Would you work in KSA?

[Porridge GTI]

What with all the changes there are lots of opportunities coming up there.

Pros and cons?

[Mr Pointy]

For shedloads of money yes. There are no other pros.

[Porridge GTI]

From what I hear there are loads.

[CountZero23]

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

Had to google that one.


No, sounds like dreadful place unless you love shopping and hate beer.

[Porridge GTI]

Hull sounds a dreadful place but I keep an open mind.

Edited by Porridge GTI on Monday 23 April 17:18

[Mr Pointy]

Porridge GTI said:

From what I hear there are loads.

Go on then, tell us what they are.

[Countdown]

Porridge GTI said:

What with all the changes there are lots of opportunities coming up there.

Pros and cons?

I know a few people who work there.

The money is great. The "locals" are complete and utter aresholes. You will never meet so many people that you instantly want to punch. Living in a compound drives most UK expats crazy and the majority seem to last about 2 years before leaving. Dubai, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi are much better places to work.

Obviously it helps if you're a muslim. A close family member has been out there for 10 years and he's managed to buy 4 BTLs outright since he's been there, the git . His daily driver is a Landcruiser V8 which costs £12 to fill with petrol. He keeps talking of coming back, mainly because secondary school education for girls isn't great but the money seems to be keeping him out there.

[Jasandjules]

No.

[anonymous-user]

Countdown said:

Porridge GTI said:

What with all the changes there are lots of opportunities coming up there.

Pros and cons?

I know a few people who work there.

The money is great. The "locals" are complete and utter aresholes. You will never meet so many people that you instantly want to punch. Living in a compound drives most UK expats crazy and the majority seem to last about 2 years before leaving. Dubai, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi are much better places to work.

Obviously it helps if you're a muslim. A close family member has been out there for 10 years and he's managed to buy 4 BTLs outright since he's been there, the git . His daily driver is a Landcruiser V8 which costs £12 to fill with petrol. He keeps talking of coming back, mainly because secondary school education for girls isn't great but the money seems to be keeping him out there.

On the contrary, the money at the moment for oil related jobs is far from great.

I've only ever heard of one person saying it was a great place and he was a clueless brown nose bosses bh. The rest tell me Iraq is much better and that's saying something....

[rog007]

It usually boils down to your motivation for such a move. If it’s just cash, go to where it pays the most. It will usually be a more risky place though.

If it’s quality of life, then there may be other options to consider.

If it’s about the security of a mature environment, then KSA May well fit.

Good luck!

[AndrewEH1]

Did two months in Taif, on the west side of KSA very close to Mecca and not far from Jeddah,

ste hole doesn't come close. Riyadh is meant to be slightly more 'modern', Dhahran is meant to be okay too but there is much more religious/tribal violence in that area.

Edit: I see you're in Dubai currently, there's honestly a night and day difference between KSA and Dubai.

Edited by AndrewEH1 on Monday 23 April 18:43

[Pistom]

No. Life is too short to waste any more time in KSA than needed.

Even UAE is bad enough but KSA is massively worst.

[GT03ROB]

I've worked in Yanbu on the Red Sea & Jubail on the gulf coast.

Pros : $$ lots of it. Far more than most other locations. If you are in Jubail/Dharahn/Al Khobar.... other pro is Bahrain. Yanbu... it's the diving. Riyadh .... none.

Cons: It's just not normal to have no female exposure.

I've also done Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Oman & Qatar. There is an air of normality in these places that does not exist in Saudi.

[Porridge GTI]

Appreciate very much the replies from those who have been there or have mates there. Cheers gentlemen.

[Countdown]

DoubleTime said:

On the contrary, the money at the moment for oil related jobs is far from great.
.

The guys that I know work on maintaining Typhoons which are currently getting used a lot. I hear the bonuses are quite good.

[shirt]

A friend moved to saudi from dubai for a 50% salary uplift. He moved back 8mths later.

I may be doing a project there next year but hoping to swerve it. Not heard (m)any good things about the place from colleagues based there.

[GT03ROB]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

When I worked there my net was around 2.5 x UK Gross

[Porridge GTI]

Tasty!

[AndrewEH1]

Countdown said:

The guys that I know work on maintaining Typhoons which are currently getting used a lot. I hear the bonuses are quite good.

I believe their bonuses are tied to the amount of years they are based in country.

Also, in time Saudis will start replacing UK personnel. It's already happening I understand

[Countdown]

AndrewEH1 said:

I believe their bonuses are tied to the amount of years they are based in country.

AIUI they also got extra non-contractual bonuses. Whichever prince is in charge was quite pleased at their performance and demonstrated his happiness in financial terms.

AndrewEH1 said:

Also, in time Saudis will start replacing UK personnel. It's already happening I understand

Yep. The person who I'm good friends with - that was what he was originally told 10 years ago. His main role is documentation and training. However the locals don't seem to inspire a lot of confidence and he's reasonably confident that they will need him for a while.

To be fair, that's the position that most Contractors are in, regardless of where you're based. If the Employer decides they don't want you then that's your lot.