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Ask HN: Why salaries tend be lower for tech workers in UK compared to US

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Re: Ask HN: Why salaries tend be lower for tech workers in UK compared to US

#11

Post by toast0 »

readonthegoapp wrote: post #9
toast0 wrote: post #7

My guess is it has a lot to do with how easy or not it is to start your own thing. In my mind, developers in the US are more likely to have options to strike out on their own, so they need more $ to work for the man.

I always assumed it was the opposite -- mainly because of healthcare. I think the various 'entrepreneur indexes' generally rank the US high, but I'm not sure i buy it -- just b/c of the healthcare thing. i would think, ok, right off the top, you get rid of anyone 30+ years old, anyone with a family, any women, anyone with any kind of health problems, anyone who is not a super-high-rish-taker, etc. So that leaves the…

There have always been options for healthcare, the best one being have a spouse with a job with good coverage.

Now, with the ACA, you can get meh coverage without the extensive shopping and hoop jumping it used to require.

Re: Ask HN: Why salaries tend be lower for tech workers in UK compared to US

#12

Post by cblconfederate »

comp_throw7 wrote: post #5

It has very little to do with incidentals like benefits, vacation time, etc, and is mostly a question of the huge difference in the productivity of labor of software engineers employed by companies that pay well and companies that don't. FAANG (and similar companies) derive a huge amount of value from each software engineer, which puts a much higher ceiling on how much they can afford to pay them before it stops maki…

So why doesnt facebook hire in london where they 'll get an even bigger value for their money

Re: Ask HN: Why salaries tend be lower for tech workers in UK compared to US

#14

Post by babygoat »

cblconfederate wrote: post #12
comp_throw7 wrote: post #5

It has very little to do with incidentals like benefits, vacation time, etc, and is mostly a question of the huge difference in the productivity of labor of software engineers employed by companies that pay well and companies that don't. FAANG (and similar companies) derive a huge amount of value from each software engineer, which puts a much higher ceiling on how much they can afford to pay them before it stops maki…

So why doesnt facebook hire in london where they 'll get an even bigger value for their money

They do.

Re: Ask HN: Why salaries tend be lower for tech workers in UK compared to US

#15

Post by aspiringtechYy »

I always had the impression that the US pays better than any other country when it comes to tech. On the other specter the minimum wage in the US is much lower then a lot of places in Europe.

Might be off topic but I'm looking for fintech job, in my country we have fintech companies like https://www.sambla.no/, https://lanfordeg.no/ and https://xn--ln-yia.no/. Companies like this is what I'm trying to get a job at. Does anyone have any tips on how to get a job in a fintech company. I only tried applying to one so far and havent heard back. Should I apply to all at the same time? Will they be more impressed if i put my resume on a website? Any nice tricks that fintech companies like when looking for new hires?

Re: Ask HN: Why salaries tend be lower for tech workers in UK compared to US

#16

Post by comp_throw7 »

cblconfederate wrote: post #12
comp_throw7 wrote: post #5

It has very little to do with incidentals like benefits, vacation time, etc, and is mostly a question of the huge difference in the productivity of labor of software engineers employed by companies that pay well and companies that don't. FAANG (and similar companies) derive a huge amount of value from each software engineer, which puts a much higher ceiling on how much they can afford to pay them before it stops maki…

So why doesnt facebook hire in london where they 'll get an even bigger value for their money

They do, as do Google, Amazon, and Apple. Guess what companies are paying top of market in London?

Re: Ask HN: Why salaries tend be lower for tech workers in UK compared to US

#17

Post by cascom »

I think it’s the same reason that developers in SF make more then their counterparts in say Denver. It’s purely supply and demand and labor doesn’t markets are inefficient (especially geographically)

If I had to guess there are probably 10x the tech workers in California than in the UK, which drives the bulk of the disparity.

Re: Ask HN: Why salaries tend be lower for tech workers in UK compared to US

#18

Post by rdtwo »

readonthegoapp wrote: post #9
toast0 wrote: post #7

My guess is it has a lot to do with how easy or not it is to start your own thing. In my mind, developers in the US are more likely to have options to strike out on their own, so they need more $ to work for the man.

I always assumed it was the opposite -- mainly because of healthcare. I think the various 'entrepreneur indexes' generally rank the US high, but I'm not sure i buy it -- just b/c of the healthcare thing. i would think, ok, right off the top, you get rid of anyone 30+ years old, anyone with a family, any women, anyone with any kind of health problems, anyone who is not a super-high-rish-taker, etc. So that leaves the…

During covid healthcare is an illusion. You can’t actually get anything other than emergency room care and online appointments
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