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I quit the tech industry

eev.ee

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Re: I quit the tech industry

#81

Post by reitoei »

yc1010 wrote: post #11

I have been working for myself for last 8 years after completing my masters, in hindsight financially I did not do too badly (tho there was some great and ups and incredible downs!) and it is NICE working from home and watching your kid grow (tho there are quite a lot of distractions!!! says he who is procrastinating reading HN :D ) BUT if I was offered a job with guaranteed employment and steady wages and (gaaasp pe…

I did exactly this. Was contracting for 8 years in Dublin, commuting almost 3 hours daily. I was making good (but not amazing) money. Then the kids came, and that 3 hour commute became 3 hours that I could spend helping my wife or spending time with my kids.

Got offered a full-time job in the tech industry with (gaaasp pension!) outside of Dublin, 5 minutes from my front door, with better salary, bonuses and healthcare. Things can work out well (and I really don't mean to sound patronizing here) with patience and a bit of luck.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#83

Post by reitoei »

maccard wrote: post #49
yc1010 wrote: post #11

I have been working for myself for last 8 years after completing my masters, in hindsight financially I did not do too badly (tho there was some great and ups and incredible downs!) and it is NICE working from home and watching your kid grow (tho there are quite a lot of distractions!!! says he who is procrastinating reading HN :D ) BUT if I was offered a job with guaranteed employment and steady wages and (gaaasp pe…

Between that and the cost of property in Dublin (rental prices are insane at the minute, and I haven't looked at buying but I figure it's the same) that's why everyone graduating in ireland is leaving

Well they're idiots because there are plenty of really well-paying job in the tech industry.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#84

Post by mootothemax »

pessimik wrote: post #70
yc1010 wrote: post #11

I have been working for myself for last 8 years after completing my masters, in hindsight financially I did not do too badly (tho there was some great and ups and incredible downs!) and it is NICE working from home and watching your kid grow (tho there are quite a lot of distractions!!! says he who is procrastinating reading HN :D ) BUT if I was offered a job with guaranteed employment and steady wages and (gaaasp pe…

Go to Poland - 19% flat income tax rate for companies - you can get flat by 400 euro / month in biggest cities and work remotely for foreign clients.

Go to Poland - 19% flat income tax rate for companies - you can get flat by 400 euro / month in biggest cities and work remotely for foreign clients.

To expand on this: one can operate as a sole trader company, and enjoy the 19% flat income tax rate. You can also register your company for VAT, and then claim back the VAT on company purchases.

The only other cost is ~$270 / ~240 EUR / ~180 GBP per month in social insurance taxes.

I've been here for the last five years, and the low cost of living (very low cost outside of Warsaw) combined with low taxes makes Poland a very forgiving place to be when your first few side businesses inevitably fail.

(for that matter, the startup community here in Warsaw, centred somewhat around Reaktor - http://reaktorwarsaw.com - is really picking up steam)

If you do what I do - remote consulting for clients in the UK and USA - and you have the talent to charge western rates, you can build a sizeable nest egg in next to no time.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#85

Post by makeitsuckless »

"I’ve worked remotely my whole career"

Regardless of all the perfectly valid reasons for being unhappy in what most people consider a cushy job (the author seems perfectly aware of that), this could possibly be an important factor here.

Working remotely means you only get a small slice of what most people get out of their job. Again, this is perfectly fine if you're not "most people", but if you've never known anything else than that may play a considerable role in being dissatisfied with having a job.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#87

Post by aidos »

yc1010 wrote: post #18
rblstr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you've just convinced me never to return to Ireland until I retire, thanks!

Yeh me and my kids will be paying for a long time for the worlds biggest banking (per capita) debacle and the destruction of the economy in the 00s by various governments. With kids its sort of hard to leave :( Tho' it is a nice place to live despite all the carry on. But hey look over there at the news yet another multinational setting up to launder/funnel money onto somewhere warmer and seems like a housing bubble…

12.5% corporation tax! That's really low. Just had a look around - is it 35% in the US?!

Re: I quit the tech industry

#88

Post by CrLf »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #67
CrLf wrote: post #59

"I’ve worked remotely my whole career" I wonder how much of a role does this play in (not) caring about your employer's problems... As much as I can understand the benefits of working remotely on occasion, doing it all the time will cause a kind of disconnect all by itself. You see the problems as your employer's problems, instead of your team's problems. Your are fixing your employer instead of helping your teammate…

That's a social problem we'll have to address as remote working becomes ubiquitous. It helps if the remote environment is more immersive, with the team aware of each others' presence and activity even when they're not directly communicating. Keeps your head in the space, so to speak.

I think you just described somewhat of a dystopian future... :)

Most work is a group effort. Group efforts require the feeling of belonging to a group to be effective. You just cannot get that if you work remotely. Real human interaction cannot be faked or successfully replaced by electronic means.

Working remotely a couple of days a week is probably beneficial. It alleviates the pressure of constant interactions preventing some tasks from being accomplished. Especially for us technical folk, where the dominant personality is not one that draws energy from other people. We still need to interact though.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#89

Post by mootothemax »

ode wrote: post #58
yc1010 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeh me and my kids will be paying for a long time for the worlds biggest banking (per capita) debacle and the destruction of the economy in the 00s by various governments. With kids its sort of hard to leave :( Tho' it is a nice place to live despite all the carry on. But hey look over there at the news yet another multinational setting up to launder/funnel money onto somewhere warmer and seems like a housing bubble…

Doesn't Ireland have a graduated tax system?

Doesn't Ireland have a graduated tax system?

According to Wikipedia, it does:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_Republic_of_Ire...

"The taxation of earnings is progressive"

Which makes the OP's post rather confusing.

Does any country out there not tax progressively?

I just can't imagine it - "Great, you got a pay rise! Now you get to take home less, until your pay rises by another $5,000!"

Edit: On second reading, I think I understand what the OP is talking about: leaving money in the company they operate, which pays out (I guess through dividends?) at a lesser tax rate than if it were paid out directly as wages. I'm pretty sure this is a standard technique in the rest of the world, and not particularly unique to Ireland.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#90

Post by yc1010 »

dubcanada wrote: post #78
yc1010 wrote: post #11

I have been working for myself for last 8 years after completing my masters, in hindsight financially I did not do too badly (tho there was some great and ups and incredible downs!) and it is NICE working from home and watching your kid grow (tho there are quite a lot of distractions!!! says he who is procrastinating reading HN :D ) BUT if I was offered a job with guaranteed employment and steady wages and (gaaasp pe…

Really it's the no healthcare that is the issue. How can you tax your residents so much and not provide healthcare? My payroll tax rate in Canada is about 30% on ~$55K

There is "free" healthcare if you are unemployed and qualify for a medical card, tho if you open the newspapers any week you would hear all sorts of horror stories about our public hospitals. The public system is under immense stress after years of negligence and cuts so your experience of a public hospital might quite literally be your last.

If you are employed you have no choice but to pay for private insurance:

* Family with 2 kids ~ €2600 per year

* Singe person ~ €500-€1000 per year (dependant on age etc)

Tho the costs for health insurance are rising of course...

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