MichaelUde:


That is a given, and that was not what she meant.
Even back in Naija, people are looking for other ways to make money outside their salaries and have been doing so for ages, let alone in the UK. We all remember during Abacha's time when salaries were unpaid or delayed or inflation-hit and economic wahala first begin affect civil servants and many of them begin enter market for the first time or started doing other things like teachers offering lessons (or lecturers selling handouts, lol). Expanding/diversifying one's sources of income is not a new thing.

Some people in the abroad may be working lower paid jobs and running side hustles too while looking to move on up. My former boss in the bank for instance, dey Canada. He got a finserv job in a bank at a lower level than where him dey in Naija when he first got there, got himself a US visa and started the whole business of buying stuff to ship back to Naija, and all that. He has now moved up in the finserv industry, has a better paying job with a credit bureau, and in our WhatsApp group last week he was discussing the certifications he's taking, we just dey exchange opinions about which ones are best for each industry, etc. And he's still going to the US to buy ship home all manner of stuff for sale, he and I put money together for one "container" (we be Igbo men na).

Money can also be made outside employment as well. Some people hustle pass their salary by miles. A perceived lack of movement on the career level might be made up for by movement elsewhere. Some people no dey even work full-time and prefer to use their time for other things, for example. I sabi person wey dey highly invested in the property business in Enugu for example, he goes to Naija frequently (or used to), buying up land here and there and building property. And he still works in an agency here. If I remember well, he came out here in 2010 or so. Naija people go think say "this one don settle for shyte salary/job for UK", while the chap dey build himself a mini property empire back home.

Everyone is different.

Solumtoya:


Bro, you were wrong about the clearance stuff sha. You can get a high-paying job soon after landing here and pass clearance. I did. So that was quite misleading. And students can pass the security clearance, I have a friend who did.

I think the topic can be closed now. The points are clear: be content, but always strive for more cos the job market is in a great shape now, it has never been this good for immigrants. So, don't short-change yourself especially with the rising cost of living. Citizens can comfortably take low-paying jons and be okay with it but we have a different situation and many of us aren't even entitled to State Pension, etc so we gotta be really smart! Develop yourself, get certifications, negotiate better, get side hustle, whatever it legally takes, keeping increase your finance. The old gees may not understand, na we wey just enter go hear am. But if you're on a low pay for ILR, not bad still, you have a good long-term goal, if you have a spouse, encourage them to push for better-paying jobs.

If this whole post is putting you under pressure or making you sad, check yourself, we are only sharing personal experience and encouraging our Nigerian Community.

P.S: this argument was just that £22k is peanuts COMPARED to Care not that £22k is bad in itself. I no know how we drag am reach here but e don tey we drag matter like this.

Solumtoya:


Good point. This UK, which side hustle can one do? It's a lot easier in USA and even Canada with comtainers of cars constantly going home and contribution for Mortgage being as low as 5% and then there are private lenders, etc.

Real Estate is good but most investors have a decent paying job cos it's capital intensive, moreso in Naija where Bank no send you. I've always wondered the source of those UK-used phones they sell in Naija (are they stolen?)

sheelay:


@bolded…. I deal on this in Nigeria here. Don’t know if the reason for the term is that the first used phones were brought in from UK, same as using “Belgium used” for cars. But I can authoritatively say for a fact that 80% of used gadgets are actually from the USA. The term is always funny to me tho

Solumtoya:


Good point. This UK, which side hustle can one do? It's a lot easier in USA and even Canada with comtainers of cars constantly going home and contribution for Mortgage being as low as 5% and then there are private lenders, etc.

Real Estate is good but most investors have a decent paying job cos it's capital intensive, moreso in Naija where Bank no send you. I've always wondered the source of those UK-used phones they sell in Naija (are they stolen?)

sheelay:


@bolded…. I deal on this in Nigeria here. Don’t know if the reason for the term is that the first used phones were brought in from UK, same as using “Belgium used” for cars. But I can authoritatively say for a fact that 80% of used gadgets are actually from the USA. The term is always funny to me tho

Goke7:


Am not misleading people pls, this is why I hardly comment on sensitive stuff like this here cos some folks will want to impose their personal experience on folks here who don't even have the kind of qualifications others have to land such roles. How many folks entering the Uk have prior IT skills to land high-paying roles or is it everyone that is into IT? What some of us are saying is please don't put too much pressure on newbies who are still trying to understand the environment. Are we saying nobody should aspire higher? Let's help people manage their expectations so they don't make baseless assumptions.

Solumtoya:


Bro, you were wrong about the clearance stuff sha. You can get a high-paying job soon after landing here and pass clearance. I did. So that was quite misleading. And students can pass the security clearance, I have a friend who did.

I think the topic can be closed now. The points are clear: be content, but always strive for more cos the job market is in a great shape now, it has never been this good for immigrants. So, don't short-change yourself especially with the rising cost of living. Citizens can comfortably take low-paying jons and be okay with it but we have a different situation and many of us aren't even entitled to State Pension, etc so we gotta be really smart! Develop yourself, get certifications, negotiate better, get side hustle, whatever it legally takes, keeping increase your finance. The old gees may not understand, na we wey just enter go hear am. But if you're on a low pay for ILR, not bad still, you have a good long-term goal, if you have a spouse, encourage them to push for better-paying jobs.

If this whole post is putting you under pressure or making you sad, check yourself, we are only sharing personal experience and encouraging our Nigerian Community.

P.S: this argument was just that £22k is peanuts COMPARED to Care not that £22k is bad in itself. I no know how we drag am reach here but e don tey we drag matter like this.

justwise:


How will you know that a used phone is from US and not the UK apart from the charger?

Advision:


I think you are generalising. I stay in the surrey area and a -bedroom flat here is around 1k and they are very tiny. So you would have a very difficult life here on 22k and most jobs will offer well above that for a full time role (even low skilled).

I thnk its best people ask around for what is the best salaries for what they do and where they stay.

Goke7:


How soon is the soon? That's my point before you conclude whether am wrong or not. Most high paying jobs if we are talking about full time jobs can't be gotten by students who can't work beyond 20 hrs a week according to the law. Get your facts right before you turn on me. Let' people come out and say the truth, I gave an exception to those who got the jobs before landing in the UK. Lots of these jobs are also dependent on the kind of visa currently held and for some of these jobs some employers won't allow you start until you switch your visa to a tier 2 if they are going to sponsor. For most folks coming in on the student route including their dependents who can work full time, it may take them months before getting those choice jobs and yes some of them will include conditions of clearance tied to how long you've been in the UK which is where the UK experience ish is key. The chance we even have now is because of Brexit like you said but that it's not that all straightforward depending on the type of role and the conditions attached.

I don't intend to argue but pls when people state their view, you don't know what their experience is like before you conclude if they are right or wrong. Thank you

MichaelUde:


Again, to clarify, it is not.
Care asssitant pay per hour and the NHS Band 3 pay per hour are not much different if both work 37.5 hours weekly.
Both parties can work as many hours as they like (in the case of the NHS worker, either in an agency or on the staff bank), to the point of exhaustion and dropping dead if na wetin dem want, so someone working in care is not better than the person in the NHS.

Solumtoya:


I was avoiding giving out personal details but here you go: Within two months of arriving on a Student-dependant visa, I got two offers of £40k, I had to renegotiate and increased the other to £50k and accepted. I rejected Huboo's offer. Won't mention the name of the one I accepted. I have long left that job for a better one.

My friend who is a student that came last year has gotten a Permanent offer with a Financial institution for £50k and Visa Sponsorship. Due to his student status, he works just 3 times a week till he graduates next month and he will start working full-time. Another friend is a student of a 2-year course he only started in January but got an offer with HSBC last month.

I see your point but I want to correct your notion.

Lexusgs430:



Only two ways to find out ........

- US network branded
- Know importer directly

Any other unbranded device, can come from anywhere..........

sheelay:


@bolded…. I deal on this in Nigeria here. Don’t know if the reason for the term is that the first used phones were brought in from UK, same as using “Belgium used” for cars. But I can authoritatively say for a fact that 80% of used gadgets are actually from the USA. The term is always funny to me tho

bigtt76:
Happy Sunday fam. Stumbled on this story https://saharareporters.com/2020/12/31/home-office-deport-nigerian-man-after-16-years-uk sad but how do we new entrants avoid whatever could've caused this? I would appreciate your advise pls. @justwise @Lexusgs430

Itsrm:


"UK used" phones come from China

justwise:


Again how will you know that?

Itsrm:


That's what a dealer told me.

justwise:


once the network restriction is removed from phone i don't think one will be able to know where that phone came from.

The usual giveaway is the adapter and sometimes dual Sim tray else you hardly can tell where the phone came from.

Lexusgs430:


Nope, all network branded devices would have the brand insignia, either printed on the physical devices are brands app installed........

Samsung devices supplied in the UK, are Tri sim devices.......

Motorola - dual sim
Nokia - dual sim
Huawei - dual sim

Etc etc etc etc etc.....

justwise:


After his student visa expired he was unable to switch to other type of visa or get a job to extend his stay. Though i think he will not be deported since his MP has got involved and considering the fact that he has a daughter here

justwise:


I'm not sure i agree with you on that. I have never bought or seen a phone with network insignia on it, if its network restricted you will see that in phone setting but not anywhere else.

Phones comes now without network restriction even those you get on contract came be unlocked before the end of your contract.

bigtt76:
Considering he studied some choice courses, I wonder why he was unable to score a job to sponsor him or was it that he become complacent due to his romance with a partner or something? I just don't understand

Lexusgs430:


You don't know network providers devices, have network wallpaper flash wallpapers......

You can unlock locked devices, from your network, after you have paid about half the value (depending on networks).......

Let's not agree to disagree.........

American phones are usually external branded, on most of their devices.......

Amarathripple0:
The bar must be really low. Anyway, I apologise to anyone who was offended by my comment and dare I say motivation. Not Trojan Horse though, I no send your papa!

Anyway, if you are in any tech related field and you want to apply to companies directly then check out otta.com

OR if you want to have companies book interviews with you directly (Not recruiters) Then create a profile on hackajob.co

Also, if you optimise your LinkedIn and Reeds profile, You would practically get stalked by recruiters, some offering below market rate and some offering some decent pay like in the attached. (This can sometimes be irritating sha, especially with those out of the blue phone calls)

Finally, work on your CV, this is extremely important, you can use one of the templates from Harvard and sprinkle it with the blood of Jesus https://hwpi.harvard.edu/files/ocs/files/undergrad_resumes_and_cover_letters.pdf)

And finally, don’t let anyone make you feel like you are dreaming too big. Package and sell yourself. Anyway goodnight! We argue again tomorrow

wonlasewonimi:


Nowadays, all these things don't mean much to me. I quoted dupyshoo cos I believe we are in the same line and she can bear me witness. The typical day rate is about 600 and then you realise its just money. If you are even lucky and you work remotely you could add another making £1200 a day.
What I am trying to say is that I will never say to someone earning even minimum wage that they are on shyte pay cos our paths are not the same and not everyone will be in tech.

Just my 2 cents.

Solumtoya:


I already explained this in an earlier post with Overtime and Basic rates. Basically, £22k won't let you get Overtime rates, even if you more hours elsewhere, it's still basic rate, hence, Peanuts. Again, I don't mean Peanuts as an insult o!

Off to Church, guys. I don't think I will talk on this topic again. I don tire.