Danny W
Organiser: East Midlands
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Registered: 14th Nov 05
Location: Northamptonshire
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Hi Guys, any of you work abroad? Or have any experience of it?
I've got the opportunity to go to Dubai for 3 months next April. I don't really know to much about the place or what it is really like to work there.
Bit of background I work in hard landscaping & construction, we do a lot of schools & playgrounds across the uk but have recently won contracts abroad. I've been with the company 7 years started as a labourer and now run my own teams and jobs.
The deal is I'd be living out there and working as a site foreman, running gangs of local guys & making sure the job is done upto our standards etc.
It's seems like quite a good opportunity and will hopefully better my career, plus it'll be a bonus to see a bit more of the world .
So what's it actually like out there?
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bigron1988
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Registered: 29th Aug 09
Location: Southport, Merseyside
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Col Bennet on here works out there sometimes
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Aaron
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Cottingham, East Riding
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I've no personal experience, but a colleague of mine claims that the place is full of "Indian workers" who will say they've done a job when they haven't. He tells this story to anyone who mentions the word Dubai in a sentence. He could be full of shit though. He also said the safety of construction sites of shocking
Not that i'm trying to put you off or anything. It's just second hand information.
[Edited on 27-11-2013 by Aaron]
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Gaz
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Registered: 24th Aug 03
Location: Widnes, Cheshire
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I have to back Aaron's comment up, I work in IT with Indian support guys and they have a 'yes' culture. So if you are working with Indian tradesman think about the questions you are asking them and challenge them if you have doubt when your name is going against work.
The culture will not change, so you have too. Instead of asking have you done this, ask them How have you done this.
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Work's work, you'll have a great time socially, my mate loves it. If you've got no ties I couldn't see any reason not to.
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C2RL R
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Registered: 28th Mar 02
Location: Redcliffe, QLD
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I always say yes to these opportunities. Ok it's not a holiday but you don't often get chance to experience what life is like for other cultures ad be paid to do so. I've been to Sweden, Italy, China and the US all through work and loved every trip.
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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Have mates that loved working there, have mates that hated it. Some as Australia, New Zealand and everywhere else.
Never know unless you go basically.
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VrsTurbo
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Registered: 8th Jun 10
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I've done Dubai a couple of times. Only for short stints though longest being 4weeks.
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sc0ott
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Registered: 16th Feb 09
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At least you wont need to read up on new health and safety laws or take any construction based exams before you can step foot on a site. Youll probably find it easier, having more common sense than those who dont know what a hard hat is.
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VrsTurbo
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Registered: 8th Jun 10
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The only plus i can see for working there is the tax free perks but i'd assume you wouldnt get any of that because the company is paying your salary still. They use alot of indian and philopino cheap labour out there.
From what i have seen/experienced the high level people are qualified to the sky but unable to put anything in to practice.
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Daniel_Corsa
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Registered: 21st Apr 04
Location: Wigton, Cumbria
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Lots of money to be made, lad I worked with moved out there 12 months ago.
April '06' Corsasport Feature Car  | Aug '08' Total Vauxhall Feature Car | Spring '09' Fast Car Feature Car
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VegasPhil
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Registered: 16th Jan 05
Location: Fareham, Hants Drives: Octavia VRS
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quote:
Originally posted by Gaz
I have to back Aaron's comment up, I work in IT with Indian support guys and they have a 'yes' culture. So if you are working with Indian tradesman think about the questions you are asking them and challenge them if you have doubt when your name is going against work.
The culture will not change, so you have too. Instead of asking have you done this, ask them How have you done this.
Funny you raise the 'yes' issue. A guy at work left recently and he has gone to Vietnam to work. Seems to be settling in ok but is having some problems with 'yes'.
In a land where English is spoken to a high standard (usually…) you’d assume that what you’re saying is understood, but it’s not always the case. He's finding out that the main problem is not that he's not getting the right message across, it’s that he doesn’t know when he's not being understood.
He will talk and talk and explain, and hearing a ‘yes’ at the end of the sentence, then takes that as agreement.
But Vietnamese culture is very different A ‘yes’ means, ‘yes, I’ve heard you’, it doesn’t mean ‘yes, I understand’, or ‘yes, I agree’. This seems to be because in Asia, politeness is key. People would rather say ‘okay’ and not offend you, then renegotiate later, than tell you how it is up front.
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Russ
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Registered: 14th Mar 04
Location: Armchair
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sister works there.
if you're managing labourers they will all be indians and live in squalor.
behind every camera is a crane
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Ben J
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Registered: 31st Jan 05
Location: Cheshire
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Dubai is amazing. I'd move out there tomorrow if I had no ties.
I've got 6 friends out there, most ex work colleagues (hotels) and they love it.
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alan-g-w
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Registered: 9th Nov 07
Location: Glasgow
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Behind every camera is a crane? Are you high?
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Russ
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Registered: 14th Mar 04
Location: Armchair
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yes, im taking photos from a crane.
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Gaz
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Registered: 24th Aug 03
Location: Widnes, Cheshire
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quote:
Originally posted by VegasPhil
quote:
Originally posted by Gaz
I have to back Aaron's comment up, I work in IT with Indian support guys and they have a 'yes' culture. So if you are working with Indian tradesman think about the questions you are asking them and challenge them if you have doubt when your name is going against work.
The culture will not change, so you have too. Instead of asking have you done this, ask them How have you done this.
Funny you raise the 'yes' issue. A guy at work left recently and he has gone to Vietnam to work. Seems to be settling in ok but is having some problems with 'yes'.
In a land where English is spoken to a high standard (usually…) you’d assume that what you’re saying is understood, but it’s not always the case. He's finding out that the main problem is not that he's not getting the right message across, it’s that he doesn’t know when he's not being understood.
He will talk and talk and explain, and hearing a ‘yes’ at the end of the sentence, then takes that as agreement.
But Vietnamese culture is very different A ‘yes’ means, ‘yes, I’ve heard you’, it doesn’t mean ‘yes, I understand’, or ‘yes, I agree’. This seems to be because in Asia, politeness is key. People would rather say ‘okay’ and not offend you, then renegotiate later, than tell you how it is up front.
The problem boils down to the fact that their terms of work are completely different to ours. Even if they have a permenant job it's still basically like our agency work. They can be bumped off with a moments notice.
So they cannot be seen to 'not understand' or be a person who always raises questions when being told to do so.
My old boss used to be part of the interviewing process. It was obviously a telephone conversation but his questions were based on how well they understood his English, and portrayed that into understandable English in their response.
He would ask such things as: 'if I were to ask your family to describe you, what do you think they would say?' If he got answers back that referred to 'americianised textbooks' he would write them off. Those that thought about the question and give answers that weren't specifically description based answers were deemed to have understood the question.
It's an odd way to interview and deal with people but it's something you have to do to get the results you need. Especially when IT is involved and you are relying on staff to make high profile changes through the night ready for the UK working day.
[Edited on 27-11-2013 by Gaz]
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Danny W
Organiser: East Midlands
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Registered: 14th Nov 05
Location: Northamptonshire
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Cheers for the replies, great to hear feedback and both sides of the argument if you like.
The Boss is going out next week to sort a few things and give me some feedback etc.
Yep we'd be using local Labour to do the work and i'd be overseeing and organising the job/teams by the sounds of it.
i can understand the difference in cultures and that they might not be used to our work standards.
Im not very well travelled in the grand scheme of things so its probably going to be a shock but the social aspect is very apealing to me, id love to see a bit of the world.
Like you say im not going to know unless i try it, and never know what it could lead onto.
My only concern is where id be staying and living while out there but hopefully i'd have more info on it after next week.
whats the social stuff like out there? good facilities? and im assuming it could be quite strict in terms of what i can do, drink, eat
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Ben J
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Registered: 31st Jan 05
Location: Cheshire
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The link below is for the PH Middle East thread. A lot of Dubai based guys on there and good advice etc. available.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?h=0&f=196&mid=0
[Edited on 27-11-2013 by Ben J]
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Danny W
Organiser: East Midlands
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Registered: 14th Nov 05
Location: Northamptonshire
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Perfect cheers Ben I'll have a read through 
Smoke Grey 5 Door
EastMids Regional Events
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taylorboosh
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Registered: 3rd Apr 07
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Lol i love dealing with indians at work
My biggest giggles come from when they say the phonetic alphabet.... Q = cubical
WTF
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Gaz
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Registered: 24th Aug 03
Location: Widnes, Cheshire
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I once got "Q for Queen, have you met her? "
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Gaz
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Registered: 24th Aug 03
Location: Widnes, Cheshire
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I must also say that although there are some bad points to working with foreign workers, you learn so much stuff.
Some conversations I have with these guys are awesome! One of the girls is pregnant and she was telling me that they have to sign disclosure forms to say that neither they asked or were offered to know the sex of their baby (because older culture deemed female baby's as a weaker sex and women would get attacked)
Another story was that because police are corrupt out there they simply ride around on their motorbikes and if they do something wrong and get caught they bing 100rupees their way and ride off!
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willay
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Organiser: South East, National Events
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Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
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fucking do it, 3 months is nothing! See part of the world + be the boss + getting paid. quids in.
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gazza808
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Registered: 30th Jun 08
Location: Peterborough
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Don't know about Dubai,
But I work away alot, just got home from oscoda MI tody, did 5 months in brazil, among many other trips all over Japan etc.
I love working away, after a week or two you get into your routine, if you hate it you just get on with it, if you love it you make the most of it.
I see two types of people at my work.
I'm the first type the explorer I make the most of any where I go see stuff, do stuff in my spare time etc and enjoy it.
The second type sit in their hotel room/apartment any moment they aren't at work, don't enjoy it, constantly moan and struggle to get on with it.
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