31–40 of 115 posts
Yeah, we have substandard salaries and we are not that crappy. This could be the reason why many London based companies are installing here their dev shops.
I work for one of them :)
I can concur that the pay sucks in France - ludicrously low compared to Australian rates (like, half!) and it's not like living expenses are lower, that's for sure. If you're only in it for the dollars, then avoid! However, bonuses are (at least for me) much much lower working hours. Which means plenty of time for side projects.
So what are you in for? Are you looking to live in Austria for personal reasons or is the new job scope intriguing?
If former is the case, maybe sticking to your current employer and telecommuting is an option? Or you could keep ties to the US and do contracting work remotely?
In Amsterdam as a starter you can expect somewhere between €30k and €38k, depending on your skill set and company you're applying for. I think €45k for a senior position sounds about right, but this really depends a lot on where you're going to live: cost of living in for example London is much higher than somewhere in Spain. As an indication for taxes: €45k before taxes would probably be around €30k after income tax…
to be noted, the salary variation in Germany is actually quite huge with Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg (and some other high salary areas) being at the top. in some rural areas you might only get half the pay as in these metropolian areas.
Contract rates in London seem to be just shooting up. Two years ago £600/day was a "high" rate. Last year £700. This year several places are offering £850/day and I've heard rumours of £1000/day or more. If you want to live in Austria, why not work in London and just commute ;-)
In Madrid (Spain), an engineer with 10 years of experience in a technical role can expect an average of 55k€ per year, before a 25% tax cut. Similar (or a bit lower) for a programmer. I won't call it a crappy salary. You can make a pretty decent living with that. Welcome to southern Europe!
More or less in the range I told in my comment :)
I can't comment on what the actual average salary for a programmer in Europe is, but you have to remember that you can't just convert straight from EUR to USD and compare the amounts. You have to consider the cost of living etc. in the country you are getting the offer from compared to the cost of living where you currently live.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity
The "2003" map may not be the freshest, but it gives a rough estimate. Relative to US:
* Canada, Australia have 90%
* Africa typically ranges from 20% to 30%. South africa is much better, often 40%.
* Most of Asia is 20%, sometimes lower
* Poland is 50%
* UK, Germany, France are around 100%
* Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway...) are 120% (!). Japan should be around 120% too.