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Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

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Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#61

Post by yunohn »

jen20 wrote: post #47
yunohn wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The consensus seemed to be, that if you compared the cost of living, you would need a considerably higher income in the US to have the same standard of living as the UK While this does have a partial truth to it, the examples are delusional. How can anyone compare 50k GBP to 130K USD? I have lived across the USA, EU, and Asia; but such comparisons are heavily personal situation dependant. The calculations would dif…

I’ve also lived in the UK and US, though did not work for a FAANG in the UK. By the exchange rate right now, 50k GBP is around 65k USD. If you want to live within (say) an hour reach of an office, you’ll have a much easier time doing that in the London metro area with 50k than you will in the Bay Area with 130k. This is before you even consider taxes and healthcare. High quality groceries also substantially cheaper i…

Like I said, it depends on your circumstances. If you /have/ to live in the center of a metropolitan, SFO and LHR are equally bad - I have friends in both areas.

I still wouldn’t compare 50k GBP to 130k USD.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#62

Post by gpderetta »

agiamas wrote: post #59
gpderetta wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, 10 years ago, two people could rent and live comfortably in zone 1 (just a few minutes from work) with a salary of ~50k. A few salary bumps later we managed to buy a flat in zone 2. Prices of flats have gone up (but not as much as houses) and so has cost of living, but I would say that two people or even a family will live more than comfortably in London on ~100k, manage to save some money and even be ab…

not only there are options, but there is excellent transportation in London, especially compared to the driving hell because of the all day traffic all around Bay Area. Another parameter I don't see people mentioning (not surprisingly, since its HN after all) is the monoculture in Bay Area, versus living in one of the few global metropolis. In the Bay all you see and live is tech, in London tech is only a part of the…

Very much agree.

Regarding transportation, I have been living here for 13 years and still don't own a car.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#63

Post by gpderetta »

lacker wrote: post #57
pooya72 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that you have lived in both and can do a fair comparison. There was a reddit thread a while back that compared US and UK salaries.[1] The consensus seemed to be, that if you compared the cost of living, you would need a considerably higher income in the US to have the same standard of living as the UK. One person said that 130K USD salary in the Bay Area would be equivalent to 50K GBP in London.[2] A…

130K USD salary in the Bay Area It's worth pointing out that this is below FAANG range. A software engineer with zero years of experience in the US should make roughly $160K-190K in compensation at the large tech companies. https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Amazon,Google,Facebook,Apple... In the Bay Area, the cost of real estate will dominate your cost of living. If you are happy to live in a 1-bedroom apartment, that…

London housing is expensive, but I think still significantly less than SV.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#64

Post by OJFord »

lacker wrote: post #57
pooya72 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that you have lived in both and can do a fair comparison. There was a reddit thread a while back that compared US and UK salaries.[1] The consensus seemed to be, that if you compared the cost of living, you would need a considerably higher income in the US to have the same standard of living as the UK. One person said that 130K USD salary in the Bay Area would be equivalent to 50K GBP in London.[2] A…

130K USD salary in the Bay Area It's worth pointing out that this is below FAANG range. A software engineer with zero years of experience in the US should make roughly $160K-190K in compensation at the large tech companies. https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Amazon,Google,Facebook,Apple... In the Bay Area, the cost of real estate will dominate your cost of living. If you are happy to live in a 1-bedroom apartment, that…

It isn't really worth pointing that out, because GP's quote was '... is equivalent to £50k in London'. (Which is also below FAANG range, but that's still besides the point.)

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#65

Post by ojhughes »

I work remotely for a large US tech company and live in Hampshire. Your salary will go *much* further if you are happy to live an hour or so outside London. My team is spread across US / Canada / Spain and UK so expect some meetings in the evening. From what I have seen the culture is quite similar in the UK offices as the US offices (same perks / food etc)

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#66

Post by tennis_sort »

phphphphp wrote: post #35
tennis_sort wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

£100k London as a single person could definitely buy a flat somewhere. Maybe not a great area but it's doable. A house with a garden, kids, private school etc. 100k won't cut it unfortunately. For some reason I thought FAANGs in London were paid really well but seems like contracting or finance is the only way to get a reasonable income. I have a buddy who was working for a DeepMind and now works for Google (UK). His…

The downside of contracting though is that the work is typically the work full-time employees don't want to do. You gain in flexibility, but lose in enjoyment -- enjoyable contracts are a minority. Specific to the point on finances: there's typically 250 billable days in a UK year so £600/day is £150k/year. There are tax benefits to contracting, so it's not a one-to-one relationship, but £150k/year salaried is better…

Yeah you're right there. 150k salary is better than a £600 day contract.

£150k per year is tricky to find for salaried positions as a dev. They exist but not as visible (to me at least) compared to the contract equivalents.

The enjoyment side is something I hear mixed opinions on. There are plenty of "disguised employment" type contracts in the UK that just go to contractors for rarer skill sets. YMMV.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#67

Post by jen20 »

sokoloff wrote: post #55
jen20 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that someone in the top 10% of incomes should be able to buy a house.

Top 10% of household income with some savings for a downpayment should indeed be able to purchase housing if they choose to tie themself down that way. It’s not necessarily the case that top 10% individual income means you’re top 10% household income (and the top 10% household income can obviously bid more for housing than the second, third, or farther decile of household income).

A household (not individual) income of £100000 is sufficient to be well inside the top 10% by income. Using the standard ratio of 4.5 times income for a mortgage means that you are capped at houses costing around 560k, assuming you have 20% to put down.

The following search for 3 bedroom houses [1] provides either flats, maisonettes and a few houses in areas with poor transport links, and many of these are still over budget.

[1]: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?sear...

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#68

Post by yunohn »

Chirono wrote: post #5

To get an idea of comp for companies in London, levels.fyi is a good starting point. https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/London/ Bottom line is that comp is way under what you would get for the same job in the US, but better than most other engineering jobs in London outside of certain finance roles. The market seems to have been going up a lot in the past couple of years though. The interview process i…

You can also find salaries for NL and soon EU: https://techpays.eu/

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#69

Post by 342ljlas »

A lot of non-sense in the comments about TC/ money. I have worked at FAANG for a long time, both in the Bay Area and in London. My experience is:

- TC is lower, but how much lower is highly dependent on your level as the multiplier on base is smaller than the multiplier on stock refreshers.

If you are very senior, then the total difference will be ~10-15% (TC), which is arguably not that large.

- Private schools are generally cheaper in the UK.

- The UK does not have a property tax (!).

So, all in all, at very senior levels the difference is gonna be much less about TC/money and much more where you find more desirable to live.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your experience with bigger tech companies in London?

#70

Post by mattmanser »

tasubotadas wrote: post #39
dbetteridge wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also different employer expenses per employee, I don't know them off the top of my head but the UK tax levels are pretty high.

45% tax

That's not the employer tax rate.

They pay like 13% national insurance.

The rest of the tax is paid by the employee. And the 45% rate is only on any earnings OVER £150k. So the money eart less than that is at lower rates.

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