djmanu

Hi,
I have a dilemna, my company is offering me the opportunity to relocate to Barcelona with a local contract, I work in the IT Engineering field.
I have most of my family in northern Europe (UK and Netherlands), having lived in Canada and in the US for the past 10 years, that's a good opportunity to be closer to them while living in a nicer climate (I would hate to go back to the cold and I love the beach and that's one of the only large metro in Europe with a beach and a good climate ...).
Then I checked this board and saw lot of people discouraging to move to Spain for work (Spanish dream thread etc) ...
Do you think that would be a so bad idea ?
Thanks !

Moses2013

Depends on your salary and what kind of plans you have. There are many jobs in Barcelona and salary can often be the biggest issue, as rents are not much different to other cities across Europe. The thing is that you actually have a job offer, are considering a location with employment opportunities and have skills that are required. It's different if the family with 2 kids, no money, no skills, no Spanish, moves to Benidorm for example.

djmanu

Proposal is around 60-65k and I don't really have an idea on the cost of living but I have heard that it was quite expensive.
I don't really want to lose too much if I move ... plan would be to rent a nice apartment in a good neighborhood with parking and a car, unfortunately I don't speak Spanish and work would be mostly in English and French but I plan to learn it.

Opinion

You don't say where you're currently living? If you're living in London, Paris, NYC etc. and you can survive on that sort of salary, you can probably survive comfortably anywhere. From my experience in Barcelona (like London, Paris, Valencia etc.) you could probably do away with the car.

djmanu

I currently live in Montreal ... but salary is a bit higher.
I will need a car anyway because the office is in the suburbs and there's no metro.

Cape Blue

You might want to learn Catalan rather than Spanish.