Working in Tech in Dubai vs. the U.S.: Is the Money Really Better?
A viewer left a comment on one of my videos about work culture in Dubai. It said that despite the zero income tax, salaries in Dubai don't seem as good as they're cracked up to be, and that some people say Dubai is about to take off as a global tech hub. Since I'm in tech, he wanted my take.
I answered in a video in September 2023. Here it is, and below is what I said.
The zero income tax part
It depends where you're from. Depending on your country, you may have no income tax liability at all. Zero, zip, zilch.
Americans are different. We still file. There's an exclusion that covers your foreign income up to a set amount, and you're responsible for tax on what you make above it. When I made the video I put that number at $112,000. It changes every year, so look up the current one.
How the pay compared for me
I can only tell you from my own experience.
When I worked in Dubai, I got cash, basically, plus the end-of-service gratuity. If you're not familiar with it, that's a percentage of your salary for each year you're with the company, paid out when you leave, as long as you leave in good standing.
In Silicon Valley, and at the tech company I work for now, the package looks different. You get a base salary, a bonus, and restricted stock units. On top of that there's the 401(k). Say you put away six percent of every paycheck and the company matches it. Now twelve percent is going toward your retirement every time you get paid.
I've worked for one of the Magnificent Seven companies, and total compensation there is typically higher than what you make in the UAE. So from that standpoint, Silicon Valley far exceeds working for a company in Dubai, unless one of those companies sends you over there and you keep that package.
I do know of Americans who went over with very specialized skills and got a stupid, ridiculous amount of money. That's not the case for everyone.
Is Dubai about to become a global tech hub?
If you go to Internet City you'll see Amazon, AWS, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and plenty of others. There are more startups looking for investors, and the UAE and the Saudis both have sovereign wealth funds. These guys aren't silly. I think they're getting better at attracting and keeping talent.
Competing with Silicon Valley is to be determined. It isn't just about the money. It's about the projects. Right now one of the big things is generative AI, and the place to be for that is Silicon Valley. In my experience, Dubai will do something in tech, but it's already been worked on for years somewhere else.
They're still going through growing pains. That's not to say they won't get there.
Why the packages aren't what they used to be
The UAE has been attracting talent from the West for a long time. But I don't think the compensation is what it was fifteen or twenty years ago, when people were getting those ridiculous packages.
There are so many people flooding in now, and some of them are willing to work for cheap. That has a big impact on what companies are willing to pay. So if you've got buddies willing to work for dirt cheap, tell them: hey man, don't screw the rest of us. Don't jump at the first bit of scratch they throw you. Drive a hard bargain.
Would I go back?
I ask myself that all the time. I would, but only if my current company transferred me and I kept my compensation package.
My job is fully remote. I live on the East Coast and work for a West Coast tech firm. I figured if I can be a hundred percent remote, why would I sit in the most expensive place? So I took my laptop somewhere with a lower cost of living.
I have a good quality of life here. I'm near my family and my friends, and I really like my home and my community. It's safe, it's peaceful, it's quiet. Your home should be your sanctuary. I wouldn't want to give that up to live in an apartment building.
A lot of people go to Dubai for the lifestyle. For me, there was so much going on right at my doorstep that it could be overwhelming. I lived right in Downtown for a good part of my time there, then moved down the street to Business Bay, so I never had to go far for excitement. Here I can go into the city when I want and come back out, and when I'm home I can focus.
Fun is not going to get me where I want to be in life. There's a time and place for it. Sometimes I need to hunker down, disappear and get my job done.
So my company is going to have to get rid of me for me to go anywhere, or somebody's going to have to make me an offer I can't refuse.
Three questions to ask before you take a job there
- Are you going to be paid fairly? I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you have valuable skills and could work anywhere.
- Is the work going to keep you engaged and growing, and take you somewhere?
- How's your quality of life going to be, and how is the company going to treat you? Are they going to act like you should thank God you have a job in Dubai and never ask for a raise? Or are they going to value what you bring and do what it takes to keep you?
Do your research and take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. Talk to different people. Read the news, go on Reddit, go on the Dubai forums. One person's bad story might just be one person. If you see the same thing over and over from people with nothing to gain, there might be some truth to it.
If you're weighing the move, here's what it cost me to live in Dubai and why I moved there from California.