Job seeking

Acquiring a job here in Buenos Aires can be quite challenging, regardless of profession or experience. For example, unemployment in Europe is typically ranked at around 7% this year, but in Argentina the latest figures I could find rank it close to 9%. However, I think that figure is a bit misleading. For instance the greater metropolitan area of Buenos Aires is around 14 million people constituting around 36% of the total population of the country. In my opinion, unemployement is significantly higher here in the metro area than it is nation wide. I suspect unemployment is well into double digits here (meaning at least 10%, but I suspect much higher than that).

Due in part to unemployment, people here tend to live with their parents until they reach their 30s. At the same time, Argentina offers a free university education for undergraduate level and very cheap graduate degree programs. So what happens is since there are not enough jobs here, a lot of people attend university as there is nothing else to do when you are younger. So there seems to be one of the highest unemployment rates in the world for a country developed to the level of Argentina and there is a much higher rate of unemployment amongst college graduates here than anywhere else in the world that I am aware of. I did not take the time to look up actual statistics on that, but am confident making those statements.

I can tell you this: I have more Argentine friends than I can count on both hands and feet with advanced university degrees who are either unemployed or not working in their chosen field and the number are much more pitiful amongst my expat friends. I have friends who are doctors who are teaching English. I have a friend who is a psychiatrist who works teaching economics. I have friends who are architects working as tour guides. I have friends from all kinds of professional backgrounds renting apartments, etc....

Argentina presents a very challenging and difficult employment market. There are jobs here and you can most certainly find something. However, there does not appear to be enough decent jobs for locals and there are obvious handicaps to seeking employement as an immigrant.

With this in mind, I would strongly encourage you to research the job market here in earnest and find a job with a company that will provide effective assistance in obtaining a work visa before you consider a permanent move here. The number one issue I have seen with immigrants is a lack of meaningful and effective preparation before arriving here particularly when it comes to finding work.

There are plenty of websites out there offering general job listings such as www.craigslist.org and www.zonajobs.com.ar. However, in your instance I would strongly encourage you to look deeper at how to find a job. If it were me, I would begin with checking with the employment assistance offices at the major universities here; look for guidance from job placement agencies; look for applicable groups and/or professionals on sites such as LinkedIn.com to connect and network with.....

How difficult would it be for a software developer with 8 yrs experience in Microsoft technologies to find a job in BA?

Despite the general high unemployment, the job market for software developers, particularly Java and .NET technologies is very tight. In other words, they are in high demand. The demand is growing at a much faster pace especially with many multinationals coming here and expanding, than the universities are providing a trained labor pool.

But, this is heavily dependent upon your fluency in Spanish AND your willingness to accept a job at Argentina wages. A .NET developer with 8 years experience would typically be paid a salary from around 7000-10000 pesos per month (net, not gross). People negotiate salaries here in net (what they call "in hand") rather than gross as they do in the U.S.

It would be very difficult to find a job as a software developer here and the wages would be a fraction of those in the northern hemisphere.  It is an incredibly competitive field down here with low pay and developers basically going for a dime a dozen.

Wynn,

I don't disagree about the low wages, but with all due respect, I could not disagree more about the labor market being very competitive and programmers going for a dime a dozen. I cannot find enough talented Java developers, .NET developers and QA testers and it's a well known fact for software companies in Argentina that there are not enough developers to go around. It's a job seeker's market right now. That said, there is a huge discrepancy between market salaries in N.America and Argentina. No doubt about it.

Sam, would you care to look at my CV then?
I did a quick calculation, and 10 000 pesos net is 2/3 of what I net now in South Africa.

How does the living costs compare? I am comfortably affording these on my current salary: a new family sedan, private medical aid, 2 bedroom house payment, cellphone, internet, luxury food, 2 holidays per year, various investments.

Sure, I can look at it, but the salary range I mentioned is a RANGE and is representative of salaries in Bs.As. I'm located in Cordoba and the market salaries here for developer positions are about 20-30% lower, but then the cost of living is lower also. Regarding your question about comparing cost of living between Joburg and Argentina, that's a tough one. What makes it even more complicated is the rate of inflation in Argentina which by most private analysts' estimates is about 30% per year. So what I tell you today may be out of date in 6 months. Cars are expensive in Argentina, especially used cars. Medical insurance is pretty inexpensive as is medical care. You can go to the emergency room without insurance and pay about 70 pesos cash price (about 17 dollars). I rent a 3BR 2BA house with a separate building for a quincho probably about 200 square meters a little bit out of town in a small neighborhood for about 3200 pesos p/month. Internet is relatively inexpensive. On my last trip to the U.S. a few months ago, it appeared to me that for the first time, eating out was cheaper in the U.S. than in Argentina because of the inflation in food prices. This may be an interesting site for you to visit... http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-livin … annesburg. It claims that cost of living is 45% higher in Joburg than Bs.As.

As I said before, the companies are hungry for developers and they are in short supply, but you might not be happy with the salaries.