Buildr
Buildr

Product Management in Dubai

Is it a good idea to switch from a product manager role in India to Dubai? I’m currently getting paid 36LPA as a PM2 in one of Fintech Unicorns in India. Have about 4years of PMing experience. Please suggest, also as I’m doing research for this topic i’ll put up all my research on this thread.

14mo ago
MrGandalf
MrGandalf

Was in a similar situation a few years ago.

Heres my notes, you make a call as you wish

  1. Dubai is a homogenous market and thus has limited complexity, data sets and customer behaviour. Long term Indian market experience, with its hetrogenity, data sets and the sheer size is much more valuable

  2. Dubai is not US. Later if you want to crack big roles in India you wont be as hot as an Indian PM in California now wanting to get back to India. Dubai has different salary for different race/color/nationality. Its an ugly side no one talks about

  3. Your salary is correlated with VC investments in your industry and country. India certainly will have more investments than Dubai for atleast next 5 years

  4. Your Dubai Salary might be good but to enjoy same lifestyle as India- Cook, Maid, Car, Home rental at Proxomity to work etc you will shell out 10-15K AED. Add 5K if you have a Kid. Now think where does this land

Buildr
Buildr

Thanks for this detailed perspective, really appreciate @MrGandalf 🙏🏼

Have you worked in Dubai before?

MrGandalf
MrGandalf

I had an offer from Noon during pandemic. Was very close to joining but decided against it. All the notes are from friends in the UAE market.

Indusplateau
Indusplateau

36 CTC? What's the break up?

Buildr
Buildr

36LPA is Base, 30LPA ESOPS, 2JB

Indusplateau
Indusplateau

2JB meaning?

PMatLarge
PMatLarge

Hey, work in UAE. All the points of MrGanfalf is super valid.

You should target AED 25+ per month, that will make life very comfortable. Caveat is UAE offers a lot for good lifestyle so creep is very easy, any salary can seem low! Eg. my in hand component in india was 2.2L and I just couldn’t spend it!

Rents are super high so more you negotiate the better.

If you live with a friend - it can become very comfortable to live. If alone - 12K for india level lifestyle.

Challenges :

  1. Cracking role - shallow market, few roles - random applicant flooding market making shortlisting insanely hard. Check Reddit!

  2. Lack of growth - no cutting edge work, although you can see it a place to achieve FIRE!

  3. Increments - hope you know that india level hikes don’t happen ANYWHERE. Just a word of caution.

PMatLarge
PMatLarge

40K-50K would be extremely tough!

PMatLarge
PMatLarge

Checkout this post on Grapevine - https://share.gvine.app/WdJ2n3LcWeinxVBT7

AliveYouth71
AliveYouth71

No it isnt. U'll get bronchitis

Buildr
Buildr

Why bronchitis bro, also you made me google this shit

AliveYouth71
AliveYouth71

Because of the sand/dust pollution there

Bamboozled
Bamboozled

Totally worth it. Savings will be much higher given the comp range that you've in India. My friend who works at Careem, lives in Marina area near to dmcc metro pays about 6k for 1bhk. Based on your lifestyle if you can keep 10-15k monthly expense then savings will be good.

Moreover, KSA region is hot for fintech right now, ton of good startups (bnpl, lending). So it makes sense to move.

Bamboozled
Bamboozled

The other part is work and team won't be like what it's in India. Mediocre work and team.

Buildr
Buildr

@Bamboozled Do you know how are the working hours and work Culture in Careem or for that matter any PM role. Is it like India? or the wlb if better, any thoughts?

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