Hi fellow monkeys,
I was wondering what are some attractive, lucrative, and great exotic locations to do IB or PE ?
Anyone know of any ?
I have been told about UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and more.
Opinions are highly appreciated.
| +84 | GF doesn’t care about her looks | 49 | 18h | |
| +55 | Affair with my Associate… In Desperate Need for Advice | 23 | 10h | |
| +41 | How to sound more eloquent? | 16 | 7h | |
| +39 | Insurance as High Finance? | 10 | 2d | |
| +38 | 400k/year in HVAC sales? | 26 | 1d | |
| +33 | Would you rather live alone in an outer borough or with roommates in Manhattan? | 23 | 2d | |
| +28 | WSO Ranking On Resume??? | 6 | 11h | |
| +27 | Why do people listen to Jim Cramer Investing Advice? | 10 | 13h | |
| +26 | Is my boss gaslighting me? | 3 | 12h | |
| +25 | Carnivore Diet | 9 | 13h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Nice post, I would also be interested in exotic locations for S&T (commodities & paper)
I don't know why anyone would want to work there. Why not Miami or Brazil.
I need this as an international experience, so later I will be able to attend HBS; after which, I will move on to NYC.
India - Mumbai HongKong Japan Brazil (has a growing market)
The Middle East is a tough place to live. Saudi is by far the worst of the 3 you mentioned. Dubai is actually pretty cool, but you're not going to have an easy time getting a job there. Qatar is somewhere in between the two, depending on your interests. Definitely a magnificent city though.
Most of the guys I met in Dubai had experience working in banking pre-MBA, got a top MBA (Harvard and Wharton were the big two), and then went back to the Middle East because it's where they were from.
The ones you mentioned are shit holes. Particularly Saudi Arabia. Who the fuck would voluntarily want to live in that crap? If you love sharia law, beheadings, inequality and intolerance, then it's a great place.
Not to mention no alcohol and women covered head to toe in burqas...
I would not consider the ME to be exotic in a good way. It's a shithole, especially Saudi Arabia and even Dubai (it's ok to visit). It's hotter than you can imagine, there are sandstorms that seem like they're out of movies, no booze, they treat women like shit and you feel like you're going to be kidnapped when you veer off the beaten path.
LOL at living in Saudi Arabia ... what is wrong with you bro?
San Francisco
I honestly would like to chip in related to Saudi Arabia,I used to live there as a child until 2001 when I had to leave. Saudi Arabia isn't as bad as some might say,it's true if I were to live there as an adult I wouldn't like it so much,and I would love to test that hypothesis; As a child I would live in a residential compound where there plenty of internationals, and I would go study at a well known international american school where I had the privilege of meeting people from all around the world - that's not the point though. From what I observed people still had certain freedoms,even though I do admit that women had to be covered and that there would be a certain authority that would patrol public grounds and tell women to cover themselves, as for other things there are plenty of normal and fast-food restaurants,malls and other things. Now that I strayed off a lot from the topic,I believe that Saudi Arabia is not a good habitat for IB and most finance jobs,but if you're engineer or some kind of technician it's pretty ok and in some cases depending on the company they'll for your residence and other stuff.
Dude, this is one of the more delusional posts I've read in a while here.
So if I'm an American engineer, I want to be living and working is Saudi Arabia because they:
1) Have private areas where internationals can live 2) They have fast food restaurants and malls
Maybe it's me, but I'm failing to see how that makes it better than just staying in the US where you have anything you want materially, basic freedom, and whatever type of weather you're into.
I'm just saying that in my case it wasn't really hell on earth.If you got a contract to work in Saudi Arabia that pays good money, I don't see why you should reject it.
I'm just saying that in my case it wasn't really hell on earth.If you got a contract to work in Saudi Arabia that pays good money, I don't see why you should reject it.
Saudi Arabia lol, might as well just set up camp in a desert somewhere
What I've noticed on WSO is that no matter how absolutely awful a certain place is to live someone here will adamantly defends that it's a good place to live. This is the case even when there is no argument for the place e.g. Saudi Arabia. The best praise you can give this country as a place to live is that it has some fast food restaurants and you will meet internationals if you live in a certain residential compound.
Next some kid will be defending living in the DMZ.
Looks like there's a bunch of rare endangered animals there, sounds prestigious
I have a friend who's a petrol engineer and he got crushed when the housing crash happened back in 07/08. His company offered him to move to Saudi Arabia at something like 2-3x of his salary in the US and they basically paid all of his living expenses so he could pocket almost his entire earnings. He spent three years there and said it was just awful. You're living in a gated compound that he said felt more like a prison, it's hot, no alcohol, and no women (because most oil workers are guys). He left every weekend he could just to not be stuck there. You have to really want or need the money to live there. And there's no finance, it's all oil.
My parents did the ex-pat thing in Saudi for a while. I visited them for a month after I finished university. I went in a cultural relativist, came out a Western values absolutist. It was a terrible, terrible shithole. Doing the ex-pat thing there would be like nailing my penis to a table and dancing a jig.
India - I've visited there enough on IB business and that was enough for me. It is a pungent place. Very, very pungent.
Eum et sit ipsam cumque quam quibusdam et repellendus. Vero vero et eum laboriosam iste rem occaecati nemo. Debitis doloribus quibusdam ut velit velit nisi quibusdam. Doloremque sed incidunt sint repudiandae praesentium laborum. Aut quia quam magni laborum sit sequi facilis vel.
Eligendi nesciunt rerum consequuntur earum quia. Laudantium similique et atque similique sint. Et asperiores sunt est aut esse.
A officiis illum voluptas reiciendis impedit. Porro provident reiciendis et aliquam quaerat. Quam id qui nam fugit.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...