Well, there was a long time no news. Unfortunately I had to decline the offer made in December. The reason for this was because I couldn't figure out how we could survive. On one side there is the amount offered (a total compensation package, all inclusive) that if offered in Europe you would never ever decline upon. However on the other side there is our budget - made up with Dubai figures. And comparing these to sides drove me nuts. Instead of having a plus there was always a minus and certainly this would have put us in trouble. Hence, unfortunately and with big tears I had to decline - by then.
But the good news it that since then prises dropped - ongoing. The rent is the biggest single expenditure, so you may imagine how happy we are that those prices dropped by up to 30% since December 2008! Isn't that wonderful news?
So a few sleepless nights gave me a headache... and I couldn't wait anymore and had to write to a manager in Dubai and asking him for some time to review my decision in December. He spent almost two hours with me on the phone, explaining how it really is in Dubai, how I could think differently of my budget and what I might have to change. Wow! That was indeed very helpful and I deeply appreciated his help and the way he explained everything to me.
Back home I told my wife and we where both just happy(!) and the decision of re-applying was literately made in 5 mins.
We go for it! No doubts!
Thanks!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Dubai visit
...sorry, this post is a bit late in time because it happened that we were able to fly to Dubai for a project and look-see visit.
It was - how can I say - just WOW!!!!! (I really mean this!). Never ever before I have seen a city like this one. Although I have been almost already around the world and seen many cities. But most cities I have seen are not build in just 10 years but rather evolved over the past couple of hundred years. Hence, there are no BIG/HUGE projects going on. Imagine: in Dubai they are about to build a new metro system (there was no before, so new is really new). Maybe I should say they are building it from scratch (IT folks would call this green field approach). So what they do is building this metro everywhere in the city concurrently. Hence, when you drive around, you will see that the status of the metro is allover the exact same one. Differences in status you can not even spot at hot spots such at the airport or in the city center. It's just all the same all over. What this means for logistics is useless to say! It must be a huge effort as well to serve all sites at the same time with the same material. Unfortunately I have not seen how they are doing it - it might happen all at night.
The same actually happens for buildings as well. Although some project may have been stopped recently or have not even been started due to the financial crisis, there is still a significant amount of projects going on. At Dubai Marina there are at least 10 20-story buildings growing each day. Work is going on 24x7 at this time of the year and hence the noise level is accordingly.
Traffic is another superlative thing. Most roads have at least 2 lanes, not seldom 4 and highways have 6 - in each direction of course! However, during rush hours it happens that all lanes are pretty full. And because there are loads of cars around the time to resolve the jam is pretty long too. Some folks say that they stay in traffic 4 hours each day just get to work and back home, because they live a bit outside of Dubai. For us, traffic was not a problem as we lived close by and therefore it took me only 10mins to commute.
Prices are outrageous! No matter if it is every day groceries (+40% since January 2008), lunch/dinner at a restaurant, hotels and of course houses/apartments - maybe the hottest topic.
So when it comes to houses/apartments you must spend between 80k - 100k USD per year for a decent house with 2 - 3 bed rooms. And that - is just the beginning!
More to follow.
It was - how can I say - just WOW!!!!! (I really mean this!). Never ever before I have seen a city like this one. Although I have been almost already around the world and seen many cities. But most cities I have seen are not build in just 10 years but rather evolved over the past couple of hundred years. Hence, there are no BIG/HUGE projects going on. Imagine: in Dubai they are about to build a new metro system (there was no before, so new is really new). Maybe I should say they are building it from scratch (IT folks would call this green field approach). So what they do is building this metro everywhere in the city concurrently. Hence, when you drive around, you will see that the status of the metro is allover the exact same one. Differences in status you can not even spot at hot spots such at the airport or in the city center. It's just all the same all over. What this means for logistics is useless to say! It must be a huge effort as well to serve all sites at the same time with the same material. Unfortunately I have not seen how they are doing it - it might happen all at night.
The same actually happens for buildings as well. Although some project may have been stopped recently or have not even been started due to the financial crisis, there is still a significant amount of projects going on. At Dubai Marina there are at least 10 20-story buildings growing each day. Work is going on 24x7 at this time of the year and hence the noise level is accordingly.
Traffic is another superlative thing. Most roads have at least 2 lanes, not seldom 4 and highways have 6 - in each direction of course! However, during rush hours it happens that all lanes are pretty full. And because there are loads of cars around the time to resolve the jam is pretty long too. Some folks say that they stay in traffic 4 hours each day just get to work and back home, because they live a bit outside of Dubai. For us, traffic was not a problem as we lived close by and therefore it took me only 10mins to commute.
Prices are outrageous! No matter if it is every day groceries (+40% since January 2008), lunch/dinner at a restaurant, hotels and of course houses/apartments - maybe the hottest topic.
So when it comes to houses/apartments you must spend between 80k - 100k USD per year for a decent house with 2 - 3 bed rooms. And that - is just the beginning!
More to follow.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Oh Yeah!
The call with the executive leader went pretty good yesterday! And that rocks!
Personally I'v got a very good feeling and once more hope that the processes will now take off. The first day date we basically said, should be January 1 2009 - and that's pretty soon.
The issues around that are of course that we still need to resign from our rent, from various insurance policies, quit the car lease and sell the stuff we don't want to bring to Dubai.
But as I don't have a contract or something like an offer letter or whatever would be needed to show that there is a firm commitment, I just don't dare to quit and break down our life over here at this point.
Personally I'v got a very good feeling and once more hope that the processes will now take off. The first day date we basically said, should be January 1 2009 - and that's pretty soon.
The issues around that are of course that we still need to resign from our rent, from various insurance policies, quit the car lease and sell the stuff we don't want to bring to Dubai.
But as I don't have a contract or something like an offer letter or whatever would be needed to show that there is a firm commitment, I just don't dare to quit and break down our life over here at this point.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Fear
While preparing ourself for our journey and our new life in Dubai, sometimes real fear pops up.
Yet is not everything clear. I don't have any written nor any oral commitment. Hence the start date and the contract details are all pretty unclear. However, I strongly believe that this time it'll become true and we finally can had for new waters.
Nevertheless, in lonely hours the feeling of fear comes along. Will it really happen? What will we do if not? Will the new salary package be ok? Can we afford to stay in a nice place? Will we like it in Dubai and what happens if not?
Many more questions arise when I start to think about it. But I need to get it going. Grab all the stuff we don't need anymore, sell it over ebay or ricardo (ebay-like service in Switzerland, pretty nice interface) and prepare the rest for movement. Because, when it happens, it'll happen soon.
Tomorrow, the Executive Manager for my profession invited me for a first phone-interview. Hopefully I am not to nervous and can ask all the questions I have in mind. Like: when can we go there for a look-see trip/project? When will we talk about all the formalities? How will my final job look like? and so forth... (writing this post makes me even more fidgety)
Oh dear, let it happen rather soon!
Yet is not everything clear. I don't have any written nor any oral commitment. Hence the start date and the contract details are all pretty unclear. However, I strongly believe that this time it'll become true and we finally can had for new waters.
Nevertheless, in lonely hours the feeling of fear comes along. Will it really happen? What will we do if not? Will the new salary package be ok? Can we afford to stay in a nice place? Will we like it in Dubai and what happens if not?
Many more questions arise when I start to think about it. But I need to get it going. Grab all the stuff we don't need anymore, sell it over ebay or ricardo (ebay-like service in Switzerland, pretty nice interface) and prepare the rest for movement. Because, when it happens, it'll happen soon.
Tomorrow, the Executive Manager for my profession invited me for a first phone-interview. Hopefully I am not to nervous and can ask all the questions I have in mind. Like: when can we go there for a look-see trip/project? When will we talk about all the formalities? How will my final job look like? and so forth... (writing this post makes me even more fidgety)
Oh dear, let it happen rather soon!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
planning
Yesterday, I had the chance to talk to the responsible manager in Dubai.
He was so kind and called me from his holiday (!), which I deeply appreciated.
During the call he asked me why we would actually want to move to Dubai. Well, that's an easy question:
- Switzerland is a very mature market and therefore not very dynamic. Say, it's almost a bit boring... and hence, we would very much like to work in a emerging country and be part of such a dynamic environment.
- the weather is pretty bad in Switzerland, especially during fall and winter time. The midland is mostly covered by fog and therefore sun is a rather rare thing between November and late March.
- we would like to discover new cultures and see other parts of the world.
Then he explained how the salary and compensation is organized: there will be a base salary, paid monthly. On top of that one will get a housing and car allowance. While the car allowance should be enough to cover all expenses related to it the housing allowance might not. Simply, because the housing prices are very high in Dubai and still raising. However, the good news about it is, that my employer just raised the housing allowance by 65% recently. Hence, we should be ok with it.
The next step will now be to plan for a look-see trip, bound to a project that could profit from my knowledge so that there is a business reason behind such a trip. So, I need to find a sponsor and hope that my manager will support it. Keep your fingers crossed!
Monday, October 27, 2008
first steps
Yes, we finally want to move to Dubai too.
Actually we wanted to move to South East Asia, Singapore in particular. But it turned out not to be possible. Reasons are the financial crisis among others such as slow processes.
Hence, as my employer IBM is looking for positions to be filled in Dubai we decided to take the challenge. Yet we are not there and nothing is decided actually. However, we will need to prepare ourself for this move and for our first look-and-see visit.
So I called the UAE Embassy in Dubai and asked about the visa procedure. Well, for Swiss citizens it should be no issue and I should be able to collect a tourist visa right at the airport. For my lovely Indonesian wife Tabita it should also be fairly easy. The only thing we are asked to do is to send a copy of her passport to the hotel we will be staying in - that's it! The hotel will then do all the rest and prepare a visa for collection at the airport.
Thats' cool!
Actually we wanted to move to South East Asia, Singapore in particular. But it turned out not to be possible. Reasons are the financial crisis among others such as slow processes.
Hence, as my employer IBM is looking for positions to be filled in Dubai we decided to take the challenge. Yet we are not there and nothing is decided actually. However, we will need to prepare ourself for this move and for our first look-and-see visit.
So I called the UAE Embassy in Dubai and asked about the visa procedure. Well, for Swiss citizens it should be no issue and I should be able to collect a tourist visa right at the airport. For my lovely Indonesian wife Tabita it should also be fairly easy. The only thing we are asked to do is to send a copy of her passport to the hotel we will be staying in - that's it! The hotel will then do all the rest and prepare a visa for collection at the airport.
Thats' cool!
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