Ok good expat people of Istanbul,
What's considered a good (liveable) income for an expat living in Istanbul. I know most locals get by with very little but as you all know us expats have loads of expenses. I'll be trying to educate my twins in a good bilingual, probably private school in a few years and we'll be doing it on one income. What's going to get me by? We'll own the flat we live in so the rent won't be an issue. When I look for IT jobs I'd like to know if I'm being offered too little.
Thanks and sorry if this sort of question has been posted before.

Just for school fees you'll need around $20,000 (big American ones, not little Australian ones) per year for each child ...... if you want them to go to one of the schools most expats send their kids to. Then you'll want a car, blueplate is possible for you I think, maybe $20,000 - $30,000 but you'll need to leave a deposit with the Turing Club (there's a thread on here somewhere explaining more about this) and remember that yearly car taxes can be quite high. Then there's health insurance for your family, which is quite pricey here. All in all, if you want your kids to go to a decent private school, you'll probably need a minimum income of around $80,000 a year.

I would suggest you find an international company, trying to recruit IT people for Turkey, and get a job with them. Then at least you might find that they will pay the school fees.

Just like in the music world, where groupies dont F*ck the keyboardist, you'll find that the majority of Int'l companies don't do expat packages for IT guys, there are just 2 many capable Turks in the industry that will work for lesser amounts.

True enough ...... although I once got a smile from a granny during a piano recital. I do seem to remember Telsim wanting a load of people from abroad though, but this was before they were swallowed by Vodafone. Won't hurt to try the big IT firms anyway.

I know of another certain big IT firm looking to recruit aswell.

Who would that be Starman? HP by any chance?

I think that HP only work through resellers here, not certain though. I use a company to maintain all my computer stuff, and they are one of theirs, so I'll ask him .... should see him today.

I thing the man of stars was referring to a company involved in DIY, something to do with Gates and Windows anyway.

My school's tuition fees here.
http://www.iics.k12.tr/Admissions/tuition.htm

(the only fully authorized IB curriculum and US/European accredited intl school in ISt)

Wow, that's a lot, kind of puts me off having children.

There's normally a discount scheme for the second and third child though

A good reason for procreation if ever I heard one!!

[quote user="starman" post="81634"]I know of another certain big IT firm looking to recruit aswell.[/quote]

hi starman, can we know the name of this IT firm, I am very interested

I think the Starman was hinting at Microsoft, but maybe he wasn't (who know how the Starmans mind works).
Anyway, if anyone knows of big firms looking for SQL Server DBA's let me know.