A career in Dubai

Introduction

So I am evaluating my career options and wanted to understand what it meant to work in Dubai, earn in Dubai etc… For this I spoke to my classmate in bachelor’s who is in Dubai for the last 6 years. I also spoke to my cousin who is in Dubai for 13 years (initially a mechanical engineer who moved into sales). And lastly I spoke to another cousin of mine who is there in Dubai for 16 years in Insurance.

What I am looking for

• Career Capital needed
• Earning potential
• Lifetime earnings
• personal fit (job security etc…)
• exit opportunities

Entry opportunities

Dubai market is mainly based on projects. Dubai is trying to be a trading hub. They want to have a large influx of people into and out of Dubai continuously! There is no R&D, there is no manufacturing. Things like sales, marketing, management, banking, finance, seem to be relevant here. Sectors like Automotive, construction, marine, aviation, banking, insurance, can be targeted here.

Some examples of entry opportunities I have heard of:

• ‘site-engineer’ for construction, infrastructure, marine projects.

Start with the lowest salary of 48k AED and slowly jump to different and more meaningful roles over time with good salary jumps. Within 6 years my classmate jumped to a salary of 300k AED. An average jump of 35% each year.

• Heat load mechanical engineer or similar to sales

My cousin who went to Dubai as a mechanical engineer, moved into the sales space and is now general manager of a group. This guy probably earns ~650k AED over 13 years of being in dubai, having started at a salary of 48k AED. This implies an average jump of 22% over 13 years.

• Insurance

Another cousin of mine made it into insurance after a mere Master in commerce and a lot of hardwork. He is in Dubai for ~18 years. He also started out with 48k AED and moved on to 750k in the span of 18 years. This is about 16% increase on average for 18 years.

• Banking

Another cousin who had been in Dubai for 10 years was earning 450k. He managed himself into this field with an electronics background. Roughly 25% jump every year for 10 years.

• MBA –> consulting or management type of roles

It seems to look like a better idea to gain some experience and then come to Dubai to find suitable roles. In the worst case you can go back to the country where you came from in case Dubai decides to fuck you up.

Based on discussions with people in Dubai, I have come to an estimate of 400-450k AED if I move to Dubai after an MBA, assuming I killed it in my MBA and the job I take up after that.

• Design Engineering

  Highly unlikely to be in any sort of technical level work. Haven’t seen any evidence that suggests that engineers at all are important and that they can earn as reasonably as people in management.

For me it appears that I should pursue the MBA track, gain some experience and then come here. I don’t want to put my precious years gambling and surviving in Dubai, rather I want to be earning FCC.

Exit opportunities

I have not much idea about this. I have seen cases of people who are fired and don’t have jobs as a result. With an MBA and doing a lot of hardwork, I suppose in the worst case I could make atleast half the impact of a successful career in Dubai. It looks like I will be obtaining my citizenship in holland in a few years, so my fall back option would be to come back here and see how I can fare.

Impact

I think the best way right now is with an MBA and some consulting experience. This means by the age of 35 I could be in Dubai in some management position. A retirement age of 60-65 is considered here unlike in other countries as I do not expect the current retirement age to grow in Dubai, as their economy does not need people to work long. This leaves us with the number of lives saved between 530 and 730 lives.

• working for another 25 years from 35
• starting at 400k AED (108k$)
• with growth of 10% per year until I am 55
• followed by a growth of 2% per year until I am 60
• using max. age for working as 60
• 25% donation (having already budgeted 15% for retirement)
• and 2% inflation on the price of a life

Personal fit

All the chances of doing an MBA, apply here and in addition we have the chance of losing job in dubai which I estimate at 20%, i.e., 80% of keeping the job in Dubai.

• Clearing GMAT (70%)
• getting scholarship (60%)
• join Mckensey (50%)
• getting job in Dubai with 3+ years of consulting exp (75%)
• Not loosing said job until 60 (75%)

Personal fit x Impact

We make a decision tree and compute the effective value of pursuing such a career in Dubai.

This produces an effective value of 655.

Appendix info: Earning potential

My friend started with 4k dirams (1k$) and moved to 8k dirams and then to 24k dirams or more in 6 years. The jump looks to be quite drastic.

I have a couple of cousins in Dubai who are ~40 years of age. These people I suspect will be getting from 750k to 1000k dirams (~272k$). They all seem to be having luxurious lives, and can afford to spend 25k$ on a family vacation. Something I find to be insane.

Dubai seems like the money haven. People don’t pay any taxes. A US salary of 272k$ is probably taxed at >30%. This means the taxed amount might be /> 80k$. This 80k however goes straight into your pocket in Dubai.

cousin in sales is aged at 40 probably at 600k, he came 6 years later than me, Cousin in banking came later and earns about 450k. I earn in the range of 750k AED, and I am 43 and in a senior most position in insurance. And our senior most cousin in Dubai who had issues with his job a few years ago even,

“If you are bachelor you can save >50% as a bachelor”- Cousin!

Based on this I expect to save about 200k AED. This is about 54k Euros per year. Based on my conversations, with people in dubai, I estimate pure savings of 54k, 15% for retirement, 25% for donation.

I estimate a salary of 400k AED, when I start in Dubai. I should have 20-30 years to work after with 10% growth per year. I will be able to save 50%, which means 200k is the cost. If 15% goes into savings, another 10% for years I might not be able to work, it appears I can donate about 20-25%.

Retirement age

50 max for construction real estate, 60 for insurance and banking - friend 1

60 max - cousin in sales earning 500-600k AED

60 max - counsin in insurance