Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 276 posts

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#31

Post by samwillis »

angarg12 wrote: post #11

> As the tech workers land the big salaries, home prices are skyrocketing, and the locals are being squeezed out. Joke is on them, I'm a new tech immigrant to Cambridge and I still can't buy a house here.

We gave up on trying to buy in Cambridge and moved north to Stamford, its just over an hour on the train (one stop past Peterborough) and about the same by car (if you avoid the worst of the rush hour, will be 45 min with the new road in 2020). Lovely here, much nicer then a villages near Cambridge and about the same time to commute!

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#34

Post by robert_foss »

adventured wrote: post #19
angarg12 wrote: post #14

> According to the recruitment website Hired, the average tech salary in London is $78,000 a year, versus $142,000 in Silicon Valley. And this is one of the reasons for the brain drain that the mention before. Silicon Valley firms pay significantly more than the competition, and they are still paying almost half of what they do in the US. It isn't only about money, but it would be naive to deny it's impact on people'…

In complete terms it's more like 3x that $78k figure. The salary would be bad enough. The big US tech companies are nearly all publicly traded. So that $142,000 is really $250,000 or more in total compensation. The UK, and Europe more broadly, not only can't compete with the salaries, they can't compete with the ability to dish vast stock compensation thanks to the immense market caps that Google et al. have. If you'…

My personal counter is that I just couldn't morally accept contributing taxes to a nation which:

    - Exploits the poor and non-citizens
    - Overthrows governments and bullies smaller countries
    - Has only the most rudimentary social security system
    - Does not really have a concept of healthy work/life balance. With little time off and none at all for people with newborns.
    - Takes near-zero environmental responsibility
    - Literally spies on the entire population of the rest of the world
    ...

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#35

Post by foldr »

adventured wrote: post #19
angarg12 wrote: post #14

> According to the recruitment website Hired, the average tech salary in London is $78,000 a year, versus $142,000 in Silicon Valley. And this is one of the reasons for the brain drain that the mention before. Silicon Valley firms pay significantly more than the competition, and they are still paying almost half of what they do in the US. It isn't only about money, but it would be naive to deny it's impact on people'…

In complete terms it's more like 3x that $78k figure. The salary would be bad enough. The big US tech companies are nearly all publicly traded. So that $142,000 is really $250,000 or more in total compensation. The UK, and Europe more broadly, not only can't compete with the salaries, they can't compete with the ability to dish vast stock compensation thanks to the immense market caps that Google et al. have. If you'…

>And if you're making $142k in salary in the US, your healthcare is entirely paid for.

Surely there's still copay?

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#36

Post by Balero »

JansjoFromIkea wrote: post #27
Balero wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK has a higher cost of living, with London pretty much equal to NY or SF and other high cost cities. The other equivalents are cheaper in the US.

I've lived in both SF (and Berkeley) and London. Accommodation in London zone 1 is a good bit lower than SF without the same level of competition. Accommodation further out is (overall) significantly cheaper than the BART accessible parts of Oakland and Berkeley with a drastically better public transportation setup. Pretty cool and inexpensive but (by London standards) not that accessible areas like Peckham are about…

Thanks for the input! I haven't lived in London for long, but I found I had much more disposable income in SF, even compared to living in a non-London uk city.

Talking to people from around the US, it's just generally cheaper in other places in the US. Gas is cheaper, insurance, (non-SF)rent etc.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#37

Post by justincormack »

slivym wrote: post #17
EliRivers wrote: post #2

The UK could pitch itself as a place rich US tech companies can buy top talent at low price. I have seen some (not many, to be honest) US tech companies open offices in the UK so they can pay half or less for staff, compared to what they'd pay at home. If Brexit goes as badly as it might, the pound could be even cheaper.

Lot's of companies do that, but the UK is kind of a strange place to choose to do that. If you want cheap, go hire a team of 10,000 engineers in Penang (I'm looking at you Intel). If you want expensive, choose silicon valley. If you want 2nd tier, take a look at Canada. You can choose the UK, but why? Their time zone means you'll never be able to meet with them at the same time as your Malaysian and Californian offic…

The employment rights in the UK are minor compared to most of the rest of Europe, and while you cant fire at will, it is easy to get get people out if you want to.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#38

Post by Balero »

foldr wrote: post #35
adventured wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In complete terms it's more like 3x that $78k figure. The salary would be bad enough. The big US tech companies are nearly all publicly traded. So that $142,000 is really $250,000 or more in total compensation. The UK, and Europe more broadly, not only can't compete with the salaries, they can't compete with the ability to dish vast stock compensation thanks to the immense market caps that Google et al. have. If you'…

>And if you're making $142k in salary in the US, your healthcare is entirely paid for. Surely there's still copay?

IF you have good insurance the co-pay is trivial. I broke a bone, total of $80 in copay.

Someone with worse insurance is looking at a bill in the $1000's or even $10,000

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#39

Post by Moodles »

adventured wrote: post #19
angarg12 wrote: post #14

> According to the recruitment website Hired, the average tech salary in London is $78,000 a year, versus $142,000 in Silicon Valley. And this is one of the reasons for the brain drain that the mention before. Silicon Valley firms pay significantly more than the competition, and they are still paying almost half of what they do in the US. It isn't only about money, but it would be naive to deny it's impact on people'…

In complete terms it's more like 3x that $78k figure. The salary would be bad enough. The big US tech companies are nearly all publicly traded. So that $142,000 is really $250,000 or more in total compensation. The UK, and Europe more broadly, not only can't compete with the salaries, they can't compete with the ability to dish vast stock compensation thanks to the immense market caps that Google et al. have. If you'…

Not to mention that marginal tax in the UK is 40% income tax for 45k+ (45% over 150k) + 2% national insurance which is actually more marginal tax than SF, the highest taxed state in the US. Of course UK has the NHS fee healthcare, but if you're pulling $200k+ in SF you probably have medical benefits too.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#40

Post by foldr »

Balero wrote: post #38
foldr wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And if you're making $142k in salary in the US, your healthcare is entirely paid for. Surely there's still copay?

IF you have good insurance the co-pay is trivial. I broke a bone, total of $80 in copay. Someone with worse insurance is looking at a bill in the $1000's or even $10,000

It's the unexpected things that get you, though. I had to have a few emergency room visits for rabies shots, and ended up paying about $1500. I don't really know how to measure how "good" my insurance was, but I was working at a university in MA, so I expect the policy was at least decent.

(The rabies vaccine is very expensive. The theoretical cost of the treatment, which the insurance company theoretically paid, was about $30,000.)

Post reply on HN