I am moving to Spain in February and would like some advice...

First a little background.
I am moving with an old friend of mine who lived there for a year teaching in 1999.

I have never taught english, but have a strong technical training background and I'll have a TEFL certification before I go.

I can understand and *barely* speak French. I'm currently taking a quickie course in Spanish...but I pick up languages fairly quickly and I don't see this as a major problem since my friend is fluent.

I have worked in the computer industry for 5+ years now in various positions; consultant, Account Manager at Dell, and just recently left my job of 2 1/2 years as the Director of IT at a company with about 150 offices nationwide.

Now to my questions...

How difficult will it be for me to find work?
Should I seek out legitimate employment within my profession (computers)?
How much work is there teaching computer skills to English speakers in Spain?
Should I give teaching English a shot?
...and most importantly what is the bare minimum dollar amount I should have saved up before I go?

I appreciate any input.

--Kyle

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 01-09-2001).]

Your best bet is to teach English for a while until you are fluent in Spanish and then try to find a job in computers.
About the money, it depends on how long you are going to stay without a job, where you are going to live, etc. If your friend has been living a year in Spain you might want to ask him.
Good luck,
Nuria

Kyle-
If you can get over the ideological dilemma of working illegally, then read on:

You should be able to "teach" English fairly easily, if nowhere else you could do "clases particulares" which basically amounts to tutoring. There are many who will pay well for that service. When I last made that attempt in 1993, the going rate was more than $15 USD/hour. Remember that although not a king's ransom here, that's fairly decent money in Spain depending on your hours.

I'm glad you will have your TEFL cert before going. Too many people feel that because they speak a language, they therefore can teach it. You will find the demands of an English academy to be more than that of a U.S. public school. Having done both, I know.

As far as teaching a skill goes, you may have more trouble there, as "empresas" in Spain tend to hire EU citizens. If your credentials are as you say, you may be able to land something, being there already, with an international company. I was just checking Monster.com yesterday and noticed the overabundance of tech jobs.

Best of luck.

Thanks guys for the advice.

--Kyle

You can find a job, look at the job websites and submit resumes, even in english they are fine.

There is a shortage of IT professionals here like everywhere else.

I advise you to get a job before you come to Spain if you want to work in computers, otherwise you will be going back and forth a bit if you want to be 'legal.

------------------
Laurence Sigler Asterault
http://www.fly.net/~lsigler/
lsigler_1@yahoo.com