tired of working endless hours just to see half of your paycheck disappearing into taxes while the dream of owning a property or multiple properties without being in debt for 30 years feels like a dream yeah that's exactly what got me thinking about going to the Middle East for work some time ago as well

hi I'm Daria I'm a product manager I've been working in tech for the past eight years and last year I landed four job offers in the uee and did not accept any of them here's why

I live in Toronto and I think every Canadian working Tech has thought about leaving at least once I'm talking about leaving the country people in Canada are heavily taxed and don't even get me started on our government's decisions over the past 8 years they've been let's say questionable

when you work in Tech and start pulling in $2 to $300,000 or above looking at your paycheck feels like a heartbreak and you can't help but think I could be so much richer and so much happier if I Liv somewhere where they wouldn't tax me like I have to pay off the national debt

popular choice for many of us is the us but America doesn't exactly scream Dreamland for everyone so it's no surprise that moving abroad is trending among Canadians there aren't that many places on Earth with vibrant textin safety low taxes and good infrastructure so the UAE is an obvious option

fast forward to the end I decided not to move not because it's not a great opportunity it's just that there are some truths and nuances that often do make it to glossy LinkedIn stories so let's talk about things people don't often talk about in LinkedIn here's a summary of my experience interviewing for product management roles in the UAE specifically in Dubai and Abu Dhabi the highs the lows and the ultimate reason I decided not to move

at the beginning of my search I hired a career consultant specializing and helping people move to the Middle East from North America or Europe she was great she helped me work in my resume on my LinkedIn on my networking skills and I started building my network in the Middle East from Toronto

I highly recommend investing money in consult ation because the resume the things that go into your CV your cover letter things like that are different from what you would typically put in North America you have to Rebrand yourself for a different Market you have to start building out your LinkedIn specifically in that area and start communicating with people before you go

the Middle East has a very different work Communications culture a bunch of people I know who have worked in the Middle East in the past all of them have told me that the communication culture in the Middle East is different and I was always wondering what exactly is different about it it's a different culture it's a different religion I mean of course it's different but when people would tell me that they wouldn't necessarily explain what exactly was different about it so I actually got to learn a lot more about it as I was going through the interviews

the first thing that stood out for me is that the interview process takes a lot longer not responding for weeks is quite common when it first happened to me I thought it was a one-off thing but then I realized it's a pattern it's not because there is anything wrong with you it's is just the way people communicate it simply takes longer

at most companies where I interviewed the gap between the first and the second interview would be 3 to 4 weeks there were at least six companies I was interviewing at where the process began in say October and end it in December and I would get a response from them end of January saying that they're going to proceed with a different candidate

ghosting at last stages happens a lot more frequently than in North America again based on my personal experience

there were two companies that I had a final interview with that would simply ghost me after the final interview not a word not a yes not a no just completely disappeared I messaged their people on LinkedIn I emailed all of them I followed up not a word back

back to the interviews like I said interviews take months in North America I'd say only Fang comes close to that kind of interview process duration because they can't afford waiting for that long and they're picking the cream of the crop

I cannot tell you why it's like that I have never lived in the Middle East so I cannot tell you whether it's cultural or not but I've built my career in North America so I'm just sharing my observations this would almost never happen in America or in Canada if you're in ring in Tech if it were to happen it would be extremely unusual and rare

I bet you didn't expect this one it's less money than most people think for some reason I was under the impression that being a product manager in the uee you could make $10,000 American easily without having to be senior or principal

I think the uee also has a very good marketing where in the preco times you would hear about people moving to Dubai and getting their rent reimbursed or the company paying for their car or the company paying for hotels accommodations all kinds of things I personally know an American engineer who moved there in 2018 was making either double or triple of his salary in the US and his rent was covered by the company that changed

when interviewing for a product manager at large Middle Eastern tech companies the most money I was able to negotiate was $95,000 American and I was told it would be a big stretch for them remember all of that money is taxfree well not taxfree it's just the income tax is 0% this is surely more than you'd make in Canada or in the US outside of California but it's not like your salaries going to Triple you can find places in the US where you'd be making more than that and have a low income tax example Washington State and Texas

out of four offers I was able to land in the UAE three were different from what we initially agreed upon and one got revoked the day after I got it

for the two that were different when I got the offer the salary in the offer was different than what I negotiated at the beginning of the interview process it was obviously lower and they would not be willing to renegotiate for instance there was one place where I negotiated 11,000 ,000 a month but got offered nine instead when I asked why there was a discrepancy the answer was would' be paying for your tickets home once a year and there are other perks that we'd be offering paying for tickets is a common perk in the UAE many places offer that but it doesn't justify contract augmentation

the offer that got revoked was because they decided to Outsource the role to a different country the country that they Outsource to is also in the Middle East they have cheaper engineers and cheaper PMS they were very apologetic about it but yet that happens too

layoffs is not only a North American problem as I was going through the interviews several companies put hiring and pause due to layoffs so if you think this is isolated to North America and Europe know that it's a common thing in other parts of the world as well in Canada in the US it is common to Outsource engineering and product management resources to Latin America and India in the UAE they prefer India and Egypt

I did not accept any of the offers because I thought that starting a professional relationship by changing the conditions in the contract that were discussed months ago was not a very good sign

but I'm not discouraging anybody from doing it it's a great opportunity for people who want to make more out of their career but keep in mind that it is a very different region with a very different culture and don't treat the interview process the way you treat it in North America

if you're considering moving to the Middle East I highly recommend exploring Saudi Arabia as it's not nearly saturated as the UAE at least for now if you're prioritizing money and Investments over other things in life at this particular point which is perfectly normal I do it all the time it's definitely worth considering

thanks for listening I hope this was helpful if you also have experience looking or working in the Middle East in text specifically I would love to hear from you please drop your story in the comments below thanks for listening till next time bye