I moved to Dubai two and a half years ago from Europe and honestly… I’m starting to question everything about this move.
I arrived with 11 years of experience in SaaS/Customer Success, worked with big players like Salesforce and Dell, built up a solid track record, delivered renewals and growth year over year, the whole thing. Back home, my career had direction. Momentum. It made sense.
My first role here was a huge paycut, but it was a way into the market so I accepted it. The second job was still a paycut, smaller company, smaller title, but I had to escape the toxicity of the first environment. It was genuinely the worst workplace I’ve ever experienced in my entire career.
Now I’ve been in this second role for a while, and twice I was promised a promotion. Twice it disappeared under the excuse of “structural changes at management level”. No transparency. No timeline. Just… gone.
I’ve applied everywhere. I’ve interviewed everywhere, countless people referred me as well. I keep reaching final stages, more than 50% of the time, and then nothing. “We loved meeting you”, “You’re definitely on our radar”, “We’ll reach out when a new opening comes”… and then silence. A few months later someone else gets hired for these new openings and I never even get a courtesy follow-up.
It makes you question your worth. Your experience. Everything you’ve done until now.
Seeing people land roles I know I’m capable of and more, especially after years of building myself up, really hits hard. I feel like I used to be on the up, and now I’m stuck in a place where I’m moving backwards.
I’m not someone who gives up easily, but if this keeps continuing, I don’t know how long I can keep pushing. A small part of me is genuinely starting to think about moving back home, even if it feels like admitting defeat.
If you’ve been through something similar in Dubai or abroad, what helped you get unstuck?
Did you network differently? Switch industries?
Is this just part of the expat-adjustment cycle that eventually breaks through?
Any perspective is welcome.