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Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

nytimes.com

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

#211

Post by walshemj »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #168
growlist wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also the holiday, or rather lack of it - there are many things about the UK I could grumble about, but every other Anglosphere country seems to have worse annual leave.

3 weeks is common for USA tech companies now. What is it in the uk?

25 plus public holidays is normal though can be more I started on 30 at part of Relex - you also in start ups you often get an extra day on your holiday.

Civil servants also get a privilege day - it used to be two half days Queens Birthday and Maundy Thursday

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

#212

Post by seanmcdirmid »

dragonwriter wrote: post #205
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but most tech companies will give you them anyways. If we are talking about what we get for half the pay in the uk, vacation isn’t it.

> Sure, but most tech companies will give you them anyways I've yet to see any private employer in the US that gives employees every public holiday applicable in their jurisdiction; heck even public employers often don't, as federal government doesn't give state holidays in the location and state and local agencies often don't give all federal holidays.

There are only ten federal holidays. If you are working in the states, you get most of not all of them.

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

#213

Post by seanmcdirmid »

blibble wrote: post #207
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are including bank holidays, then I got around 4 weeks + 10 days off in the states.

they're not included, but employment contracts tend to be written as X days off + all bank/public holidays (as employers generally close their offices on bank/public holidays) the guarantee of 5.6 weeks paid holiday doesn't guarantee when they are taken, as long as you receive at least 5.6 I've always received 6.6 weeks, some of which my employers request I take on bank/public holidays. the other big difference is in…

If vacation carries and you can cash out the days on leaving the company, the company has no incentive to label you a slacker.

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

#214

Post by collyw »

IshKebab wrote: post #96
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'…

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.

Do sick days come from holiday allowance in the US? All ten of them?

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

#215

Post by walshemj »

paulmckeever wrote: post #103
foldr wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

60% of what exactly? Take home pay for a salary of £100k is about £66k, and about £74k for £120k.

60% of the amount between £100-120k. For that additional £20k in gross salary, your take home pay only increases by £8k, so the _marginal rate_ for each additional pound in that bracket is 60%.

But at level you quite often get a jump over that - also at that level you can make full use of the various tax reduction perks.

Employee share saves, 20K ISA, Salary Sacrifice into pensions, EIS at up to 1,000,000 a year for 30% tax relief SEIS is 50% relief but only 150k a year oh and their is VCT another 200k per anum at 30%.

And you pay as much property tax as a lower middle class person does in the states.

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

#216

Post by monksy »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #168
growlist wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also the holiday, or rather lack of it - there are many things about the UK I could grumble about, but every other Anglosphere country seems to have worse annual leave.

3 weeks is common for USA tech companies now. What is it in the uk?

15 is the bare minimum for USA tech companies. I've seen a few not so stellar places offer 10.

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

#217

Post by walshemj »

whatshisface wrote: post #129
swarnie_ wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can relate.... I'm just a little further away in Buckinghamshire but the local train can get you to zone 1 in under 30 minutes. 4 x my salary would get me a 2 bed flat if i didn't mind living in a ghetto.

If you had 4x your salary, wouldn't you be spending a lot on keeping up your house, and paying a lot of taxes for local amenities like schools? I don't understand how an area that affluent could be a ghetto.

No property taxes are very low in the UK some one in a 10M house in London pays less than an upper middle class person does in some US states

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

#218

Post by bytematic »

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…

This is always the argument from Europe which makes America seem like some hellhole existence.

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

#219

Post by walshemj »

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…

Good education and fully native speakers of English and a society that keeps "engineers and scientists" in their place so cheap also you save a lot on not having to provide heath care.

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

#220

Post by walshemj »

Lio wrote: post #165
samdoidge wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to sell into Europe then Britain made sense...until the fuckwits voted for leave (yeah I'm bitter, they fucked over everyone my age and under). I think this is where the 'Remoaner' labels come from.

You're right but 48% of us thought it was a terrible idea at the time and still haven't heard a good reason for leaving that doesn't involve vague patriotic ramblings. Plus on top of that many of the pro-leave arguments have proved to be outright lies already ...and we still haven't even left yet.

48% who voted and don't for get many British citizens where denied a vote in a breathtakingly example of gerrymandering that would make a Sothern democrat blush.

oh and the Gross Incompetence of David Cameron in how they wrote the goddam question.

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