Job Discussion Forums

[YAMARI]

What's Danang like. Interested in finding out your opinions. How is 2500 and a free house for living there.

[ExpatLuke]

[TRH]

[BenNguyen]

Wow...with $2500/month and a free house living in Danang...there's nothing else that you would be worried about...Danang is nicer, cleaner, and less crowded compared to Hanoi and HCMC. The things I like the most about Danang are it's so close to the beaches and the local people are nice. Good luck!!!
PS: Here is the article from NYTimes and Danang is among 52 places to go to in 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/11/travel/52-places-to-go-in-2015.html

[YAMARI]

thanks for your replies makes me feel better in going.

[cb400]

That offer sounds almost too good to be true. Make sure to confirm everything before you leave.

Good luck

[skarper]

I'm quite curious what kind of job/industry pays that kind of package in DaNang. It can't be teaching or even management in a language centre - can it?

[tangal]

Da Nang is a very nice place to live and work for expatriates. The city is growing like mad with new high-rise hotels and apartments sprinkled throughout the city, especially the coastal areas. The place is booming. ELS teachers make $10 to $25 an hour, with average wages around $15-$20 an hour. There are at least 20 language schools to choose from, some offer fulltime jobs but most hire teachers on a part-time basis. There are other jobs for expats too -- working in bars, restaurants and big hotels -- but the majority of foreigners here are teachers, tourists/backpackers and retirees. There's a cool music scene, with many local musicians, and plenty of western bars and restaurants. The beach is world-class, with very good walking, biking, swimming (six months out of the year), and even surfing. Each day I ride my motorbike to work along the coastal boulevard I count my lucky stars. I flew here in June 2014 sight unseen and signed a fulltime contract right away. I'm an ESL teacher and just got my work permit, so I'm planning to stick around for a few years. People seem to come and go, staying for a few months or perhaps a year or two before returning home or moving on. Many others stay longer and even retire here. This year, a new law allows foreigners to buy houses and residential land. After 15 years in the TEFL game this is where I plan to end my career and maybe even retire.

[LarueLarry]

[skarper]

For every success story like TENGAL's there are a dozen or more people struggling along on 6-8 hours a week while paying increasing visa costs.

If you have a good stash of cash to subsidize the lifestyle then DaNang has much to offer compared to other cities in Vietnam. But if you need to make 2000 USD a month I'd advise against it.

[tangal]

Drink another can of Larue Larry and maybe the fear and selfishness will subside a bit. There's a constant influx of expats to Da Nang, and as long as folks are allowed to arrive on 3-month tourist (B3) visas and live and work on extended visas, one positive "success story" about expat life in Da Nang isn't going to make much of a difference either way. A number of ESL teachers I know are married to Vietnamese women and working on spousal visas. Others are older expats with savings and/or pensions who teach part-time for beer and massage money. Many newcomers have spent time in either Hanoi or HCMC and come for a change of pace and better lifestyle. Skarper is right, to a certain extent, that a lot of teachers who give Da Nang a go seem to wind up working part-time at several centers while paying for their visa extensions along the way, and this can make it hard for some to string together enough hours to make it worth their while. But this seems to be part of the equation in terms of the numbers game, in the percentage of expats who stay or go, and while there are many variables it seems that those who stay in Da Nang for a year or more are prepared to earn less money in the tradeoff; in other words, they can either afford or would rather make-do with lower incomes and savings for the chance to live in a laidback and livable Vietnamese coastal city that many would prefer to keep a secret.

[skarper]

The secret has long been out that DaNang is a nice place to live - frankly it's obvious that a medium seaside town is going to be a better place to live than massively overcrowded cities like HCMC or HaNoi.

We can't stop newbies trickling in but I like to warn them first NOT to expect an easy ride. Substantial savings are a big help as is being married to a local. Technically a spousal visa does not mean you don't need a W.P. though many do work on these or tourist visas with no W.P. Some solid EFL experience and qualifications are also needed to secure one of the better positions - though full time posts with W.P.s are scarce I understand.

Actually I think one or two overenthusiastic posts can have a significant impact
if left unchallenged. There is nothing untrue in TANGAL's post but it is only one rather positive story. People naturally want to believe the best.

I always advise people coming new to Vietnam to start in Hanoi or HCMC and then try to move to DaNang after 6-12 months. An exception would be if you can get hired for a full-time job from abroad or if you have substantial savings or income from a pension or similar.

[LarueLarry]

[ExpatLuke]

It's true that if you are moving from one of the bigger cities to Danang, you will take a big pay hit. But at the end of the day most people I work with seem to think it's worth it. I myself moved from Hanoi after a year there, as did several of my coworkers. Others have come from places like Korea or China and Danang is their first city in Vietnam.

I think some people just aren't prepared for the pay hit. A lot of teachers who got their feet wet in the bigger cities got used to the bigger salaries, and they think it will mostly be the same coming to Danang. But then they get here and all the start-up costs plus the lower monthly salaries just chip away at them, and their only option is to go back to Saigon.

It's no secret that Danang is most likely the current best city to live in, but right now there's more teachers than there are jobs.