Hi, recently I have passed interview and generally agreed on commercial for a job offer in Qatar, awaiting client approval. The company is McDermott. I will be based in Doha but often travelling as my work may require me working outstation or offshore.

Anyone worked there before can share what should i prepare and what can i expect in terms of cost of living, transportation etc? I will be relocating alone. The offer is like 30k QAR is an all in package with basic and fixed allowance for housing and travelling, not including offshore and outstation allowance. Annual return ticket those as basic.

This is first time i working abroad in the Gulf, so i would love to hear from anyone who worked there before.

Thanks!

*posted at career but macam no respond so hopefully can get some advice here at serious kopitiam

This post has been edited by ben3003: Apr 1 2025, 10:12 AM

you are single age 37, definitely can save, but price of things are inflated in Qatar

Last time I worked in Qatar in 2007

A decent apartment rental is already 10-12K per month

Now probably more lol

Yeah, unless the company offers includes accommodations, more than 1/2 of the income would be gone to housing.

Back then they include family as well...

Single? An okay decision if youre doing it for experience

Merid? Stay at home spouse would find it boring to live there once the novelty wears off. No night life there either

Merid w kids? Tough, and if you cant save any money then what's the point

Congrats to TS and hope you get some answers here

Tried the O&G thread in Jobs and Career section?

Congrats ts as well!! Well done!!

Can easily Google where you plan to live and the rental there. I see some less than 10-12k but not sure where you'll be situated.

Going there alone or with fam make a huge difference.

30k including allowance is decent but not crazy offer.

You should be able to save some money, but depends on how much you currently earn.

You probably gonna spend north of 15-20k in monthly expenses unless you really want to save money.

Yeah i have been working in brunei things arent exactly cheap here too. Currently renting room bnd500 sharing bathroom. Probably should be similar or slightly higher than brunei.

U mean is how many room? I see ads the price range of single bedroom unit range from 2k to 7k, depends on what u wan i guess. Got also some hotel room long term rental 3k qar. Looking to spend not more than 10k for living tho.

Im single, so i guess it should be okay?

Thanks! The price range for rental kinda varies widly, some place further than city can get airbnb 2k+ per month, some near city 6-7k. Im single and going alone, so should be good enough to bring some money back home?

They offering permanent position tho means direct hire, i think it would be better than staying in brunei that have so much uncertainty nowadays.. even local also kena retrenched

A wild idea. Ask around see if there are hotels that let you stay long term for the same rental rate

I did that during COVID lockdown in SG. Stayed at one of hotel in Orchard Rd for S$50/day. Stayed 3 months at a time

Please Ignore since I never work there so really no context of living there

If you want a Rental at lowest possible, you pay for a car.
4K apartment can be sought.

Else, 8K range near office. The choice is yours.

there are such hotel do so but the rate is kinda off the roof lol.

I saw some studio around 2k unfurnished near doha tower, but need hassle to furnish it up. Furnished room 3k above. 8k seems like decent apartment i guess?

Thanks for all the sharing. I do get some rough idea of ehat to expect over there.

Didn't know Brunei was doing that bad....
Take it la, since you're single and there's much less expenses
Same2 as Brunei, little to no night life unless you go abit further to Dubai


Congrats BTW!

Too many uncertainty, very hard to work like tat only renew or extend less than a year contract. BSP wanna cut cost, so foreigners owes kena first. Brunei no night life but Miri is near 😂 thats y money spent in Miri lol. At least go Qatar there just work only.

Thanks! Hopefully all goes well.

This post has been edited by ben3003: Apr 1 2025, 04:36 PM

I worked in Riyadh before, not Qatar.

How I saved extra money was by not staying where the western expats stay, but closer to where the asians stayed.

My neighbours were mostly Filipinos, mix with some lower middle class Arabs.

My monthly rental was RM3.5k for a single bedroom apartment. Compare that with another Malaysian friend who stayed at a western compound, paying RM12k a month for a similar sized unit. Of course his area was far more atas, with mat salleh neughbours..

This was pre-covid times. Im sure rental will be up more now.

I think I have some Bruneians frens in Shell, I prolly will talk to them again see how they are

But really the poster above me is right, if you don't mind having lifestyle similar to M40 Malaysians, then you prolly could save Alot by not staying near expats area