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- Salaries are generally a bit higher base than the rest of the permanent tech market, higher still total compensation, lower than the same companies in the US market, and lower overall than the contracting rates which are popular in the London tech market. You will definitely receive a reasonably comfortable and competitive salary, decent pension contributions, shares, and decent holiday entitlement.
- The interview process is the same nonsense as anywhere else.
- Engineering culture appears to be pretty relaxed. I've heard way more complaints about colleagues who don't pull their weight than I have about companies expecting personal sacrifice.
- There are some interesting teams and challenges but the selection is more limited than other markets.
YMMV.
You make way less money than your peers in California and everything is still as expensive. It's a financially horrible decision if you can work in the US. If you want to work in Europe though it's pretty good. I've worked at FAANG in US and UK and am currently going back to the US for non-financial reasons. I don't regret being here but I find London to be impossibly expensive to build a family in.
It's interesting that you have lived in both and can do a fair comparison. There was a reddit thread a while back that compared US and UK salaries.[1] The consensus seemed to be, that if you compared the cost of living, you would need a considerably higher income in the US to have the same standard of living as the UK. One person said that 130K USD salary in the Bay Area would be equivalent to 50K GBP in London.[2] A…
While this does have a partial truth to it, the examples are delusional. How can anyone compare 50k GBP to 130K USD?
I have lived across the USA, EU, and Asia; but such comparisons are heavily personal situation dependant. The calculations would differ for single vs family as well.
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I highly doubt that "MAMAA" will stick. Especially since it includes Microsoft.
> Especially since it includes Microsoft. FAANG includes Netflix, which everyone keeps repeating does not belong in this acronym.
You make way less money than your peers in California and everything is still as expensive. It's a financially horrible decision if you can work in the US. If you want to work in Europe though it's pretty good. I've worked at FAANG in US and UK and am currently going back to the US for non-financial reasons. I don't regret being here but I find London to be impossibly expensive to build a family in.
It's interesting that you have lived in both and can do a fair comparison. There was a reddit thread a while back that compared US and UK salaries.[1] The consensus seemed to be, that if you compared the cost of living, you would need a considerably higher income in the US to have the same standard of living as the UK. One person said that 130K USD salary in the Bay Area would be equivalent to 50K GBP in London.[2] A…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
150k after tax, pension and healthcare or before?
UK/Australia/NZ tend to talk about Base salary (excludes bonus/health care/before tax). Is that different elsewhere? Edited to note this is "Base" not "Total" Salary
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's interesting that you have lived in both and can do a fair comparison. There was a reddit thread a while back that compared US and UK salaries.[1] The consensus seemed to be, that if you compared the cost of living, you would need a considerably higher income in the US to have the same standard of living as the UK. One person said that 130K USD salary in the Bay Area would be equivalent to 50K GBP in London.[2] A…
> The consensus seemed to be, that if you compared the cost of living, you would need a considerably higher income in the US to have the same standard of living as the UK While this does have a partial truth to it, the examples are delusional. How can anyone compare 50k GBP to 130K USD? I have lived across the USA, EU, and Asia; but such comparisons are heavily personal situation dependant. The calculations would dif…
By the exchange rate right now, 50k GBP is around 65k USD. If you want to live within (say) an hour reach of an office, you’ll have a much easier time doing that in the London metro area with 50k than you will in the Bay Area with 130k. This is before you even consider taxes and healthcare. High quality groceries also substantially cheaper in the UK. A new wildcard is the price of energy, which looks to have gone up considerably in the UK since I left, though.
Neither would be a comfortable position, and you wouldn’t be in danger of being able to buy a house absent other income. All in all though, if they were my fixed options, I’d take the money in London.
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150k after tax, pension and healthcare or before?
UK/Australia/NZ tend to talk about Base salary (excludes bonus/health care/before tax). Is that different elsewhere? Edited to note this is "Base" not "Total" Salary
Earlier quoted context omitted.
£100k London as a single person could definitely buy a flat somewhere. Maybe not a great area but it's doable. A house with a garden, kids, private school etc. 100k won't cut it unfortunately. For some reason I thought FAANGs in London were paid really well but seems like contracting or finance is the only way to get a reasonable income. I have a buddy who was working for a DeepMind and now works for Google (UK). His…
I agree with everything you said aside from: "For some reason I thought FAANGs in London were paid really well but seems like contracting or finance is the only way to get a reasonable income." Even in London £100k is above a reasonable income for one person. It's not enough to buy a house and provide for a family on one income and still have no worries, but expecting that is unreasonable. It's really easy to get stu…
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£150k is ~$196k base. I don't really see how that's much much less? My friend is an L6 at 220k base (with a shitload of equity). Definitely within the range.
Workers in UK also work less than their US counterparts (paid holidays, parental leave, sick days ...) [1]. Would make more sense to compare these countries by hourly income, not yearly. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_a...