Philippines Forum

Asawa
Joined 2018
Posts: 733

5 years ago

Life in Manila vs Proviences (like Davo Del Sur)

5 years ago

Randomly: I was talking with my manager about my plans to relocate to the Davao Del Sur area of the Philippines in 12-14 years,

She told me that we just hired a contractor lead the Agile Development Teams at our Technology Center in Manila.

She went on... If I was interested, we might be able to arrange for my transfer to EGS (Enterprise Global Services) including sign-on bonus, relocation expenses, and bypassing the cost-of-living adjustment (so I retain my full US Salary with possibly even a 12% bump).

I have three conflicting thoughts:

First, Manila is really not where I want to be, but this gets me to the Philippines. We'd be a 1hr plane hop away from DVO, and we could afford to go back and forth regularly.

Second, this could be utterly miserable unless I could find a place within walking distance of the office. I love my job and leading teams, but Manila is a monster city with Monster City Problems.

Third, I'm more partial to speaking with Visayans (Cebuano) than folks who speak Tagalog. (Though, I can speak fractured language like the best of them - so I know I can muddle through)

Further complicating things... Logistically, My 72yr-old father lives with us, and we have several older pets. I expect that they'll dwindle away over the next decade leaving us better able to "Freely Relocate".

I'm thinking "Location, Location, Location", and I'm inclined to let this opportunity dwindle because the timing isn't quite right.

Any collected thoughts or wisdom?

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