Ask HN: Average Salary for PHP Dev in London? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Average Salary for PHP Dev in London?

#51

Post by bshimmin » Fri, Apr 08, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

RossM wrote: post #50

imdsm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that all? In London? Nevermind, below poster stated supply/demand lowers the cost of PHP developers.

Pretty much - I've recently been through the hiring circus - the best I saw advertised was £60k (for a team lead + full stack dev (literally full-stack - devops requirements and more)). Even for positions where I was relatively overqualified, the offers were in that range. As others have said - the big bucks here are in contracting, but personally I'm not up for that level of risk yet. In career terms I see the later…

It seems intuitive to think of contracting as being at some level risky (particularly the "leap into the unknown" aspect of it), but I can't really say I know anyone who's tried their hand at in London and actually failed in any meaningful way. Most of the contractors I've worked with would scoff at the idea of struggling to land a new contract - though, as with anything, you do need to keep your skills relatively up-to-date, make sure you have a decent CV or equivalent, and I guess reasonable interpersonal skills do help.

Re: Ask HN: Average Salary for PHP Dev in London?

#52

Post by thorin » Fri, Apr 08, 2016, 7:20 PM UTC

jacknews wrote: post #27

payamb wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's ture, But on the other side you get to enjoy the vibe of London i suppose. I'm already decided to move to London , But i don't know if the recruiter i'm working with is not good, Or the average PHP dev salary is low.

London is great when you're loaded, but doesn't have much a vibe when you're broke, in my experience.

Agreed,but in the late 90s living in the east end with a graduate job paying 18k I felt rich. 10 mins on the tube to the city and lots of free beer and champagne and posh meals on the company. I went out whenever I felt like it. I've been back quite a bit and while it is more expensive is not ridiculous. If you're sensible you can have a great time as long as you manage those housing costs.

If you can get 40k in Manchester then yes 50-55k should be achievable or contracting for more but that will make it harder to buy or set up a rental agreement if you don't have guaranteed income?

Re: Ask HN: Average Salary for PHP Dev in London?

#53

Post by johnnyfaehell » Fri, Apr 08, 2016, 7:23 PM UTC

UK-AL wrote: post #18

johnnyfaehell wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also you need to realise that the wage in the Uk is lower than elsewhere. They have lower employment tax, etc. The average wage in the UK is £24k. This is take home more money than people who get paid €45k in Germany.

But that's pretty low salary for london. Bankers/Accountants/Professional services, 45k is first job level for london. It's just programming in general in UK, isn't that highly paid.

I think this Could be an eu thing. I've moved to Berlin and while wages here are cheaper than the rest of Germany I still see a lot of companies looking for senior guys who think paying 55k is asking a lot. They really start going what when I'm asking for 65k€. All while paying other departments ok. Like one company I seen them paying 40-50k for their devs while paying 40k to a finance assistant (literally the person they loan out to other department to do ask people to sign forms and stuff.)

Re: Ask HN: Average Salary for PHP Dev in London?

#54

Post by J-dawg » Fri, Apr 08, 2016, 8:31 PM UTC

zeemonkee3 wrote: post #32

UK-AL wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's pretty low salary for london. Bankers/Accountants/Professional services, 45k is first job level for london. It's just programming in general in UK, isn't that highly paid.

> It's just programming in general in UK, isn't that highly paid. Why is that? Lack of demand/anaemic tech industry, lack of respect for developers, or too many developers?

Here's a previous 'Ask HN' question I asked about this. There are some interesting comments about UK management culture.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10987237

Re: Ask HN: Average Salary for PHP Dev in London?

#55

Post by giaour » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 2:09 AM UTC

jokr004 wrote: post #34

swalsh wrote: post #28

These salaries are terrible, how is it possible to get away paying such low salaries in London? In the US (not even San Francisco) I'd expect nothing less than 125k USD (105GDP)

$125k for a PHP dev with 3 years experience? Where do I apply for that job?

The Bay Area, Seattle, or New York.

Re: Ask HN: Average Salary for PHP Dev in London?

#56

Post by kayoone » Tue, Apr 12, 2016, 8:44 PM UTC

Even as a European this sounds strangely low to me. I make 60k EUR (~48k gpb) in Berlin, which is MUCH cheaper than London in every way. I do mostly PHP, have more experience but still know a lot of people that earn around the same mark with 5-10 years experience.