'The UAE is very open ... it's very okay to live here'

Five years after moving to Dubai, Turkmenistan national Dovlet Hojayev runs a small but successful web development firm.

For Turkmenistan national Dovlet Hojayev, 27, Dubai is the place to be. A professional web programer and IT specialist, Hojayev says the UAE offered him an excellent opportunity to work and grow.
"I've been here almost five years. I was a fresh graduate, and I was looking for a place which is in demand," he said. "When I first came (for a visit) in 2007, I was like a tourist. When I saw everything, I realised it was very developed when compared to some CIS countries. And when I saw there was really no online shops ... I thought this is the place I should come."
Now, five years after moving to Dubai, Dovlet runs BetterWeb,a small but successful web development firm.
"There are four of us now, all from the CIS," he said. "What I like is that everyone has his own thing and they are brilliant at that. I think a developer in the CIS can earn about $1,000 a month maximum. Here he can earn more."
Although he says he now feels "very comfortable" living in the UAE, Dovlet noted that there are a few things he misses from Turkmenistan.
"The weather, that's number one. Number two, trees. Watermelons is number three," he said. "You can find everything here, but some of them are too expensive and some of them are not sweet."
Additionally, Dovlet said that in cosmopolitan Dubai he is never far from fellow Turkmen, despite the country's small population of just over five million.
"There is a community (of Turkmen)," he said. "We have a lot of successful people working here. We aren't too many as a nation ... you won't hear Turkmen everywhere, but sometimes you meet and then you know one more Turkmen."
"I think when the USSR crashed, a lot of people with money came here to invest in the UAE's development of new properties and so on," he added. "Then they started to pull people in from the CIS. It's much easier to understand each other. The mentality is the same."
As an example, Dovlet noted that he has encouraged several of friends to come to the UAE.
"When I came, I helped two or three of my friends to come here. I told them to get their diploma and I'd help them," he said. "The UAE is very open. I don't think that any Russian, for example, would feel out of place here ,,, it's very okay to live here."
"I feel very comfortable here. Maybe I got used to it in the last five years," he added. People are very helpful ... I see a lot of opportunities. I think I'll stay here."
bernd@khaleejtimes.com
Interviewed by Bernd Debusmann Jr.
Street Talk is a weekly column to get a glimpse of people's lives in UAE

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