Working in Latin America (sales, home, find a job)

[k374]

This is just an idea floating around in my head....

I work as a Sr. Software Engineer, particularly with Java technology, for a large financial corporation in the US. I have around 10 years of experience. My spanish ability is about 4/10, meaning I can understand and speak some basic conversational sentences. I would rate my ability to pickup Spanish quickly if I am in the local environment to be "very high" .

I want to find a job in my field anywhere in Latin America (Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Argentina etc.). to work for a couple yrs, perhaps two, so that I can experience a different cultural environment.

Given my lack of linguistic ability in Spanish, and the fact that I will be looking for work from the US, what are my chances in actually accomplishing this? Anyone has any pointers on where to start my search? Without the language factor my skillset is in high demand here in the US and in other English speaking countries.

Also, I am not so concerned about pay as long as it's enough to live on and get some basics. I have a relatively high income right now so I will be giving that up so I am not exactly doing this for the money! I just want a break to my predictable routine right now and pursue my love for culture.

[Jefetio]

I've never tried this but I think it could be done. I spent 2 weeks in Panama at a backpackers hostel. Most of the residents were backpackers who had been in C.A. for 6 months or more, and some were looking for jobs. They couldn't find anything that paid anything decent but they had no skill sets.

I was in a cuban bar in Panama City and got to talking to this guy who was the regional sales manager for Microsoft I think it was. He was trying to recruit me to work for him even though I don't work in that field and didn't even express interest in finding a job. He wanted me because of my language ability and my engineering background.

As for how to get started... there are immersion schools in just about every country in central and southern america. First, pick a country. Then I would STRONGLY suggest enrolling in a local immersion school to not only strengthen your spanish, but to build contacts. The teachers at these schools will often help you with nearly anything and will build it into the language lessons. They are very inexpensive. Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador probably have the most & least expensive options for language schools.

Find a country with a good economy, off the top of my head I'd say Panama, Costa Rica or maybe Argentina, then go there and network... that's how I'd do it anyways. You might be able to find American companies who do business in those countries and apply through the internet.

First thing first though, I think you should improve your spanish.

[Jefetio]

I just wanted to add, since I noticed some details in your post. Panama is second only to Switzerland in International Banking. If you are familiar with the financial industry I would think that would be beneficial to finding a job there. The hostal I stayed in was in the banking district of Panama City. There was a guy at the hostal from New Zealand, who spoke no spanish, working in Panama City for a Russian financial company

[diegosmom]

I am a midwestern, who lives in Latin America. I have lived in Panama, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and now Venezuela. The main issue will be getting a work visa. Granted you could be in high demand with an IT background AND english - and workable spanish. It is very hard to just pick up, show up in a country and try to work. The laws restrict companies for work visa requirements. I love Latin America - married a latino and have kids. Panama is one option, but I am not a fan of the climate and the out-of-handness of the building, corruption (I know, they are not unique in this one), However, DELL has a big hub in Panama. You could check into Dell online to see what happens. Another thought is the long-term approach is get yourself into a company with offices in Latin America and keep studying the spanish. You can work your way on projects that would take you to LatAm and perhaps a "posting" there. Typically, companies minimize that "expat" expense, but make yourself invaluable and it can happen.

I have one US friend, who lives in Chile and works in IT from her home for the "office" in Puerto Rico and she travels to the other office in Venezuela.

I think it is a great idea if you want to do it....seek it out, you only live once! I just would really advise you just hopping on a plane and hoping to find work. That can be very hard to do, decent jobs are not had that way in 99% of the cases. There is a real legal issue on paying you and so on with out your legal id number.

Google some job opening overseas in your field. If you are single, for example, it makes it cheaper and easier for a company to send you.

suerte!

[Hasdrubal]

why would you want to go there? South America is only one step above Africa.

[recycled]

I am purposely ignoring the previous post - don't waste time on comments like that.

I have worked in the telecom industry for about 30 years. Telecom and IT fields are pretty closely related these days. I have worked on large telecom network projects in many parts of the world, mainly in the countries that were the former USSR and also in South America. My ticket to working on those projects was contract jobs. Many US technology firms bid on large technology projects in other countries that need to be completed in a certain time frame, usually 3 months to a year. Often, these contract jobs pay more money than you will make at your same job here in the US, with good bonuses if they complete on time. Part of the deal when these companies win the contract is that they get the ability to bring along a team of people from the US who they know and trust to run the project and complete high priority tasks according to a certain schedule. They don't have a lot of time to train a whole lot of local talent on the complicated parts of the project. A contract job is your ticket into another country for a 6 month to 1 year term. The contract jobs are with US companies or US contract companies doing work for US companies. They would be a stepping stone for you to get your feet wet and decide if a certain country or area is to your liking or not. It would also let you set up contacts in that country if you did like it and want to stay longer.

[k374]

thanks for the comments. Recycled, good idea about the contracting jobs. I heard IBM Global Services has many opportunities for work outside the US, going to find out more about this avenue.

[gv0928]

I'd say work on your Spanish and get it to at least a 6, preferably a 7.

Then you'd be in better shape.