hi All,

- What's the job market like for C++ Software Engineers in Financial Services? I've worked in London all my life.
- How many years of experience do employers in Madrid and Barcelona generally require?
- What districts of Madrid and Barcelona are similar to Shepherd's Bush or Ealing (both in West London), or Kilburn (in North-West London)?
- How do I go about applying for a job in Madrid and Barcelona? Are there any job fairs hosted in London that one can attend?

- How much can I purchase a two-bedroom flat or house for in Madrid and Barcelona in good area? How about a three-bedroom? I wouldn't mind if it's in the outskirts of Madrid but as long as I can use the tube, then all is good.

I am basically looking for a change from London.

Any more tips welcome.

How is your Spanish?

5 years ago I made the move from London to Barcelona - and was considering Madrid as well, so looked around the neighbourhoods there

Barcelona and Madrid are nothing like London so its almost impossible to compare neighbourhoods. I'm guessing you want something that is like a seperate village but still pretty central to the city?

In which case, I recommend either Gracia or Poble Nou in Barcelona. Definitely dont buy straight away as you'd have to pay almost 10% sales tax and you wont know if you would like the area. You can get a 2 bed flat for around 1000-1200 euros per month rent in these neighbourhoods, would be 300-500k to buy

For jobs, good luck with that! As you'll know unemployment is very high. I have no idea in your sector but for most professional sectors you would need fluent Spanish and English - and also Catalan in Barcelona, and maybe 1 other European language on top! Wages will be at least one third lower in Barcelona/Madrid than in London, but the rents and other costs are about a third lower too, public transport is much cheaper

Try looking on these sites:

infojobs.net
wiseri.com
http://dir.betabeers.com/post/

There are lots of requirements for programmers/developers in the IT sector, particularly in the web and startups area. If you search on Infojobs for C++ a lot of jobs requiring c++ and java are shown. I really don't know about the financial sector though. Can't you get in a place (like Barclays or Societe Generale) that have a presence in Spain and then get a transfer?
On the betabeers site there is an option to post as freelance - you may find posting an entry yourself may produce a lead - but you will have to post it in Spanish.
If you feel like sifting through 1000s of non-related entries, you can search for "Madrid empleo" on Twitter, but you'll have to pass by a lot of different types of job before those you may be looking for.
And as mentioned above - I doubt you'd get in anywhere without knowing that campo is the Spanish word for field, and that suprimir registros means deleting records. And the pronunciation of words like Oracle or Facebook may differ somewhat to what we use.