Dubai vs london
Do you think it's better to start a career in London or Dubai? (IB/PE/HF)
Do you think it is easy to make laterals from dubai to london?
Jan 08, 2023Jan 08, 2023
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Comments (8)
Would definitely say that it is easier to lateral from LDN to DXB rather than the other way around. For satellite offices, much like Tel Aviv, people might make it to associate (in LDN/NYC) and then wish to move to DXB and move within the company too.
This'll largely be down to training and exposure being better in London. That being said, more and more DXB analyst programme have been opening (for Arabic and non-Arabic speakers), so there's clearly the demand for junior talent. However, there will still be many many more seats available in London. Should be able to keep both options open and can make a decision once there are offer(s) on the table.
Best of luck and you have a wonderful username.
Have spent a bit of time in and around various geographies. When it comes to IB/PE there's no question that starting in London and New York is always the best move. Dubai has great talent now, I don't doubt it, but London and NY are still considered the strongest breeding grounds for talent. It's much easier later in career to go from NY/London to Dubai than the other way around. I've seen people try to do it in both directions and I can tell you Dubai->London/NY is not as easy unless perhaps you spent a lot of years prior to being in DBX in a place like NY. Even then, there are challenges. No one will ever discount your experience for working in NY or London.
Do you have any insight about swf like mubadala, aida etc? Is it easy to move from london ib to that funds?
Idk, I'm not so familiar with these guys but generally speaking when it comes to emerging markets SWFs, they know they have to look outside of their region to find the best talent. These guys aren't going to go cheap on recruiting. Not saying there isn't local talent - I know a couple of homegrown professionals that have worked for some of these places, but you have to remember that up until like 15-20 years ago, a lot of these countries didn't even have real investment banking presences on the ground. Most of the bankers flew in from London and most of the SWF were strictly asset allocators. They have become more sophisticated since, Mubadala for example building out various direct investing teams. That said, you still want to start off in NY/London even if you're long-term goal is to end up at one of these SWFs. I really don't think you'll be penalized for starting off in NY/London no matter what, and you also don't want to lose the option value that early in your career. If you start in DXB and you decide you want to be elsewhere, it will be a harder path to move out.
Dubai is tax free and you get NY salaries. Nothing beats that when you're young. You can definitely find your way back to London once you save up.
Any insight on how to network / look for opportunities with SWF, AIDA, Mubadala, etc. in Dubai and region in general?
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