What are the dos and don'ts of finding a job in Colombia?

1.  Don't presume you can overcome the language barrier if you are not extremely fluent in español.

2.  Don't presume you can overcome the national bias in favor of giving jobs to qualified locals over a foreigner.

3.  Don't start a job without obtaining a work visa from the Cancillería.  However, you may apply for a job without a visa or other permiso.

4.  Don't expect to get a year-round visa if you are slow in obtaining employment unless you have a steady income or other qualification for a visa.

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5.  Unless you have a connection to help you get a job in Colombia or are related/involved with a Colombian, consider applying in a country where English is spoken.  Google:  countries and territories where English is official language.  There are scores of such places around the globe.

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

Another thing to keep in mind - assuming you are able to find a job, it will most likely pay less than what you are used to if you come from one of the "developed" countries like the US.  Usually much much less.  The exceptions are if you are highly-skilled and in demand for something not found in Colombia, and/or if a US employer will pay you US wages while you're working in Colombia, for a fixed time or on a contract basis.

For instance, from the site
http://www.tusalario.org/colombia/Porta … -salario#/

...a manager of information systems (gerente de informática) with 15 years of experience is likely to make only about 1.9 million COP/month.  A website programmer (programador de sitios web) with 12 years of experience is paid only 1.5 million COP/month on average.

If your not an experienced oil patch engineer in the middle of an oil boom, your chances of finding a high paying job in Colombia is about as good as training pigs to fly.

And even if you do, DIAN will take 33%.

Because of all of the aforementioned reasons, I'm trying to find an online job. They will pay in U.S. $$$. While I still haven't figured out the solution for less than optimal internet, I know there has to be one.

If wishes were horses beggars would ride..

I have 2 friends doing it successfully in Bogota. But I do see why you would be skeptical.

I am a software engineer -staying in  Cartagena for a couple weeks-living in the tri-state area. The winters and the later half of Fall there are brutal and reek havoc on my allergies. I would love to find a full time gig telecommuting that pays USD and live in Cartagena during the winters.

Off topic- but the time stamps for these messages look like they're from somewhere in W Europe not Colombia

ijontichy wrote:

Off topic- but the time stamps for these messages look like they're from somewhere in W Europe not Colombia

All the time stamps I see are EST which is the same as COT, which is UTC - 5.

And I'm in a different time zone still, so I don't think it's dependent on your location.

Odd- the message you just sent me has time stamp 21:16 - could be something wrong with my mobile browser. I'll check it out later. Thanks for the verification.

Mgome010 wrote:

I have 2 friends doing it successfully in Bogota. But I do see why you would be skeptical.

Dear Mgome,

Ask your friends to mentor you.  If necessary, offer unos pesitos for their training.

If they're already doing successfully what you want to do, there is no need to re-invent the rueda.

cccmedia in Depto. de Nariño