I wouldn't move to US for $140k from my £40k salary in the UK unless they point a gun at my face and force me to do it. So to each their own I guess.
Except you would't need to, they have local offices.
Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
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Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#62I wouldn't move to US for $140k from my £40k salary in the UK unless they point a gun at my face and force me to do it. So to each their own I guess.
I am thinking about moving from US to London. So, I am curious to know why you prefer UK to US despite the salary gap.
Also, do you know how does their healthcare compare?
Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#63Earlier 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'…
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 - L…
That starts to rule out a lot of English speaking countries, including probably the UK.
I mean, in the UK alone you'd need to evaluate what, if anything, separates the modern British morals from the morals of the British Empire which was not a very nice organisation [1]. They technically didn't overthrow and bully, but that was because they conquered and colonised. I don't think the lineage of government institutions has changed that drastically.
The modern anglosphere (UK, Australia, US, New Zealand, Canada) are all part of the spying-on-everyone gig.
The social security system and environmental comments I'll grant you; but the reason for that is (ironically, given your comment) that people don't want to contribute taxes for it. Work life balance I have no comment.
[1] EDIT The stereotype I picked up was that a good foundation of modern British wealth was a bunch of things they 'found unattended' overseas. I gather the Indians still claim that some parts of British royal jewelry were stolen from them and should be returned with an apology.
Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#64Earlier 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'…
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 - L…
Even on a selfish level, the extra 2-3 weeks of PTO in UK is easily more important than the extra compensation in the US. What's the point of having more money if you are stuck in an office for more of the year and can only spend it on material goods? As you say, for women the difference in maternity leave is laughable.
Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#65I would believe the highest NET salary (the only kind that matters) of all is clearly in either Switzerland or Singapore, where you have a total tax rate of roughly 10 % at a 150k salary. The absolute salary is the same or higher than in SF, USA, but you can keep 90 %. Additionally, foreign income is taxed 0 %. Capital gains are taxed 0 %. It's hilarious to see that American's (especially the ones from SF) believe they earn the most. Yes, they are at the upper end if you consider "absolute gross salary", but at the tiny lower end for "net, after-tax salary" and "investment income".
As for stock options, your employers typically give you stock options, great bonuses and a 401k-like plan, e.g.: You can invest 5 % of your salary and we (the company) will 4x this. So this is a little like 4x free return on 5% of your salary if you max out.
Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#66Earlier 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'…
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 - L…
Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather be a five eyes member than not - but I think it's naive to think any of the member states are innocent of the majority of these statements.
Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#67> 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.
House prices have been skyrocketing for ages already and it's helped by the fact that Cambridge is within commuting distance of London. There's no way your average senior dev could afford to buy a house in Cambridge at this point.
Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
General life experience? I don't doubt that the parent wasn't being absolutely comprehensive in the scope of their answer, but surely you appreciate that direct communication in person is.. well, at the very least 'efficient'? I can't believe you're actually wanting a source for this, lol
> but surely you appreciate that direct communication in person is.. well, at the very least 'efficient'? No, I don't. I believe written communication is far more efficient. Cavemen talk. Writing is the greatest technology we've ever invented. Forget all your latest devops crazes, you can't do anything useful without writing.
Look, I work alone and find some situations best described by writing down long and comprehensive emails - but if you're going to accuse face-to-face contact as being 'caveman talk' I'm sorry but I'm going to wonder if your empathic or social intelligence is somehow dialled down.
My life experience tells me that there are vast tracts of productivity that are served very well by direct collaboration with other humans.
Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#69> 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!
Three hours of my day is worth way more than what Cambridge employers are willing to pay unfortunately.
Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not STEM supply pushing down the salaries. Japan has fewer per capita stem graduates than the US, with a highly developed technical economy, and dramatically lower engineer salaries than the US (with a GDP per capita roughly the same as the UK).
This makes me think the question is better phrased the other way around. Why is SV compensation so high compared with the rest of the world?
A virtuous circle of people who make a fortune investing in other people hoping to make a fortune in the hope of making their fortune bigger. Silicon Valley is the place where agglomeration economics kicked in for information technology. That’s not really surprising. It had to be somewhere. Film has Hollywood, Finance has New York and London, Chemistry has the Rhineland, high fashion has Milan, Paris, New York and London.
What’s special about Silicon Valley is that nowhere else comes close, that the minimum efficient scale for a great many software ideas is small, that it’s new, the addressable market is close to the entire global economy, and most importantly, they’re talent constrained, not capital constrained.