Dubai: In September, South African national Tiaan du Preez had to do one of the hardest things he has ever done: he said goodbye to his fiancée, Mishka, and took a flight to Dubai to begin a new career.
The 28-year-old forward deployment engineer had a new job waiting for him in the emirate, and he was ready to begin his Dubai-it chapter, but Mishka had just landed a dream role at an investment bank in Johannesburg, so it wasn’t the right time for her to move.
Du Preez said: “That was very hard. I probably spent 10 minutes at the airport just saying goodbye, hugging, and saying goodbye again. We'd known the move was coming for three months while we were still living together, which made it harder.”
The couple will continue a long-distance relationship, as they take it one day at a time.
A new city, a new vibe
Now, a month later, Du Preez is settling into his life in Dubai, and loving the energy of the city. He has discovered that the Dubai-it mindset, of achieving excellence in record time, is contagious.
He said: “I wanted to be somewhere with a lot of bigger fish. I wasn't necessarily a big fish before, but when you see how people here think and how ambitious they are, it drives you to try and match it. It almost puts a bit of pressure on you. You see someone doing something and think, I could also do that. It backs you, and that's really helpful.”
Before Dubai, Du Preez lived in Mauritius, and enjoyed a perfect work-life balance: he was working a corporate job as head of artificial intelligence (AI) and data with a South African company, and relishing island life.
But after four years there, he knew he had to make a move if he wanted to climb up the career ladder and explore new work opportunities.
Du Preez had a few international destinations on his shortlist: Dubai, San Francisco, New York, London and Singapore.
He said: “I wanted to be in a bigger city where there's a lot of networking and things are happening. So, I built a little AI bot to help with the job hunt. It went through LinkedIn, found the roles that matched my profile, and helped me tailor my CV and cover letter for each one. The Dubai job matched my CV almost word for word, every skill. It was a no-brainer to apply. It didn't take long after that, and five interviews later, it was sorted and I was moving to Dubai.”
Due to regional tensions, he worked remotely for three months, and then moved to the emirate when the opportunity arose, in September this year.
Myths vs reality
The image of Dubai that du Preez had in his head, influenced by foreign media and mindsets, was very different from the reality he found once he arrived.
The myths began cracking once he began following content creators in Dubai, particularly Tarik Chebib, CEO at capital.com, whose content showed him a different side of the city.
He said: “Once I'd settled in, I thought, I'm actually loving it here, let me just send him a message to say… ‘thank you for your content, it made a real difference in my decision to move to Dubai, and so far, I'm loving it.’”
Du Preez was surprised by Chebib’s response – something Dubai residents would identify as a normal occurrence in the city: “He invited me for coffee. Just from that message. It was a really cool experience, being in a new country and suddenly having this new contact with no pretences. I wasn't looking for a job and he wasn't offering me one. It was just a coffee that popped up.”
The experience changed how he saw networking and community building: “It reminded me to reach out to people to say thanks, or because you're curious, and not only when you want something.”
Finding a balance like no other
In his career, du Preez has successfully made the transition from a management role to being part of a startup.
He said: “It's actually been nice to step back from managing for a while. I'm at a startup without that multi-team structure, so I get to focus on my own skills and my own work. At 28, it's great to be a manager and there's a lot to learn. But you also want to keep pushing your own skills, and if most of your day is meetings, you have to find extra time for it.”
Now, he’s in the process of creating a new work-life balance – one that’s very different from island life in Mauritius.
He said: “You work hard here, but there's so much to do. It's easy to go for a run, and there are fitness clubs everywhere. Almost every morning I've been joining a run club in Jumeirah. Because everything is so accessible, it's easy to work hard, quickly go do your life stuff, and come back to work. In some ways, it's easier to find that balance here than on an island.”
Du Preez has also found another perk of living in Dubai that he didn’t account for – it’s a travel hub, at the intersection of the world’s major flight routes.
He said: “You can fly almost anywhere direct, so there's a lot you can do on weekends away. I'm also in the process of getting a four-wheel-drive, so I can head to Oman for kite surfing and fishing, and do the same here. Once I have that, I think I'll have found my balance again.”
Taking the time to grow roots
From growing up in Pretoria, South Africa, to spending university days in Stellenbosch, then working in Mauritius, and now settling in Dubai – du Preez knows how to start over again, even if it comes with challenges.
“Every country has its own rhythm, but because I've done [a move] before, I know everything will be okay. It takes a while to make friends and find your people, and now I know that going in.”
Although he’s finding it difficult to go through life daily routines without his fiancée, he said doing things solo is helping him get out of his comfort zone: “It’s hard because [Mishka] is my best friend, the person I'd go do everything with. What I miss most is having that person you can do anything with at any point, no planning needed. In some ways it's probably good for me. It pushes me to go out, meet people and do things, whereas if she was here, I'd mostly just do stuff with her.”
Du Preez is finding that there’s plenty to do in a city that’s so warm and welcoming. Now, he’s advising others to make a similar move to the emirate.
He said: “If you're thinking about moving to Dubai, I'd say do it. And if you've just moved here and it feels hard, give it time. When I moved to Mauritius, it took me about a year to find the friends who actually stayed long term. So, if you're two or three months in and still don't feel like you've found your people, it will come. It just takes time to meet the right ones.”
In the meantime, he’s taking a tip from Chebib. Du Preez added: “If you're new here, reach out. I'm always up for a coffee.”