Not convinced. Offshore has been possible since forever. Maybe IC cam be remote now. Your team can be global. US lead, 2 India based devs, 2 brazil devs. But not having this wasn't a blocker for saving money.
10, 100 or 500 people team in India who could work in the office together was possible forever.
It will change. I think once other countries become bigger investment centres. Not sure how yet though. US is a good potting soil for a startup because there is this huge addressable and free market. And the startup ecosystem. Then add in that most startups want WFO and minimum synced time zones... and for larger tech all that specialism is in house in the US.
It's not the heady days of 2022 but six figures shouldn't be impossible for someone with 10+ years of experience. But the trick is to (mostly) ignore the European companies and go for the American ones operating in Europe. Switzerland, Norway, and Ireland can be decent too.
I'm still stunned when I see what devs are paid in Germany and southern Europe though.
They seem much lower than, say, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, etc. Eastern and southern Europe are low but also lower cost of living. A fraction of the US regardless.
Yeah but there's lots and lots of no big tech US companies in Ireland. They generally don't have much equity or bonuses but the base is OK. I got 6 figures from a bunch of them in Ireland so it's possible.
Feck all, unfortunately. Like, if you either 1. buy a house some years back or 2. get an off-books rental through someone you know then you can do well.
Alternatively, if you work for one of the Big Tech places then you'll get a really good wage (by irish standards) as well as enough benefits to make you feel a bunch better off. Additionally the bonuses and equity there help a lot.
But yeah, Ireland's super expensive. Our household is at about the 85% percentile income, and we have a (small/expensive) house but we don't have a lot left after all of our outgoings.
So yeah, you can get a better salary but you probably won't have a whole lot more disposable income (but apart from all that, ireland's a great place to live).
Yeah, we tried to hack this by buying a cheap place in Offaly near the train and working remote, and it was kinda-sorta OK except that our neighbours were hell on Earth. Gave up and moved to the Netherlands which has been great for our kids' independence.
Aren't Netherlands wages lower than Germany except for US big-tech and HFT?
I got a 70k offer with 10 YoE last week from a recruiter to move to NL and it felt like a ripoff. So I don't know where these fancy NL wages are outside the top 1%.
> Aren't Netherlands wages lower than Germany except for US big-tech and HFT?
Generally you want to work for US companies, see the pragmatic engineers trimodal compensation article for details. The US thing works as you're cheap for them (relative to the US) but the wage is better than you can get locally.
Yeah, that's the problem. Basically to get the good wages, you need to live somewhere expensive. If you have property/friends in those places it makes lots of sense, but otherwise I'm not sure it does.
Usually one earns half to a third of net wage in Germany compared to East Coast US. A maximum of 100k total cash compensation is usually the norm for mid-size companies. That is for the most senior engineers. It is also taxed almost at 50%.
Isn't what the norm? Europe is not the US. Each country has its own living standards and completely different tax laws. EU doesn't unify them. In Switzerland one pays much less tax. In Netherlands it is possible to get 30% tax break if you haven't lived there for more than 5 years. Both the Netherlands and Switzerland pay higher wages too.
I think there is game theory at play. I don't think Google for example is leaving money on the table. They hire worldwide of course but they are not swapping US for cheaper countries on mass and it must be for a good reason. Maybe it's a missed opportunity and some YC company dominates the new arbitrage. Who knows! I think I like the soil analogy. Moving the palm tree to another spot is risky if it's doing well in its current soil.
Six figures isn't special in the US for skilled tech workers. My starting salary as a college grad 25 years ago was an unremarkable $55K when dotcoms were slinging six figure salaries and options. That is now $102K.
10, 100 or 500 people team in India who could work in the office together was possible forever.
It will change. I think once other countries become bigger investment centres. Not sure how yet though. US is a good potting soil for a startup because there is this huge addressable and free market. And the startup ecosystem. Then add in that most startups want WFO and minimum synced time zones... and for larger tech all that specialism is in house in the US.