Whats the chances for an ex-pat Web Designer?

[prkravi]

[prkravi]

Time to draw the guns out again I guess my friend....

[PhoenixGB]

Huh?? What's Pancakes got to do with Web Designing??

SMS!! Where art thou?

Pancakes?? WTF??

[InTheBlue]

Hi all

My GF has been offered a good position in Singapore - good salary etc.

We currently live in Dubai and I'm doing OK here (which is nice.. ). I am a web designer who specialises in Joomla CMS websites.

The question i have is this..

In Dubai, the majority of my work comes from ex-pats cheesed off with trying to deal with Indian/Filipino/Chinese designers, who may be technically brilliant but have different ethics, standards and 'design' ideas to westerners.

Don't get me wrong, I am not racist in the slightest, I have a good friend here who is Indian and we work great together (different skill sets; me creative, him technical) and we are very close to starting a new business here with one of the AD Ministry of Trades senior directors as our partner and sponsor (I have mentored him on some of the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Trade websites they are re-developing using Joomla and have actually been told we can use my tradename - http://www.joomlaholics.com on their sites because of this tie up (which is nice.. )

I get 90% of my work thru referalls and it's taken 12-18 months to get where I am now and the thought of starting again from scratch is a real bummer.

So the six million dollar question is... how much work can a Brit web designer expect to get (assuming his work is good) in the Singapore market?

I need to make a decision regarding upping sticks and moving to Singapore in the next day or so (GF's new job is very high profile and they need her urgently).

Hope that someone can give me good feedback on this sector ASAP.

Thanks

Kev

Kev,

I think you'll do well if you carry on designing as well as you have.

Good luck and thanks.

[PhoenixGB]

Thanks ITB

Glad ur happy with the new site...

[AnthonyC]

Hi all

My GF has been offered a good position in Singapore - good salary etc.

We currently live in Dubai and I'm doing OK here (which is nice.. ). I am a web designer who specialises in Joomla CMS websites.

The question i have is this..

In Dubai, the majority of my work comes from ex-pats cheesed off with trying to deal with Indian/Filipino/Chinese designers, who may be technically brilliant but have different ethics, standards and 'design' ideas to westerners.

Don't get me wrong, I am not racist in the slightest, I have a good friend here who is Indian and we work great together (different skill sets; me creative, him technical) and we are very close to starting a new business here with one of the AD Ministry of Trades senior directors as our partner and sponsor (I have mentored him on some of the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Trade websites they are re-developing using Joomla and have actually been told we can use my tradename - http://www.joomlaholics.com on their sites because of this tie up (which is nice.. )

I get 90% of my work thru referalls and it's taken 12-18 months to get where I am now and the thought of starting again from scratch is a real bummer.

So the six million dollar question is... how much work can a Brit web designer expect to get (assuming his work is good) in the Singapore market?

I need to make a decision regarding upping sticks and moving to Singapore in the next day or so (GF's new job is very high profile and they need her urgently).

Hope that someone can give me good feedback on this sector ASAP.

Thanks

Kev

Kev,

I think you'll do well if you carry on designing as well as you have.

Good luck and thanks.

Hey Kev,

I ran a digital marketing company fo ra number of years before i sold it last year. i may be able to offer you some advice. Unless you land a position prior to arriving here through a job listing site, its difficult to predict how your job situation will fair.

Despite what people say the talent pool in Singapore has improved over the last few years, so your competition from both locals and expats is higher than it was if you arrived five years ago.

I see you have two routes. One is to keeping knocking on doors of large agencies. There is about 5 top ones. This will take time, but probably give you the most stable employment. Otherwise start your own company and offer your services to the mid range size firms as a freelancer. They will pay you quicker, and offer more projects. They are not as easy to find, and can be a little clicky, but it may work for you all the same.

The last alternative a lot of job seekers are doing from the UK and abroad is taking big salary cuts here to break into the market. I know a few people who have skimped to get their foot in the door. Best of luck.