6 companies in UAE later… is this normal or am I just unlucky?
Posted by Professional_Monk534@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 66 comments
I’ve worked at 6 different companies in the UAE over the past several years, mostly in tech, and I’m starting to feel like I’m seeing the same pattern everywhere.
On paper, everything looks modern. Big titles, nice offices, “digital transformation”, AI, innovation, all that. But once you’re inside, it’s a completely different story.
Leadership often doesn’t understand technology or even basic business principles. Decisions are driven by hierarchy, politics, and ego instead of logic or data. There’s little to no real engineering culture, no proper product thinking, and no investment in building systems the right way.
I recently joined as a Senior Solutions Architect, and my day-to-day work is honestly shocking. Instead of architecture, design, or solving real problems, I’m filling out outdated Word document templates and dealing with processes that feel decades behind. Half the time, the requirements themselves don’t make sense, and the people asking for them don’t fully understand what they want.
There’s also a strong pattern of:
- Toxic management styles (fear, blame, favoritism)
- No real career growth or mentorship
- Random or unclear decisions (including hiring and firing)
- Focus on appearance over substance
It feels like companies here have the budget to look modern from the outside, but internally the mindset is stuck far in the past.
At this point, I’m honestly losing hope in the local market. I don’t want to keep jumping companies just to find the same environment again.
So I’m seriously considering going fully remote and working with companies outside the region.
One important constraint in my situation: I’m originally from Syria, and due to personal circumstances I can’t relocate back home. That means I’m somewhat limited geographically and need a stable “work from anywhere” opportunity rather than something tied to a specific country.
For those who’ve been in a similar situation:
- Is this a common experience in the UAE tech scene, or have I just been unlucky?
- What platforms or websites would you recommend for finding solid remote roles (especially for senior/architect-level positions)?
- How do you transition out of this kind of environment without burning out or losing motivation?
Would really appreciate any advice or shared experiences.
Artgor@reddit
I worked for \~2.5 years in Dubai at a green-colored superapp company as an MLE until last year.
I agree that the decisions are mostly driven by politics. We had a lot of projects where expectations were made based on politics or just the whims of top managers. If they fail, the workers are blamed; if they succeed, the top managers are praised.
There were some attempts to build proper analysis, good practices of engineering, and other well-established industry practices, but people had to constantly cut corners due to a lack of time. At some point, the systems were so unstable, and there were so many customer-facing issues, that for several sprints the development of new functionality was completely stopped, and engineers were told to completely focus on reliability.
Usually, the managers deal with most of the issues by asking people to work overtime (unpaid, of course).
As far as I know, this is common in large UAE corporations. It is possible to get lucky and get into a good team, but it won't last forever.
Dethrot@reddit
broo can i get a referral for the green colored app? im in doobai!
Artgor@reddit
I stopped working in it last year.
Dethrot@reddit
i understand. is it possible if you can share internal recruitment contacts whatsapp or linkedins? appreciate it!
Artgor@reddit
https://jobs.careem.com/ you can apply for jobs here. I don't have any contacts to internal recruitment.
sudojonz@reddit
UAE is where careers go to die. Sorry to be the one to tell you.
Professional_Monk534@reddit (OP)
do you have a story to tell us ?
I'm starting to have the same feeling and worried about my career
Innovator-X@reddit
Really? I am curious as to why you think so.
soulaDev@reddit
me too
gfivksiausuwjtjtnv@reddit
That sounds worse than most of what I’ve experienced in Australia.
I mean you’re always going to get questionable management 😆 but there are plenty of companies with modern approaches.
Professional_Monk534@reddit (OP)
I want to stay optimistic, but I’m starting to lose hope. I’ve been hearing similar feedback even from local FAANG employers.
Suspicious-Ask2437@reddit
sounds frustrating with the outdated processes and templates. seen similar in some places
MoreRespectForQA@reddit
It's not unusual in lots of places but probably worse in Dubai coz of the racial hiring quotas and because oil wealth puts capital in the hands of people who arent great at managing it.
IndomieMuncher1999@reddit
This is an extremely outdated, misleading, and untrue stereotype of what the UAE, not Dubai, the UAE’s economy looks like.
‘Oil wealth’ does not put capital in the hands of people who aren’t good at managing it here. The UAE is excellent overall at managing its capital, otherwise it wouldn’t be half as successful as it already is. The UAE has the most qualified and educated workforce in the region, and the massive institutional growth that has happened in the last decade is testament to this.
The UAE is definitely still an excellent and smart choice to make ‘career growth happen’. Arguably the best place on earth in fact.
Slow-Pumpkin-3198@reddit
Holy UAE shill bot…
IndomieMuncher1999@reddit
🤡
overlord_04@reddit
Since you already have the experience to be hired as a solution architect why not try a big regional company in UAE e.g.: Noon. I have some friends working there and from what i hear the management there is good and doesn't have the problems you are describing. Perhaps you are targeting companies that don't fit your vision/experience?
Also, nice to see a fellow Syrian here :)
Rough-Yard5642@reddit
I’m going to be brutally honest for a second. Im assuming you are ethnically Indian, I am too. The truth is, top tech talent from India is not going to the UAE, they are coming to the USA for startups or FAANG, or staying home. Talent in the UAE will likely skew far worse than other places, since the best and brightest simply don’t go there. That is ofc reflected in what you are seeing. There is not a single meaningful tech company originating from the UAE, nor will there ever be.
Innovator-X@reddit
OP said they are Syrian and I also would like to hear more about your opinion on the UAE because there was a period in my life where I was really considering moving there.
mjbmitch@reddit
This is an AI-generated post!
Dethrot@reddit
lol literally everyone uses ai now and have problems when others use it for reddit posts. the double standards!
Professional_Monk534@reddit (OP)
This is an AI-refined post. When will you all accept that some AI can refine non-native English speakers’ English, and that’s okay? Investigator.
mjbmitch@reddit
Include that in the body of your post!!!!!
Professional_Monk534@reddit (OP)
Well, that’s something I just knew about. Will do
DrProtic@reddit
*learned
Whitchorence@reddit
Probably this kind of nitpicking was the reason he edited the initial draft with AI
tcptomato@reddit
Correcting an obvious mistake isn't nitpicking.
DrProtic@reddit
I know, I have an unusual sense of humor.
tcptomato@reddit
Why do you think it's okay?
Whitchorence@reddit
Why do you think it isn't? Is it somehow "fair" that we all speak our native language and then demand someone else write in it naturally without assistance?
tcptomato@reddit
Because I want to talk with a person, not a LLM. Why do you think it's acceptable to use AI to refine speech, but not flag it as such from the beginning?
Who is this "we" you're talking about?
Nobody has such demands. But such assistance should be disclosed.
Professional_Monk534@reddit (OP)
Bcz there is no rule/fact that say that this post would hurt you to read for example, I read the post before posting and I read it smoothly and didn’t get annoyed So you can’t hold me accountable for something that you personally don’t like
i_exaggerated@reddit
I’d rather read non-native English.
GLaDOSexe3@reddit
I have seen this exact same comment under every ai written post for like 4 years now
sfscsdsf@reddit
sounds familiar patterns all over Asia
LittleLordFuckleroy1@reddit
If you want actual answers, try putting it in your own words and not spamming with AI slop.
BeenThere11@reddit
Looks like a uae issue.
Automate your work. Use Claude code if needed. Dont stress out since you cannot change regions . Relax and accept the culture. Apply for remote jobs
RickAmes@reddit
this sounds exactly in line with my experience at american firms and japanese companies.
thethirdmancane@reddit
I mean you're trying to work for a totalitarian kleptocracy, why are you surprised?
Heavy-Report9931@reddit
I've come to the realization that. there are 2 skillets in a company. political and technical.
engineers are technical, management political in order to have any sort of influence. you have to learn the others language
NegativeSemicolon@reddit
More dollars than sense
fallen_lights@reddit
Well well well
fallen_lights@reddit
Well well well
Kyan1te@reddit
Out of interest, given that this is a Dev subreddit... What does a solutions architect do in your case? All the ones I've come across just try to sell stuff lol
Tight-Yam6087@reddit
cache issues are always sneaky like that
Dry_Preparation_7178@reddit
reminds me of when i lost my keys in the fridge
Western_Objective209@reddit
My company has some contracts with UAE, your descriptions are very accurate and reflect the countries business climate very well
Mizarman@reddit
About 10 years ago, I used to live in an American tech hub city. I was looking for a job, and went to an interview, and had the worst, scariest de ja vu ever. Every company was the same. It was all the same job. Everything and nothing. That's when I saw it, and freaked out, and moved to the sticks, and only work remote.
dudeaciously@reddit
I see the middle east as third world thinking, with a lot of money. I know Indians that are successful at business there. And white engineers that are respected. But not the other way.
Stabby_Stab@reddit
This is a problem everywhere and usually comes down to the quality of leadership. Poor leadership at the top means the whole organization becomes focused on politics and ego rather than thr job. It's less about the region and more about the specific companies. The ones that have a lot of problems have a lot of churn, so they're overrepresented in hiring.
Remote roles are tough right now because AI broke a lot of the existing hiring systems by overwhelming them with automated slop applications, and there's not a lot of trust in remote interviews because interviewers can't tell if they're actually interviewing the person or just the AI that person is using.
Rather than specific websites, can you leverage your network at all? There's a lot of hiring that's network only now because of the problems I mentioned above. Do you know anybody who could recommend you for a job?
Roles in toxic environments are awful for you in the long run, but if it's the only way you have to pay your rent and living expenses it might be worth holding on until you're sure you have something better lined up.
Professional_Monk534@reddit (OP)
The issue is that before moving to the UAE, I only worked remotely for one company from home. My entire network of connections is based in the UAE, and most of the people I’ve met are still employed in those types of companies because they can’t switch due to a lack of real competitiveness or value. As a result, my network is quite limited, which makes me question whether I should have relocated in the first place.
donjulioanejo@reddit
What you described is a pretty common among middle eastern companies.
The company is just a playground for people in it to play politics and embrace their ambitions.
Product, process, employee experience? Yeah doesn’t matter lol. Tribal politics rule the day, and in the absence of that, people at work break up into tribes and then still do tribal politics.
It’s more about loyalty and kissing bums than anything else. Also about rank and titles.
And before you say Western companies have this too… they do, but they’re a 3, and Middle Eastern companies are an 8.
Stabby_Stab@reddit
I'm not sure what options you have for meeting people locally in the UAE, but I suspect that if you can go to meetups or find other ways of meeting people it will be a better use of your time than applying to remote jobs on job boards.
The majority of posted jobs aren't real so unless you're prepared to make thousands of applications and potentially still get no interviews, meeting people is probably a better use of your time.
The market is rough and really competitive right now, but you can bypass a lot of that if somebody who's making hiring decisions likes you and can see themselves working with you.
asapberry@reddit
you can just apply in other countries like people without connections.
circalight@reddit
Common in the industry and ESPECIALLY common in the UAE.
lphomiej@reddit
This is all businesses everywhere.
kruvii@reddit
Saw a funny/brutal quote that went along the lines of "Dubai is where the startup drift from the world goes to try and make one last grift."
DrProtic@reddit
You can’t buy your way into engineering and business culture and practices.
Even businesses in some very developed countries in EU can be quite worse than US businesses for the similar reasons.
dbxp@reddit
Hierarchy, politics and ego feels very much on brand for UAE. It's a country built on hiring expertise into to specific jobs so they're not really interested in things like mentorship and career growth.
BasketbaIIa@reddit
Your post doesn’t make sense to me. If they don’t know what they want, then why do you have to use outdated word templates for deliverables?
If they don’t understand tech and such to the point you say then use whatever tools you can and need to get the job done most efficiently. If you show them what they actually wanted in a reasonable timeframe, 99% of the time they’ll buy-in.
Cahnis@reddit
How well UAE pays? Was moving there hard? What were the biggest cultural shocks?
__bee_07@reddit
It’s the same sh** show everywhere.. I might sound cynical but even in big companies in the last two to three years things are becoming really bad, many layoffs regardless of performance, and everything became political. Focus on the team you work with, the product you are building and whether you can increase your compensation for your family sake
Professional_Monk534@reddit (OP)
The positive aspect is that I’ve consistently been working on the compensation side, so I’m not particularly bad at it. However, I often find myself questioning my purpose and wondering if all the hard work I’ve put in over the years is justified by the pay I receive. (I’m a passionate self-taught individual who left electrical engineering in university to pursue this profession.) I also wonder like where am I gonna be in 2 years with all of that ?!
SquiffSquiff@reddit
I worked for a bank for three years. I was one of the 1000 most senior staff in the company. They never used a single thing that I or anyone in my team or even department/division produced. Purpose is subjective/relative
Stabby_Stab@reddit
Having any job right now means you're doing a lot better than many devs. There are people with over a decade of experience that can't find any work at all. I'd hold onto whatever you've got until you've got something else lined up.
How are you measuring if your compensation is fair for your skills? You need a solid argument to ask for more money when the market is this bad, but employers are willing to pay well above market for people that have clear value to the business.
Good people are increasingly hard to find because AI has introduced so much noise to the hiring process. It's expensive to find and replace them so you might have more leverage than you think.
It all depends on what the people making the hiring and salary decisions think you're worth, so it's important that you make it clear where you're adding value.
Ok-Most6656@reddit
It's the same here in the U.S. Trust me. I feel the same way as you