Does anyone happen to know if they use mainframe programmers in Cancun who only speak English, and what the rate of pay is for such a position? Thanks.
I have a feeling you will not like this answer but here goes... First off, I haven't seen a "mainframe" since the early 90's, so I am going to presume that you mean networking/server systems admin and programming, if I'm wrong let me know. The answers are, No, No, and less than you make in two or three days in the States every month. I am a computer tech by trade, but I cant work in that field here, as immigration does not allow it, so any "work" I do is pro bono. Also, there are reports that immigration is not giving visas to anyone who doesn't have a "degree" (whatever that means) in Spanish, and I cant see any reason that a company here would want to hire someone that only speaks English, vs. someone who is bilingual. Unless you have some extraordinary skill, you will not be able to work here in your field. Sorry However, if you have a good chunk of change in the bank, you can live here reasonably comfortable for less than $1000 a month (more for a family, obviously), if you tighten the belt a little and watch your spending. So you might want to "take a year" or look into some way that you can have $1000 or more coming in every month, to live on. Immigration will want to see much more than that, but in reality, you can live on less than what immigration demands you have every month. Get your visa in the States before you arrive to avoid the hassle the local immigration is dealing out to new arrivals.
Mainframe is still in existance, and those who program for mainframe computers are in high demand in the US, since all the new kids on the block do not know how to program for the mainframe systems. I am already aware of what it costs to live in Cancun, since I already own places there to live in. I was just curious if such jobs exists or not, and do realize that the money will be quite a bit less then in the US. Thanks for the answers though.
Cancunscorpio, you can read the recent thread about FM-3's in this forum and go back to see many rants on the immigration practices. But to some it up, it is very difficult to get or even renew a visa here right now if you don't know someone or have a big company behind you & there is a 2 month or more wait for answers from them about visas processes along with the usual double talk. On the other hand, many people have reported getting FM-3's in the same or next day in the States, so at least for the initial move, that is the way to go.
gabesz, Your right that us "kids" dont know what to make of the antique mainframes that are still in operation, so I can see where there would be a high demand, for those companies who still depend on them. I'm sure some exist here, but the pay for such work would be minimal and immigration would never hand out a visa to a non-Spanish speaking foreigner if there is a Mexican who knows how to do the job. I think your best bet would be to follow my second remark about saving some money and then count on living here without working.
If you're a COBOL whiz, you can live here in Cancun and telecommute via encrypted link to whatever mainframe you choose in the world. You'll get paid a crapload more than trying to find someone with a mainframe in Cancun and like they've said, your immigration hassles will be virtually ('xcuse the pun) non-existent.
The only problem with that is you would have to depend on VERY unreliable internet connections. Cablemas internet is down about %10 of the time in my experience & too slow to use %20 of the time. TelMex DSL, is down about %5 and too slow about %15-30. I guess you could have both plus a satellite connection, but I wouldn't want your bill. But then again, if the company pays for it.....well...let me know as I might want to setup a WAN to share your bandwidth. Cobol huh? I think I remember a little of the cobol-85 from school.. maybe I should look into that job myself. I guess what you guys are calling "mainframes" are not what I am thinking of. I envision 60's,70's, and early 80's "Computer rooms" with miles of cables connected to giant IBM machines that belong in a museum. Anything newer than that, I would describe as server. Which leads me to my first presumptions that we were talking about network admin type work. Completely Obsolete Boring Old Language
I think that the degree in Spanish is only being asked for when the job in question is one many Mexicans might qualify for (they've had complaints from Mexicans). If you come here to teach English, and you are a native English speaker I'm pretty sure you won't be asked for a Spanish degree. The degree/language requirement comes from Mexicans complaining, often rightly, that Americans come down and steal their precious timeshare jobs. The other posters are correct that IMN rarely grants permission for foreigners to hold tech jobs here, it seems to happen here only in the case of large foreign companies, doing business here who bring in workers for specialized jobs. You basically can't come to Mexico and land a job in tech and then get permission to work at it, you might, I might be wrong, but I would not make any plans based on that assumption. I have the name of a good immigration attorney, one who used to be a decision maker in IMN before going into private practice (he granted me my first FM3). If you want to pay for a professional opinion let me know, he's the only attorney in this town who I trust to answer questions about IMN procedures correctly.
Thanks all for your responses. I was just curious if the field was open, if I wanted to spend time in Cancun for the winter and work for a local company instead of keeping my current job. But I guess too many technical issues involved make it somewhat difficult to accomplish this. So now I need to convince my management to let me telecomute. They do not have to know where I am logging in from. Again thanks all for the help.
