# I.T Work in Spain (Costa Brava)



## James1980 (Oct 13, 2008)

Hi there,

At the moment I'm just trying to put the feelers out to see if anyone has any advice or information regarding I.T Work in Spain.

My Parents currently live in Santa Pola and when I was visting recently with my wife and two boys we were really impressed with how child orientated the towns and areas we visited were.

We both felt that this would be possibly somewhere we would like to bring up our children. I was quite impressed by some of the positive posts on this forum regarding state schools for the boys.

Now to the other major factor, Work?. I am currently a Test Analyst and from what I have read on this forum and others, I.T is a good industry to be looking for work, Is this true?, I'd seriously consider any sort of Software Development opportunities (Business Analyst, QA Analyst). I noticed that Malaga has a lot of I.T posts at the moment. Is their any areas that are more likely to have I.T Work available. At this stage I am just looking for some information for me to look into further.

Thanks for any feedback

James


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

James1980 said:


> Hi there,
> 
> At the moment I'm just trying to put the feelers out to see if anyone has any advice or information regarding I.T Work in Spain.
> 
> ...


I know there are I.T. businesses in Malaga, but I'm not sure if employment is in abundant supply, especially if you dont speak Spanish, A friend of mine has recently moved to Malaga cos he was lucky enough to get a job here. He was in Estepona and was made redundant. 

All industries are in a difficult position right now and I.T is no exception. You could say, well its no better in the UK, but you do have a lot of safety nets there!

You do have the advantage of having family here, so that will help, just dont burn your bridges in the UK and dont come over until you have secured a job here. You're right tho, its a lovely place to bring up children, but you need money as well!

Good luck

Jo


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## James1980 (Oct 13, 2008)

jojo said:


> I know there are I.T. businesses in Malaga, but I'm not sure if employment is in abundant supply, especially if you dont speak Spanish, A friend of mine has recently moved to Malaga cos he was lucky enough to get a job here. He was in Estepona and was made redundant.
> 
> All industries are in a difficult position right now and I.T is no exception. You could say, well its no better in the UK, but you do have a lot of safety nets there!
> 
> ...


Hi Jo,

Thanks for the response. I would definitely try and find work before I moved us out there. I did wonder what the most sensible thing would be as it surely would make more sense to be in spain to find work rather than applying from the UK directly.


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

James1980 said:


> I am currently a Test Analyst and from what I have read on this forum and others, I.T is a good industry to be looking for work, Is this true? James


James - I can tell you that where I am the INEM (dhss) is FULL of unemployed IT workers on the dole. I was Tech. Manager for a fortune 50 company for a while - I now mark time working in "IT" at a town hall.

Also worth mentioning that the Spanish are very TITLE orientated, as opposed to experience, so lot's of youngsters have been taking IT classes just to get through interviews. 

I'm constantly surprised by the resistance of the average Spanish company to even have Website. It's seen (maybe correctly) as unnecessary for their business.

Also SALARIES ar not High. I know VERY qualified S.E.'s working at the top end earning about €30,000/year. You might hit a bit more but noting like salaries I know IT mates in the UK are getting. A Standard PC bod gets less than half that.

ALSO to get work - you'll almost certainly need to be pretty reasonable with Spanish. Fluent if it involves any front-ending to clients. This also if the company is a normal Spanish one which it almost certainly will be if it's not in Madrid or Barcelona. Mad/Bcn are FAR more expensive to live in than Santa Pola!

A lot also expect you to be a freelance associate.

ALSO you can expect LONG LONG hours. I'm very glad I'm no longer part of it - BUT if I were you I'd start contacting head hunters and let them work. To get into IT here you'll almost certainly need them to get ANYTHING DECENT. 

Most I've seen on jobsites are nothing more than jobpool fillers just in case or seriously rotten jobs nobody wants.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

James1980 said:


> Hi Jo,
> 
> Thanks for the response. I would definitely try and find work before I moved us out there. I did wonder what the most sensible thing would be as it surely would make more sense to be in spain to find work rather than applying from the UK directly.


Its a "chicken or egg" situation, but for your own security its better to have a home and job in the UK and take your time than to be over here on a limited budget and find you still havent got work and the moneys run out! I also think that the Spanish know how easy it is for Brits to come and live over here, so may not be put off by this??!

I know you were not necessarily looking in Malaga, but I will ask my friend how easy it was for him to find work. They were in Estepona and almost about to go back to the UK when he finally got the job he has now, I know, as Chris has pointed out, his pay is poor (in fact I think he's gone a month or two without getting paid at all) and his hours are long

I dont wanna say too much incase he or his wife are reading this and realise I'm talking about them!


Jo


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

jojo said:


> .....in fact I think he's gone a month or two without getting paid at all....


This is not as uncommon as it should be either. I know of several cases. There's always a "reason" and it's always cash flow. Often due to the "terms of payment" conditions imposed by clients.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

chris(madrid) said:


> This is not as uncommon as it should be either. I know of several cases. There's always a "reason" and it's always cash flow. Often due to the "terms of payment" conditions imposed by clients.


HHmmm, interesting. I wondered why he sisnt seem particularly phased by it!

Jo


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

jojo said:


> I know you were not necessarily looking in Malaga, but I will ask my friend how easy it was for him to find work. They were in Estepona and almost about to go back to the UK when he finally got the job he has now, I know, as Chris has pointed out, his pay is poor (in fact I think he's gone a month or two without getting paid at all) and his hours are long
> 
> I dont wanna say too much incase he or his wife are reading this and realise I'm talking about them!
> 
> ...


I went out to dinner with these friends of mine last night and the husband writes programmes for stock brokers (I'm sure there's a proper name for this, but I'm dumb about IT!!lol). I asked him about the IT industry here and that there appear to be lots of jobs in the Malaga area, he was surprised at that. He said that Malaga is building a technology industrial estate, but its going up slowly, there maybe jobs in the the future. He told me he was extremely lucky to get his job and it was a bit of a fluke that he did, but it was kinda through the previous job he's been made reduntant from (summat like that!!?)

His advise was that unless you're totally fluent in Spanish then dont bother. The interviews are conducted in Spanish and you have to be able to present yourself better than other applicants. 

Apparently the salary is "jaw dropping" and not in a good way, I didnt ask how much - I thought it was rude to ask, but there have been a couple of months where he hasnt been paid due to "cash flow" But he's happy enough there and is just glad to have work in these uncertain times. I got the impression that once the world is more settled he'll be looking for something with more money??!

That said, you perhaps should try, cos you wont know unless you do!!! There are always exceptions to the rules!

Jo


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

Pretty much what I expected to see.


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## Pasanada (Feb 5, 2008)

If you're willing to move to the Malaga area, why not look at going a little further along the coast and working in Gibraltar but living in Spain?

Wemploy have vacancies in Gibraltar, it may be worth investigating. Don't be put off by Gib's size, it has a thriving economy the last time I looked into working there.


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

Pasanada said:


> If you're willing to move to the Malaga area, why not look at going a little further along the coast and working in Gibraltar but living in Spain?


Gib appealed to me for a while. You may however need to be a bit "open minded" about for whom you work. Gib also has a VERY financial Sector profile - I'd ask carefully.Was offered a place by a company whose business credentials seems a just a little too open - how fast can you say "laundering". 

I'd also see how tax works - If you live here you'll pay Spanish tax. At my last Gib border crossing it took AGES too.


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