# Engineers Average Salaries



## salma3921 (Jan 23, 2018)

Hi everyone,

Canadian expat considering to move to the UAE within the year. Are there any engineers to provide some up-to-date information on salary ranges for engineers, particularly in the construction and oil and gas sectors? I'm a mid career guy (~6 years of experience) mostly in office rols along the project engineering/management path. 

Specially for expats; I know generous expat packages are thing of the past and hence why I'm hoping someone would have some first hand info. Also, what's commonly included as part of allowances beyond the base salary? I have two toddlers and school fees are what's most concerning to me from what I've researched so far. from what I've heard, accommodation is almost always provided.

I appreciate your help.


----------



## OmSaad (Mar 6, 2014)

salma3921 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Canadian expat considering to move to the UAE within the year. Are there any engineers to provide some up-to-date information on salary ranges for engineers, particularly in the construction and oil and gas sectors? I'm a mid career guy (~6 years of experience) mostly in office rols along the project engineering/management path.
> 
> ...


based on my 8 experience working in Dubai , the salary is largely set by the race of the applicant , their passport then experience . 

unfortunately its difficult to get gauge on this until you do the interview and get an offer letter . 

also wasta is huge there ,so if you can work something in that direction do so. 

i have seen construction managers with 18 years of experience earning AED 11k a month , i have also seen grade 10 graduates from the UK with 4 years Tesco experience working as project managers earning AED 40K a month + car + furniture allowance + annual bonus + school for kids + house allowance + relocation allowance . 

as i said , there is no direct way to figure this out , try to negotiate as much as you can.


----------



## Abubakr (May 10, 2016)

OmSaad said:


> based on my 8 experience working in Dubai , the salary is largely set by the race of the applicant , their passport then experience .
> 
> unfortunately its difficult to get gauge on this until you do the interview and get an offer letter .
> 
> ...


exactly, i was just about to say the exact same with true stories i encountered myself


----------



## XDoodlebugger (Jan 24, 2012)

salma3921 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Canadian expat considering to move to the UAE .....
> 
> I appreciate your help.


If you have connections in the industry it is far better to accept a job over here from Canada as opposed to joining locally.

Oil is tough right now, so many of my friends have been laid off, construction in my opinion will pick up this year. International contractors like Salini, Van Ord, Parsons, ect would be a good place to start looking.


----------



## Reddiva (Feb 24, 2016)

salma3921 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Canadian expat considering to move to the UAE within the year. Are there any engineers to provide some up-to-date information on salary ranges for engineers, particularly in the construction and oil and gas sectors? I'm a mid career guy (~6 years of experience) mostly in office rols along the project engineering/management path.
> 
> ...


Salaries in this sector are on the decline. 
Oil and gas has been badly hit by the falling oil price. I am not sure where you got the " accommodation is almost always provided from" as most companies build an allowance into their salaries I have hundreds of engineers on my books, many are currently based here ( clients first choice) and others internationally ( 2nd choice) 
Many companies are utilising Asian nationals for the junior to mid level roles and westerners for the 10/15 year plus level. Construction work is very thin on the ground and we have no indication as to when it will pick up. Sadly Its not a busy time at present


----------



## salma3921 (Jan 23, 2018)

Thank you all for your inputs. I will try my connections first although don't have many and not so hopeful on that front. The reason I assumed prospects are good is mostly due to the upcoming Expo 2020; I assumed there will be more infrastructure spending as a result. 

As for accommodation allowance, from what I've read in the forums and other sources on the internet, it's typically offered equivalent to 30-50% of the base salary. But from what I can gather, it looks like it widely varies and depends on what's negotiated in one's contract.

From what I'm hearing from you guys, from a financial standpoint, it seems like I won't be better off coming to the region, specially with my current experience and skill level; in fact, if I break even, I should call myself lucky haha

Honestly, I don't know how people manage to live a comfortable life or even survive with such high costs in UAE. Schools and accommodation costs are quite high compared to someone coming from Canada where quality public schools and health care are free. Even accommodation is still cheaper here according to Numbeo and incomes are on par at best. So, I don't know how I would be able to negotiate my way through a job offer to at least match my current standard of living. So I should probably adjust my expectations and either decide not to move or be prepared to let the quality of life suffer, relatively speaking.


----------



## OmSaad (Mar 6, 2014)

Abubakr said:


> exactly, i was just about to say the exact same with true stories i encountered myself


well you can see it on this forum , certain group of people have good prospects in Dubai for some reason and post positive stuff about it here , other group of people dont have the same viewpoint on jobs in Dubai in general , and give totally different story.


----------



## OmSaad (Mar 6, 2014)

Abubakr said:


> exactly, i was just about to say the exact same with true stories i encountered myself





salma3921 said:


> Thank you all for your inputs. I will try my connections first although don't have many and not so hopeful on that front. The reason I assumed prospects are good is mostly due to the upcoming Expo 2020; I assumed there will be mor.................



I join my voice with others here who advised to try and secure something while you are in Canada through your connections , try to work on other "qualities" that you wouldn't consider in Canada while looking for a job , Dubai (or the GCC in general) is predominantly an expat job market , no social safety net or at least government help for those who have kids to support them until they find a job.

the accommodation allowance is set in the salary amount to keep the basic salary as low as possible , this will serve the employer for when a person decides to leave they will not be forced to pay him large sums of end of service.
so you could end up with an AED 20k a month salary but 5.5k basic salary and 4k housing allowance , but you might not be able to lease a house to suit your lifestyle for 4k a month , does this mean you go and ask them for a rise ?!?! as i said it is made that way to confuse people . 


having recently moved from Dubai to Australia , with all the hype around Australia being an expansive country , i was not surprised as it is almost the same compared to Dubai , however rent here is way way cheaper.


----------



## Abubakr (May 10, 2016)

John McCallister said:


> OmSaad said:
> 
> 
> > based on my 8 experience working in Dubai , the salary is largely set by the race of the applicant , their passport then experience .
> ...


Yeah but again it’s not only about the university you graduated from, i mean the university sure makes a difference..but not before the citizenship..it widely depends on your contry of origin.


----------



## salma3921 (Jan 23, 2018)

Yeah I even hear "fake citizens" (i.e. dual nationals) don't get as much attention lol as in, even if you're american/british/etc., your birth place oughtta be in those countries too. Even worse, if you were born there but you look mixed race, still considered "fake" hahahahah I'm a bit exaggerating to make a point but apparently there's some truth to it.


----------



## OmSaad (Mar 6, 2014)

salma3921 said:


> Yeah I even hear "fake cit.......


you also need factor in another thing in the whole "how much an engineer could earn ?" 

the job market in Dubai is saturated and drenched with people who are welling to severely undercut the average expected salary , there are huge number of people have MBAs from their home countries ask ridicules salaries just to get the job . so employers end up comparing you to those people where the merit now is how low you could accept for that job. 

im sorry as my experiences on this maybe dark , but there is no point in surge coating these truths .


----------



## Timeport (Apr 2, 2016)

The salary range for someone like you in the construction industry is AED 13k to 20k per month all-in. Your nationality and race will not matter much matter. If anything, it has marginal impact within that bracket. 

You decide if this is good enough for you. The higher salaries mentioned above are related to more senior roles (again, not the nationality). Which is something you might want to try.


----------

