Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

Post by maccard » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 4:51 PM UTC

justsomedude43 wrote: post #149

6ak74rfy wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

"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." Because it's not all about the money. People make mistake by comparing salaries on their own which is not correct, you need to compare what's left of your salary after you've afforded the same level of lifestyle. You might look at $140k as a lot of money and £40k as very little money but you need t…

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 4:53 PM UTC

maccard wrote: post #171

justsomedude43 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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." Because it's not all about the money. People make mistake by comparing salaries on their own which is not correct, you need to compare what's left of your salary after you've afforded the same level of lifestyle. You might look at $140k as a lot of money and £40k as very little money but you need t…

I agree with your sentiment but - > you can't put a price on a 5min commute to work and letting your children play outside That's very achieveable in parts of the US, and unachieveable in parts of the UK. > having ghettos or "bad areas" in your city Not exclusive to the US by any means. Plenty of nice cities in the UK have ghetto/bad areas. > sending your kids to university without paying anything If you live in Engl…

Post by CloudNetworking » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 5:01 PM UTC

Moodles wrote: post #39

adventured wrote: post #19

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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.

Post by CloudNetworking » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 5:03 PM UTC

gabbo wrote: post #110

IshKebab wrote: post #96

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Also we get 2-3x more holiday, and sick days don't come from your holiday allowance. And the hours are shorter. I work 40 hours a week for very good pay (for the UK). Previous job was 37.5 hours. I bet Google's hours are much longer.

I know a lot of Google US employees who work 40 hour weeks (plenty who work more but usually by choice), their sick days don’t come out of their vacation allowance at all, and after 4 years of working there they get 5 weeks of vacation per year on top of 12 days of paid holidays. Even Amazon employees do pretty well, getting 2 weeks paid time off + 1 week of "personal days" (de facto vacation days) in year 1, then th…

Post by sievebrain » Thu, Jul 05, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

justincormack wrote: post #6

ForHackernews wrote: post #3

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Why are UK tech salaries so low compared to the US?

Because outside of financial services, there aren't that many highly profitable companies, Google or Facebook profitability levels are not common in Europe. Salaries have been rising though, and London salaries are twice or more than much of Europe.