A little help here please

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Costa
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Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:30 pm

A little help here please

Post by Costa »

Hello.

I'm not quite sure if this is the right section to post it, if not, i'm sorry.
I need your help.

I'm from an European Country and i'm thinking about moving to England with my girlfriend in search of a better life.

Well, the point is , i'm actually in a tecnical course, Electronic, Automation and Command to be precise and i would like to know if there is a big profuseness of jobs in this area in England.

Should i go with just this course or should i go for Electrical and Computer Engineering ?

Help me please, i know i'm being a little booring but i need to know this.
Actually i have no other way to find out.

Thanks a lot for your patience.
Greetings.
God bless you ;D
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Ryy
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Ryy »

Well, on the personal side, be prepared for regional accents. I work with a lot of Slovaks and Polish and only after circa 3 years can they actually understand our thick accent where we live. It'd dependant on where you are looking to move and where you are from I guess.
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

About the accents i'm confortable but yeah i know that sometimes it's very hard to understand.
What's your advice ? Where should i move in ? Btw, i'm from Portugal /facepalm
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Ryy
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Ryy »

We have a Portugese person at our work, seems like a mini United Nations :)

It'd be totally up to you. You have have to really come visit here imo. For something of such a big step, it's no wonder people here now moan about everything when they just jump in and get the first Ryanair flight over to here and don't "acclimatise / adapt" to our English way of life. England isn't "amazing". It's developed, but like every other country has it's irritations and coming from Portugal.... the weather here is dire. I actually don't mind rain, it's just lately we don't have the summers we used to here, so that is starting to get to me. It would be nice to at least get some hot weather here for a good period.

But I digress...

As I say, for such a big step, I know only now I am ready to move abroad. i want to experience that. I want to do it without children too, so will wait on that front. With those decisions made and with me being in and out of Slovakia, I know that I could move there. Some things I'll never get used to, but that's called adapting. I don't really want to live in Bratislava, but for work means, I would have to, but taking into account each weekend I could drive to my girlfriends parents out in the mountains, I'm fine with that. It would be a good idea for you to look at where the course is that you want to do (or at least a few locations you can do it), then the next step (what I would do anyway) is to come over and explore those areas, see how it is and then based on that you can see which one seems more suited. It's hard here like many places so for the "pleasure" of a better life and what you're working to, you may have to take the "pain" of a crap warehouse job to support it and so too your girlfriend to just raise some cash. Of course, you could already have plans and already have something lined up. I just know that when I plan for moving abroad, I will be raising some cash up, taking more frequent trips to the destination and then looking for jobs.

It may seem obvious here, but the urban areas may not be "the most scenic", but that's balanced off with usually where the most work opportunities are, is where more people live. Birimingham / West Midlands is heavily populated as is London with the opportunity for more work, where as a nice beach town in Cornwall may look pretty, but there are no job opportunities there. Another pain for pleasure thing.
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

We were thinking about moving in when we finish our courses.

I'm thinking about making an Erasmus, it's a good way to get to know the county and the people.
And yes we already thought about that , i think we gonna raise some cash and then we'll move in , so if we don't get any job for a period we have some "cash support"
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

btw, thanks for your help :)
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Kev
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Kev »

Costa wrote:in search of a better life.
You do realise our economy is going down the toilet, unemployment is rising, interest rates are rock bottom, everything costs a fortune, forget trying to get on the housing ladder due to huge prices and salaries are falling don't you.

Seriously, I wouldn't be encouraging anyone to come here at the moment.
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

Are you for real ?

Well, our country is not that good too.
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Kev
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Kev »

Yep.

Public sector workers haven't had a pay rise for 2-3 years, everything costs a fortune, a simple 2 bed house will set you back well over 100k (and more depending on where you live).
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

how much is the minimum pay there ?
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Kev
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Kev »

Per hour
£6.08 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
£4.98 - the 18-20 rate
£3.68 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
£2.60 - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

For some context, 1L of petrol is £1.35, the annual road tax on my Scirocco is something like £220
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

Still being better than here.

In Portugal the minimum pay here is: €485 wich is £380.48 wich gives us:

€2,40 per hour - £1,88
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Kev
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Kev »

Yeah but how much do things cost. What you earn is all relative. I still wouldn't come here. Unemployment among young people is at its worst for years.
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

I don't know. 1L petrol here is around £1.31

We have no jobs here, companys close every day.
And the jobs we have are impossible to live from.
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Ryy
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Ryy »

It's tough everywhere. Regardless ofwhat people say, the positive on our side is that we have the £. The € was a huge mistake.

Several places that were once destinations for weekends of fun have suffered so much. When I first went to Slovakia with the girlfiend, I remember a meal, two glasses of wine and side with the main was 180SKK, which is like £4.50. I left 270SKK and my missus went mental because it was a HUGE tip. Same place in Trnava, albeit different waitress 3 years on and it was €21. WTF. Needless to say, I am happier here eating out.

The Euro ruined Slovakia. Cost of living went up, food went up. All overnight. Everything. Wages? Nope. Not at all. No inflation, no extras. Oh and when their budgetary time came again. Tax hikes. Yet no standard wage rise. It's a joke. The place is lovely and yes, drunken louts went for cheap fun, but hey that's what it offered, it never hid it. That's died off more and more leaving more people out of work there. When you think of the people who have gone back home too with the money they earned here, so taking it out of our economy into theirs, I still cannot believe it has got worse.
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

Exactly, that's why € was a huge mistake. A simple coffee in France costs you 5€ !
The things might not be that good there but you have te £ wich is your safety!
Portugal and like several other countries should not had gone into the €.

Well, what do i do ? It's better to move in, right ? I'm tired of this life here, everything is expensive, our wages are very low and i just can't support it anymore.
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Re: A little help here please

Post by ZephyR »

Something you haven't considered - the weather. Here its dull and raining most of the time. You no doubt will be basking in warm sunshine most days.
Costa
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Re: A little help here please

Post by Costa »

I'm not worried about the weather. I do like rain!
ZephyR
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Re: A little help here please

Post by ZephyR »

Costa wrote:I'm not worried about the weather. I do like rain!
Well that's good cos we've got plenty.
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