# Moving to spain to live



## Kai12 (Aug 21, 2013)

Hello forum.

This place is brilliant, been reading up some great information but I need some help. I will keep this in a nutshell so if anyone has any questions I will answer them.

I live in Dublin with my wife. We have a sizable deposit but it seems we wont be able to get a mortgage here. As an option, we are strongly considering moving to the east-coast of Spain. She is super excited but im very practical and worried about a few things.

Here, we are living to save for a house. If we move to Spain it will be to have a different way of living, just enjoying life. Is that still the case? 

I have IT certs but little experience. I would love to work as my aspired role as a network technician. Not speaking Spanish (yet) would put me at a disadvantage, but I don't really know where I stand. I can find loads of English-speaking work-from-home jobs but not many for IT. Can anyone shed any light on this? Are jobs OK to come by? I know many Spanish are leaving, but like I said their are plenty of tele jobs for English speakers so I don't know. 

We have looked at a few areas but really need local knowledge, specifically around the Valencia area. We were hoping we could rent somewhere in a good location (transport to the city, near the coast, not out in the middle of no-where) for around €500. Is that realistic? 

If I could get a job, even a low-paying entry level IT job, most of these concerns are void. We would have maybe 8k to live on but if this all goes bad, thats 8k of our life-savings gone, and if we have to come back it would all be for nothing. 

If we could just get by, then I think we would be happy just enjoying life, experiencing Spain, learning Spanish fluently and getting on. 

So much for a "in a nutshell" 

Kai.


----------



## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

Kai12 said:


> Are jobs OK to come by?


No they're not.

Spain has almost 30% unemployment, what makes you think you can wander over there and walk into a job, a job you need to support yourself? With the added problem, you don't speak Spanish nor have any/much experience in the job market.

It's a non starter from what I can see and my advice is to not waste your time dreaming about something you can never make reality.

If it were as easy as you suggest loads of people would be doing it. They're not, that should tell you something. In fact the reverse is true, many Brits are returning from Spain because they can't make ends meet and want the security of the British Benefits System behind them—something they can't get in Spain.

Sorry to be blunt, but that's the reality, I believe in telling people the way it is.


----------



## JaneyO (Sep 24, 2012)

zenkarma said:


> No they're not.
> 
> Spain has almost 30% unemployment, what makes you think you can wander over there and walk into a job, a job you need to support yourself? With the added problem, you don't speak Spanish nor have any/much experience in the job market.
> 
> ...


All of the above is sadly very true. If it's the good life you're after you're looking in the wrong place. I have friends in Dublin, believe me life is much easier there than it is here unless you have no need to earn a living.


----------



## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

You really need to secure a contract before moving over as the work situation is pretty dire here. Your best bet near term is to have a couple of holidays over here as fact finding missions. I always tell people who decide to move to Spain and who are in need of some form of employment, whatever your plans, be prepared to change them 100%. Have some fact finding trips first and if nothing else you will have some good holidays without risking everything up front.


----------



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

if you need to work & you're lucky enough to find some, or manage to build a business, you'll work longer & harder than you ever have before ..... for less 



I know - I started work at 9:30 this morning - & although I haven't worked EVERY hour in between - I got home from work about 9:30 this evening.........


& I work for myself


----------



## Kai12 (Aug 21, 2013)

Thanks everyone for the honest input.


----------



## webmarcos (Dec 25, 2012)

Although it's a little quieter in august, two good places to look for work in IT startups are Startup Jobs | Search for Job Offers in Tech Startups With JobFluent (mainly Barcelona) and Betabeers

Like the IT sector the world over (remember that many Spanish startups like Fon, Minube, Social Point or Softonic are world players), good talent is always in demand.

Always worth checking on Twitter using "empleo ofertas" or using similar combos. For instance at the moment it seems that Telefonica, SocialPoint, Krell and even Twitter are recruiting in Spain https://twitter.com/jobs/positions

Edit: Looking again at the OP, and it seems you don't have any experience. Try and get the relevant experience (perhaps help with a local startup) and then your job prospects will be a lot brighter, either at home or in Spain. It's a tough world out there - but if you gain the right skills and experience you should be able to locate anywhere, even in Spain.


----------



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

I came to Madrid 10 years ago, without much Spanish, and found work in IT (web development). I wouldn't be able to do it now. To be honest, Dublin is a great place to develop IT skills because so many big names are based there. I've Irish friends with CVs that look like a whose who of IT companies. If you can spend say 3 years developing a good skill set then you'd be in a much stronger position. There are thousands of unemployed Spanish IT graduates looking for work, if you have demonstrable experience you'll be ahead of them when it comes to looking for work in multinationals.

Also I should mention that the immediate attractions of Spain wear off pretty quick if you work in IT here. You still spend 10 hours a day at work, and let's face it an office is an office wherever you are, except that in Spain you'll be paid half of what you get back home.

A good option could be to get a job in Ireland (or wherever) that allows you to work from home two days a week. You can then fly backwards and forwards each week. However flights aren't as cheap as they were, and you'll end up paying for accommodation in two places. But people do manage it.

Also most work in Spain is in Madrid and Barcelona. Anywhere else is very difficult.


----------



## djfwells (Sep 28, 2009)

I think you need to do some more in depth research before burning your bridges


----------



## crookesey (May 22, 2008)

If you can conduct your IT work from home and don't need f2f meetings, I suppose that it doesn't much matter where 'home' is located, if this is not the case please think again.


----------

