Young Expat Or Fool?

[aholm]

Hello all,

I was thinking of posting this in the jobs forum - but I'm not technically looking for a job, more of life advise from fellow expats, and I take it everyone here has a bit of experience with that in the Buenos Aires context.

I'm a recent college graduate, and fresh out of graduating from North Carolina State University (go Wolfpack!), I landed a job with an online travel wholesaler and moved to Argentina after two months' training. It helped that I'm both a native English and Spanish speaker. All in all, a really fast whirlwind roller coaster ride and I'm here...

But it's difficult. I moved here by myself, knowing nothing, and far too used to American and European general daily life comforts. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, live in Palermo Soho, and plan on staying indefinitely. But I'm currently at the point of asking myself - am I the world's biggest idiot or did I make a great decision? More in depth...

I manage the Buenos Aires and Uruguay markets for an American company based out of Orlando. I'm pretty proud of myself, so, on that end, great opportunity.

But I graduated in Business Admin/Marketing and I love (love, love...love) advertising and branding. I'm constantly worrying if I'm going to be sucked into the vacuum of this company, fueled by the fact that the growth I've brought for the market is like a drug to me, and never end up going to what I really dream of doing.

And I'm an American college kid - so you know I graduated with a little debt (although I'm lucky it's very little, but I still need to pay it off, and the whole dollar situation here is difficult - I just need to be able to pay the remainder of my credit card). And I want to stay here.

So...am I the world's biggest idiot? If I am to find a new job here working for a company in branding or advertising, would I be able to pull the current salary I'm making? Just to give you the full view, I pull 20,000 pesos a month, but am due for a raise soon (I got a pretty "big salary adjustment" from the US to Argentina, however).

It's not about the money, but I need to take care of myself and my responsibilities (paying Wells Fargo ). I'm worried that no one here would pay that salary. And it feels impossible as a foreign, recent ollege graduate to find a job here - even if I'm bilingual with an American degree. (One would think...)

In summary, my question: is there hope for me or should I give up, pack my bags, and move back? (if I want to have any kind of chance developing a career responsibly). Or, any tips? Next moves?

Any and all advice in general to a new expat that's just a little bit very lost, would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[homeinbuenosaires]

Here is my advice to you, young man:

Live within your means on the ARS 20K salary. This may even teach you to budget a bit better/ live more frugally (depending on your previous lifestyle), which is a great habit to establish early in life. Be glad that you will have your bills etc paid and are already in a situation that you are happy to be in indefinitely as regards incomings and outgoings. Console yourself with the knowledge that if you already had the perfect job it would be easy to become complacent. You're hungry but not starving. A good place to be.

Start doing the advertising and branding on the side for yourself (you could also offer to intern or something locally - aim for the top firms - if you have the time), and feel free to be a bit experimental/ choosy because your bills are already being paid - you are building a portfolio and don't need to settle. Be glad that you are already on a stepping stone that provides everything you need until you are ready to jump. If possible, try to find expat English speaking clients who need help with the Spanish side, because they may have US/ overseas bank accounts (and PayPal).

You can then set up a PayPal (business?) account and earmark any earnings from this revenue stream for paying off debt in the US, and perhaps after that as a savings in hard currency fund. You could also do the same for local clients but their payments to you might not be much help in paying off your debt (though you could set up another fund for something else with this, of course). This will help you to learn about the business side/ managing currencies/ working with different cultures while you aren't desperate for money to pay the bills and/ or in a mediocre marketing job which pays the bills but won't ultimately take you where you want to go. Note that if you build a profile for yourself you should be able to do this remotely for clients in other countries. This will be crucial for a future job/ your future entrepreneurial plans anyway if that is the field you want to go into.

Enjoy life instead of trying to rush to the next step.

Learn Portuguese to fluency (this has paid great dividends for me here - I speak some other languages too but those three go well together. Speaking it saved my own ass when the English speaking world headed into recession and the Brazilians were flush with cash/ credit).

Tomorrow, the world.

¡Good luck!

 

[Pensador]

Hello all,

I was thinking of posting this in the jobs forum - but I'm not technically looking for a job, more of life advise from fellow expats, and I take it everyone here has a bit of experience with that in the Buenos Aires context.

I'm a recent college graduate, and fresh out of graduating from North Carolina State University (go Wolfpack!), I landed a job with an online travel wholesaler and moved to Argentina after two months' training. It helped that I'm both a native English and Spanish speaker. All in all, a really fast whirlwind roller coaster ride and I'm here...

But it's difficult. I moved here by myself, knowing nothing, and far too used to American and European general daily life comforts. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, live in Palermo Soho, and plan on staying indefinitely. But I'm currently at the point of asking myself - am I the world's biggest idiot or did I make a great decision? More in depth...

I manage the Buenos Aires and Uruguay markets for an American company based out of Orlando. I'm pretty proud of myself, so, on that end, great opportunity.

But I graduated in Business Admin/Marketing and I love (love, love...love) advertising and branding. I'm constantly worrying if I'm going to be sucked into the vacuum of this company, fueled by the fact that the growth I've brought for the market is like a drug to me, and never end up going to what I really dream of doing.

And I'm an American college kid - so you know I graduated with a little debt (although I'm lucky it's very little, but I still need to pay it off, and the whole dollar situation here is difficult - I just need to be able to pay the remainder of my credit card). And I want to stay here.

So...am I the world's biggest idiot? If I am to find a new job here working for a company in branding or advertising, would I be able to pull the current salary I'm making? Just to give you the full view, I pull 20,000 pesos a month, but am due for a raise soon (I got a pretty "big salary adjustment" from the US to Argentina, however).

It's not about the money, but I need to take care of myself and my responsibilities (paying Wells Fargo ). I'm worried that no one here would pay that salary. And it feels impossible as a foreign, recent ollege graduate to find a job here - even if I'm bilingual with an American degree. (One would think...)

In summary, my question: is there hope for me or should I give up, pack my bags, and move back? (if I want to have any kind of chance developing a career responsibly). Or, any tips? Next moves?

Any and all advice in general to a new expat that's just a little bit very lost, would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks!

Go North.. Corrientes etc. Bag one of the super model looking great northern Argentinian babes and bail. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ilichar]

Obviously I'm not gonna tell you whether AR$20,000 monthly makes sense or not... You probably know how much you could be making in the states and what kind of lifestyle you could afford there. But I think it's safe to say you are not here for the money. Then make it a learning experience. Sounds like although you know the language, you have a long way to go in terms of learning the culture. And even if you decide to go back to the US, it makes sense to stand out from the bilingual crowd by also being bicultural. Take as long as you need to do that, but no longer. And move on. Either to the US or somewhere else. Or stay here, but then start thinking about the money at some point

 

[sesamosinsal]

Only you can answer these questions. What might be idiotic to some, won't be idiotic to others.

I am in my late 20s (ancient, I know!), went to school to be something very specific, and currently work for a company that has nothing to do with what I have a degree in. I am very happy too.

You might find something better than advertising/marketing. After years of working in it, you might not even like it. That's pretty much what happened with me and broadcast journalism. I went to one of the best journalism schools in the U.S., and I ended up hating it.

So, my advice to you would be to go more with the flow. A lot of life is beyond your control, and you have to take it as it comes at you. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would end up in Argentina doing what I do now, I would have laughed in your face.

None of what I've ever planned in life (long term plans, e.g. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?) has ever gone the way I wanted it to. In fact, things turned out better.

 

[Ceviche]

Enjoy/party/chill.

Life is long. Do not be in hurry to give up and bolt.

Experiment some more here..

My good friend, pensador aka Arnold gave good advise too.

 

[Girino]

Me think... you are already living an amazing life. Of course you were able to because 1) you are from the US 2) you have language skills and flexibility
I wouldn't care too much about the money, aside for the debt part. Of course having a school debt in the US and earning pesos here is going to make the payback looooonger.

Maybe you should tell your company to pay you (at least partially) in USD in the US (after all, they are from Orlando!), and even ask for a raise since you are doing so well.
That is what American companies do. I understand you are feeling a little exploited, and as far as your job goes, it looks like you are (based on your words).

By Argentine standards, you are earning a fair wage. By American standards, you aren't.
If you are unhappy with the place and the salary, look for something else in the US or elsewhere. There is a lot of money between BsAs and Florida, and you already know both. Nobody prevents you from working on the same route, just living in the Northern hemisphere.

That said, many companies have their HQ in Florida because it is cool to be in the US, but then they have their operation run from South America or Asia to save on staff costs. This is especially true for companies working online (travel, translation, programming).

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Life is long. Do not be in hurry to give up and bolt.

Life is hard. Life is short. Then you die.

 

[EricLovesBA]

Life is hard. Life is short. Then you die.

Enjoy/party/chill.

Life is long. Do not be in hurry to give up and bolt.

Experiment some more here..
...

Knowing you both only from the forum, I don't know how I could have summed up your personalities any more succinctly. I believe you could indeed be the two polar opposites of the Argentina experience! Bravo!!

I propose we add a new field to our baexpat profiles where we rate ourselves from 1 to 10 on the ajoknoblauch-ceviche scale.

 

[RichardP]

I would get over the "need to succeed" that is so ingrained in US culture and relish the experience of living here and not having to work in a call center or teach English for a living. That's what many young Americans do in BA, and believe me, they are often living hand to mouth. Been there and done that when I was in my 20's.