Aussie looking at moving to Spain.

Welcome to Expat-blog, DuaneOz

Hi Mate ,

How much is your work experience? The amount you have said, i mean 36,000 to 38,000 yearly salary in euro here in spain is very hard to get these days in this hard economic condition. Spain has been hit very hard and its having the highest number of unemployed after greece. So if you ask my honest suggestion , don't shift to spain at this moment. Better move to Germany or France or some other country.

Cheers ,

Sougata

Hi Sougata,

I've been a DBA for five years and a programmer for 14 years.

I wondered about the economic conditions and work.

The wages seem so different. Our wages in Australia are higher, but our expenses are out of this world.

I bought a book on Perl Win32 programming on Amazon US for $US 9.00. In Australia they were selling it for $AU 110.00

My other option close to Spain is Gibraltar. I want to practice my Spanish and get immersed in the culture.

Hey Sougata, what is your impression of the Spanish people in general?

Duane.

Hey Duane

Couldnt help but reply to your post as I agree with everything you say about costs here in Oz. I have just returned from a month in Europe including Barcelona and the disparity in the cost of things was amazing. Barcelona is meant to be Spain's dearest city yet eating out, clothes, coffee etc were generally 30% to 50% cheaper than Australia with the added bonus of being generally much better quality than what we get here. As an example a coffee at Bracafe on Passeig de Gracia in Barcelona which is very upmarket (served on a terrace with a separate jug of steamed milk by a waiter) was about $2.50...yet over $4.00 back in Oz for Gloria Jeans garbage. Clothes at Zara or Mango are half the price of stuff here and light years ahead in design and quality. I could go on and on and on...

It was a reconnaissance trip for me with similar ideas to you. Overall loved Spain and Spanish people. Catalans have a reputation for being dour but found them to be friendly in general. Still you cant really generalize on a short trip.

I cannot comment on the crisis there.

One last thing. I spent time in Berlin as well and although I guess it doesnt tie in with your plans for Spain its a cheaper city but still vibrant, cosmopolitan and with the added security of the German economy behind it.

Anyway good luck with your plans...

lulz, yeah mate. It's insane here with prices and the clothes are getting crappier. I think the general concept is "keep selling Aussies crap at rip off prices and after about ten years the next generation won't know any different".

From what I've gathered from your post the cost of living is much cheaper which would explain why the wages seem so low numerically.

I think I might survive a financial issue in the type of work I do, they're outsourcing IT jobs everywhere in Oz anyway so everyone's days are numbered.

Thanks mate.