341–350 of 631 posts
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Can we really compare them, though? I live in France, where €90k/y puts you in the top 1% salaries. In the US, you’d need to earn $400k/y to be in the same position. Standard of living and other social benefits come to mind.
90k euros is where, not Paris right? $120k feels very different in San Francisco vs Boise Idaho.
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The biggest thing I missed when working in the US was 5-6 weeks annual paid leave. 10 days off/year means people are highly incentivised to apply to/present at conferences tho
Was that normal? I'm used to 10 company holidays plus 3-4 weeks of paid vacation.
These are unbelievably high salaries. In Germany such salaries are possible only at management positions (not talking about IB) of large companies only. I visited US 3 years back and I found everything better - clothing cheaper, food more delicious, people friendlier and houses bigger. Yes you don't have social security and have poverty issues but I would still be in US than in Europe considering the amount of money…
Don‘t focus on the huge money aspect. There is a lot of selection bias here, only few people make this much outside of some very particular areas/companies. Comparing Germany (where I’m also from) and the US, I’d say that Germany still gives much higher standard of living at the same salary, especially due to lower rents in the big cities. FYI my progression 120k joining top3 mgmt consulting after PhD, stayed for 4yr…
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I've never heard of those 18-19 London salaries. Woah! Finance though surely?
I have a few friends in London, contracting whilst working a Single Person Business (lacking the proper terminology). Super high wages £500 - £700 per day, whilst having an effective tax rate or 13%. Boom.
If you pay yourself a salary from a ltd company there's ~14% Employers NI, 12%-2% Employee NI Depending on tax band, 20-40% Income tax depending on tax band. If you pay a dividend there's 19% Corporation tax plus 7.5%-32.5% Dividend tax.
So 46%-56% tax on salary and 26.5%-51.5% tax on dividends. Nowhere near 13%, unless you're talking about 'creative accounting' by running non-business expenses through the company to effectively get them tax free.
Throwaway account; I am currently in my late 30s. Graduated from Kansas University in 2008. 2008 to 2010 - $50K CTO/co-founder of a small company 2011 - $125K SDE II @ Amazon 2012 - $125K SDE II @ Amazon 2013 - $175K SDE III @ Amazon 2014 - $217K SDE III @ Amazon 2015 - $200K E5 @ Facebook 2016 - $500K E6 @ Facebook 2017 - $800K E7 @ Facebook 2018 - $1M E7 @ Facebook 2019 ~ $1.25M E7 @ Facebook
These are unbelievably high salaries. In Germany such salaries are possible only at management positions (not talking about IB) of large companies only. I visited US 3 years back and I found everything better - clothing cheaper, food more delicious, people friendlier and houses bigger. Yes you don't have social security and have poverty issues but I would still be in US than in Europe considering the amount of money…
Don‘t focus on the huge money aspect. There is a lot of selection bias here, only few people make this much outside of some very particular areas/companies. Comparing Germany (where I’m also from) and the US, I’d say that Germany still gives much higher standard of living at the same salary, especially due to lower rents in the big cities. FYI my progression 120k joining top3 mgmt consulting after PhD, stayed for 4yr…
Yes I agree that wanting more money can result in frustration as in Germany such salaries are not that common outside of management positions or specific companies, but I have some plans to fulfill - buying a Porsche; travelling the world; opening an NPO in a developing country, employing literate and teaching underprivileged, etc..
With the pennies that I'm earning, I wont be able to save as much, wont be able to retire as early as I would like to and, most importantly, the impact of final initiative won't be that high. So for me it is important that I earn huge..anyway, it's a choice of thinking, I'm happy with my life even now, just not quenched with the money I have..
2012-2015: $100k, sysadmin 2015-2017: $100-150k, random projects 2017-2019: $150k, devops 2019: $200k, devops manager
I've only started to develop some level of self discipline in the past few years. Before then, I wasn't even working 40 hours a week. I'd have some brief bursts of productivity where I'd automate something or crank out a project really quickly, but most of the time I was messing around with new technologies.
Given what I'm seeing here, I think I'm going to start looking at working for a FAANG. It's always been my intention to retire early, and I could probably operate at burnout levels of productivity for a few years in exchange for being able to finish funding that plan.
2006 - $6k - system administrator
2008 - $14k - webdev
2009 - $18k - webdev
2010 - $32k - swe1, enterprise
2012 - $48k - swe2, same place
2015 - $135k - swe2, relocation
2017 - $150k - swe2
2018 - $200k - swe4 (bigger enterprise)
Didn’t read the article, I did read the thread. How do I get into the USA? The difference is too big, even when I give 20% to charity. Or any ideas how to become well off in Europe? Tech feels so much more difficult than manager or other business roles (cognitively). I feel like I should switch if I can’t get into the USA.
I grew up in Europe (Malta), now in Seattle. I think Dublin is the place to be for tech opportunities and competitive compensation. If you work for a US company you can transfer from the EU to the US with an L1B visa quite easily (it’s what I did) as long as the company you work for is okay with the transfer. The L1B expires after 5 years, but you can apply for permanent resident while on it.
About three years after graduating I stumbled into some extra freelance work a school friend passed on to me. Then got lucky again by finding myself in a well-paid (for UK) devops niche. - 2009: £1,000/yr Mostly depressed, unemployed and unmotivated. Some income from teaching English and arbitraging signup bonuses on gambling websites. Lived close to rent-free by subletting rooms in the apartment I was living in. (Sp…
I've never heard of those 18-19 London salaries. Woah! Finance though surely?