Vantaggi
Interesting projects and opportunities to move around if you’re interested.
Svantaggi
Americans are at an extreme disadvantage. Americans are paid SIGNIFICANTLY less than Spaniards doing the same job. Americans pay more for the benefits they have, and have significantly less benefits than Spanish employees. Mid to upper level management is almost 100% Spanish, so as an American you have ceiling that you hit very quickly. As far as construction management is concerned, the young Spanish employees that are brought in have only one objective: profit. They are willing to burn subcontractors, the relationship with the DOT, and anyone that gets in their way from making a name for themselves. In the end, they don’t care, they’ll be back in Spain in a few years. Their systems are archaic, and rely almost exclusively on Excel. The culture is highly combative, arrogant, and condescending. Also, they are not geographically stable. They build a staff for a project, and if at the end they don’t have another one they cut everybody loose.