# Is this offer good for an Senior Cloud Architect with Business Dev responsibility?



## tx2 (Dec 13, 2010)

Friends,

I have an offer to work in Dubai for an IT firm as a Senior Cloud Computing Architect with pre-sales and Business Development responsibility. It is a senior manager level (second-line manager equivalent) job.

I have around 14 years of total experience with some of the best organizations in the field.

Following is the initial offer:

Basic: AED 30K per month
Housing Allowance: 8% of Basic per month
Fixed Bonus: 1 month's basic per annum
Children's education: 80% expenses will be reimbursed
Medical insurance: 80% expenses will be reimbursed
Dental & Eye insurance: None
Joining bonus: AED 10,000
Air-fare for self and family once per year to my native
24 days of annual leave per year
No other benefits other than the above

Personally, I think this leaves much to be desired. However, I have never lived in the middle-east or been there. 

Would greatly appreciate your thoughts and comments on this. 

Is a company paid accomodation, company car, fuel and vehicle maintenance reimbursements, and utility reimbursements common for similar positions?

Additionally, what benefits do you think I should negotiate for?

Thanks in advance
TX


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## xpatusa (May 8, 2010)

How big is your family that will come to Dubai with you?


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## tx2 (Dec 13, 2010)

xpatusa said:


> How big is your family that will come to Dubai with you?


It is going to be my wife, two children (1 year old and a 6 year old) and me.

TIA.


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

The housing allowance is low, 8% of 30k is 2400 and I don't think that would even get you a studio in the old parts of the city.

You should negotiate for that as it would cost 60-100k and higher per annum for a place here depending on the number of bedrooms, size and area.

A rental/company car should be provided at least until you get your license sorted and can purchase one yourself.

You should also try and get all your children's schooling expenses paid for as they can be expensive.

The basic salary isn't bad especially for someone from India (they discriminate a lot depending on your education, passport and race) but some expenses are too low.


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## tx2 (Dec 13, 2010)

Moe78, Thank you for the response. 

I have met these folks in a face to face intervew- liked the people and the environment. The job role seems to be as good as the current one. I am considering the move for the extra savings and the lifestyle.

Thinking I should ask for a significantly better offer or drop it...

Any indications on what can be a good range for salary and various benefits?

Thank you.


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## Saint Ari (Oct 1, 2010)

Not with a 10 foot pole ... 

I didnt know there are such a things as "Cloud Architects" ...  I suppose VMing has become its own thang now ... and that's good!


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

Well what I've told you is a good start. If you can get that then it should be alright. Also if your wife works as well then you can save even more!


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## tx2 (Dec 13, 2010)

Saint Ari said:


> Not with a 10 foot pole ...
> 
> I didnt know there are such a things as "Cloud Architects" ...  I suppose VMing has become its own thang now ... and that's good!


_@Saint Ari: _ Essentially an IT Architect job with focus on Cloud Solns 
It goes beyond just VMing though. You got a larger set of requirements and constraints with CC. With some solns needing multi-tenancy, security becomes a critical component. A soln stack would be more complex with accounting and auditing requirements... 
_
@Moe78: _ My wife won't be working. With two young kids, we wouldn't want to do that. And I am looking at 3 bedroom apartments which I understand are going to be expensive in Dubai.

Thank you folks
TX


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## Iron Horse (Apr 10, 2008)

No vehicle in there. I wouldn't do it. Without the vehicle factor in about AED 3,000/month(with fuel and washing) so you are shy about AED 36,000/year. As was mentioned the housing is very low and no schooling.

Should you decide to accept the offer, there was another thread awhile back about a company changing the job title on a candidate and then wouldn't change it to the proper one. Might be of some use to you if someone can recall that thread. Maybe someone can dig up the link?


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## tx2 (Dec 13, 2010)

The company has revised the offer as follows:


Basic:.............................AED 30K per month
Housing Allowance:.........AED 2400 per month (8% of Basic)
Car Allowance:................AED 2000 per month
Fixed Bonus:..................1 month's basic per annum
Joining bonus:................AED 10,000
Dental & Eye insurance:...None
Children's education:.......80% of actual expenses will be reimbursed subject to a limit of AED 25,000/- per child per annum
Medical insurance:...........70% for out-patient and 100% for hospitalization expenses will be reimbursed
Air-fare for self and family once per year to my native
24 days of annual leave per year
No other benefits other than the above

They will also give me a moving in loan of AED 75,000 (recovered in equal installments over 24 months) which I can use for anything.

My salary in India is adequate to live in a 3 bedroom apartment with my family, send my children to a good school, employ a driver and a maid, and save a reasonable figure at the end of the month. I do not expect to have a driver there , but do intend to maintain the other things as is.

Thank you
TX


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## tx2 (Dec 13, 2010)

The company has revised the offer as follows:


Basic:.............................AED 30K per month
Housing Allowance:.........AED 2400 per month (8% of Basic)
Car Allowance:................AED 2000 per month
Fixed Bonus:..................1 month's basic per annum
Joining bonus:................AED 10,000
Dental & Eye insurance:...None
Children's education:.......80% of actual expenses will be reimbursed subject to a limit of AED 25,000/- per child per annum
Medical insurance:...........70% for out-patient and 100% for hospitalization expenses will be reimbursed
Air-fare for self and family once per year to my native
24 days of annual leave per year
No other benefits other than the above

They will also give me a moving in loan of AED 75,000 (recovered in equal installments over 24 months) which I can use for anything.

My salary in India is adequate to live in a 3 bedroom apartment with my family, send my children to a good school, employ a driver and a maid, and save a reasonable figure at the end of the month. I do not expect to have a driver there , but do intend to maintain the other things as is.

Does this revised offer makes sense? Is it worthwhile moving to Dubai with this?

Thank you
TX


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## Canuck_Sens (Nov 16, 2010)

The company has revised the offer as follows:


Basic:.............................AED 30K per month
Housing Allowance:.........AED 2400 per month (8% of Basic)
Car Allowance:................AED 2000 per month
Fixed Bonus:..................1 month's basic per annum
Joining bonus:................AED 10,000
Dental & Eye insurance:...None
Children's education:.......80% of actual expenses will be reimbursed subject to a limit of AED 25,000/- per child per annum
Medical insurance:...........70% for out-patient and 100% for hospitalization expenses will be reimbursed
Air-fare for self and family once per year to my native
24 days of annual leave per year
No other benefits other than the above

I did not understand well your occupation. Are you a cloud computing architect? If you are that's freaking awesome. 

They will also give me a moving in loan of AED 75,000 (recovered in equal installments over 24 months) which I can use for anything.

My salary in India is adequate to live in a 3 bedroom apartment with my family, send my children to a good school, employ a driver and a maid, and save a reasonable figure at the end of the month. I do not expect to have a driver there , but do intend to maintain the other things as is.

I understand your struggle now. My advice to you is to talk with some Indians who moved from India working here. Your cost structure is very different compared to mine. in Canada most people cannot afford to have a driver ...and have a maid ? that's a dream in Canada's reality ...

But you get my point...talk to someone here who came from India and figure the costs. I think that you need to find out your real costs in UAE and see if you can keep the same comfort level you have now in India and be able to save good chunk of money.. if not...then I would kiss this opp goodbye....

By costs..I mean everything.. You might think you are making a good pay but at the end of the month you might end up with less than half...or even less to cover expenses...

Does this revised offer makes sense? Is it worthwhile moving to Dubai with this?

Thank you
TX


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## xpatusa (May 8, 2010)

Sounds like they're basically "helping" on the rest of the expenses.
It's still not great for a daddy with 2 kids and a wife.
If you're up for a change then go for it. 
You'll make it work.


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## tx2 (Dec 13, 2010)

*Thank you!! You got some awesome folks here!!*

Thanks to all who helped us with their valuable suggestions & recommendations.

To let you know, we have decided to drop this as we realized based on the inputs here and from our friends in Dubai that the potential saving is no better than what we are already doing.

Hope this will help future job aspirants with a similar profile...

... of course unless the company revises their offer for which there is a reasonable chance...

Thank you all.


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