Working in Saudi Arabia

[MuttsNutts 0]

Hiyo, There is a 6/8 month contract I can take working in Petro-Chemical Industry in Saudi Arabia. What are the approximate going rates (I have been asked to name my daily rate) for Commissioning Engineer/Project Manager for working in Saudi? My job will be DCS/PLC based and in charge of 4 programmers. Anyone got any experience of working there or advice on the going rates? Many Thanks in advance

[IamJon 0]

hope the response isnt too late never worked there, but i have a friend from there. where did you get your education? a US education pays very well in the middle east. you may be able to expect something like 80k (usd) per year. ask for as much as you can get. the gov't owns the oil company (amoco) and the country has had a 1/4 billion dollar surplus in recent years. you should be able to impress them with your experience and where you got your degree.

[pseudoquas 1]

??? Maybe it's just me....but I would think that you should insist on 6-figures as compensation for the occasional attemps to blow you up or to shoot you...with the main recreational activity as I understand it to be sand golf, using black balls and oil-stained sand as the putting green. Edited 19 Jan 2007 by pseudoquas

[PdL 71]

I'd go for it. Of course it depends where you will be staying but there are definitely places where you can have a good stay. Once you've learned how things are done over there and why they are done like that and you learn the attitude it's not too bad. It can even be fun. Whereabouts you will be stationed ?

[Nathan 7]

I know US military contractors can make a whole lot ($80k not qualifying) - especially with security clearance required type jobs. These are also tax exempt (for US). I'm not sure how that works from Ireland.

[MuttsNutts 0]

Thanks for the reples so far. I've not yet had a reply to my proposals. I live in the UK now and would like to work 3 weeks and come home for a week. Once over there, I'll work every day and crack on with it. I usually charge per day as opposed to an hourly rate but like anything else, it's the luck of the draw and circumstances - I'm sure there are massive variations in rates depending on which company needs yer skills the most, which company is ignorant of going rates <grin> and which company is rich enough. I know, for example, that the typical going rate for a PLC/SCADA programmer in the UK is approx £26 per hour through agencies. I charge a bit more as I'm well versed in Omron kit and make no apology for it to my prospective employer. Further to this, the typical rate for an PLC/SCADA engineer costed out to a customer is approx £375 per day. I am hoping to "collect" the bones of this. They may well tell me to "feck off" of course, but hey, there's plenty of work in the UK at the moment. Aaaahh, how nice it is to be in a buyer's market. Still, thanks for guidelines (I play golf also but my bunkershots are rubbish. If I go, I expect to be rattling Tiger Woods' in a year or two as I aim every shot at the bunkers from the tee).

[PdL 71]

3 weeks on 1 week off sounds ok. Did you know the "weekend" is Fridays over there for some starting Thursday afternoon. Temeratures are ok now but in the summer time it get's ugly...

[MuttsNutts 0]

Aye. I had an idea the "weekend" was not the same as what I'm used to. Not going there now. Too busy in the UK and couldn't agree terms (this time). Oh well. 'Tiz good to be busy. <grin>