meo - who will you be working for - as that will greatly affect the experience you have. have you been to see doha yet? it's a very family orientated place, with loads of expats from all over the world. do you have kids? the hotels now have "bars" - of a sort and they serve alcohol in the hotel restaurants, but there are no offlicences, you have to apply for a special licence for that and you get an allowence every month. nice social life - thursday & friday are the weekends - so they are the nights for bbq's with friends and going to the beach with a whole crowd of peole on fridays, trips to the dessert,etc. lots of people belong to private clubs, with pools and sport facilities. i used to work in one of them. do you drive? - that is a must - but i have to say the locals are THE worst drivers. work attitiude is very laid back - you just have to go with it or you will drive yourself crazy - it's the attitude - if it is meant to be.......which can be hard of you are used to controlling your work enviroment.
check out www.expatmum.com - set up by dubai mums, but a whole section on qatar.
the shopping - the souks are great, very fun and cheap. they now have big malls with lots of western shops. you can pretty much get most food items - apart from bacon/pork items obviously.
do you know what kind of accommodation you will be getting? please let me know any other questions!