Life in Dubai – Part 2

I am reviewing the life in Dubai from the perspective of someone who lives and works in Karachi. Someone living in any other part of the world might not look at things the same way. Not everyone is supposed to relate to my experiences.

To be able to live in Dubai, you must work there. And there are all kinds of things you can do in Dubai. With population increasing so rapidly, there are opportunities for all professions. But finding the right job in Dubai is not an easy task.

What is the right job? In my opinion, your job is decent if you are making twice your average spendings in a month. You should be able to pay all your bills and other living expenses comfortably. If you are having trouble paying bills, you should seriously think about either lowering down your expenses or increasing your income, which means find a better job. Once your montly expenditure is covered, you should have enough money on top of that to be able to afford occasional shopping, dinners, emergency expenditures, and stuff like that. This rule of a thumb is true for most cities, including Dubai. So it is very important that you find a job that covers your costs easily. Otherwise you will end up living in apartment shared by 5 people, taking the bus to work, and killing your desires of having the luxuries the city has to offer. This gets tougher when you see such things all around you and you are unable to experience any of it, just because you are not making enough money. I know people who live a miserablelife in Dubai, and trust me, it’s not fun. It’s not worth living a life like that when back home you can live comfortably with your family and friends.

After talking to a lots of friends in Dubai and getting a general idea about cost of living there, I have come to a conclusion that one should be making at least 10,000 Darhams to live a comfortable life. Any less than that and you will end compromising on lots of things.

So how does one find a job in Dubai? It’s not an easy process. You have to be very good at what you do, in addition to being lucky. Plus you have to be very careful as well. These days what employers in Dubai are doing is that they offer a package worth twice or three times of what someone in Pakistan might be earning at that time. This might seem very attractive to the job seeker but they don’t consider the fact that the package being offered to them is not good enough to support them in Dubai. For example, someone in Karachi is making Rs. 20,000 per month. An employer in Dubai who knows his current salary, offers him a package worth Rs. 60,000 per month. This offer might seem very attractive in Rupees, but in UAE currency it is less than 4000, which is too low for Dubai. So you have to be very careful when negotiating your salary with a potential employer. In addition to that, I have heard it’s not easy to switch jobs in Dubai. You are bound by a contract to work for your employer for certain number of years. And during that time you hardly get a salary raise. So make sure you get a package decent enough to support you for few years. And for that you should be experienced enough in your field for them to offer you such package.