You can not get casual work in Qatar like in Europe - any sort of job requires a lengthy sponsorship process and it is definately not the market for gap year students unlike London or Sydney
chances are you wont get any job here... but in europe esp london you can find a job within a week - i bet
When I went to Sydney many years ago... i got a job within two hours of arriving and stayed in it for 7 months.

this isn't the place were you cut your teeth on life... this is the place where you come with experience

Qatar is not a good place to learn Arabic as most of the people in Qatar are not Arabs and you actually don't always come into daily contact with the language

You would be much better off earning money in Europe and then going to another Arab country like Egypt if you want to learn Arabic

Qatar is VERY different for qataris than it is for non-Qataris
so that is why you are getting conflicting opinions. Maybe he was trying to impress you to?

I love Qatar but I came at the right time in my life for the right reasons.