Ask HN: How to increase SWE salaries in Europe?

https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Apple&track=Software%20Engin...

ICT2: $165k

ICT3: $214k

ICT4: $315k

ICT5: $440k

ICT6: $681k

Point: $100k/yr total comp is pretty low for Apple's standards.

Yes, but that has little effect on H1B visas. European applicants are in the same pool as everyone else.

> getting a green card is exponentially harder

Nobody mentioned getting a greencard, which is a problem in itself. Just a work visa. Which, if you're a European citizen, is dependent on a lottery.

Yeah, it's easier for an AU citizen to get a visa (because there's a special program for them), but you haven't said why it's easier for an EU citizen to get one. Please back up your claim.

It works, until it doesn't. In America you can compensate yourself for this risk by simply getting a job where you are paid a higher salary than the average. Then you don't really care what happens with the social safety net, you've already hedged against it by saving and investing for yourself, and possibly becoming very rich.

Personally I'd be stressed if I were in your position. Government welfare isn't some liquid asset. If you decide you want to go live in some other country with a higher standard of living, such as the United States, is your government going to give you $100k or more to go start a life there at the same standard of living you're used to? I doubt it. You'll have to start from scratch, little to no savings, no real credit history, and paying much more for things that were a lot cheaper back in your home country. And if you were to retire in the US, I have a dim view of your future if you have no savings for retirement. If you are already close to retirement and haven't saved anything, you simply will not be able to retire.

Basically you're locked in to your home country, and have no realistic options for leaving unless you become richer. If the country goes to shit, so do you. This is not the case somewhere like America, where how well off you are is decoupled from how the country is doing as a whole. Government risk is eliminated, your cash flow and net worth is all that matters. That's much easier to understand and helps you sleep at night.

Be careful.

2. Focusing on salary. We need a european alternative to glassdoor and it needs to become popular. People need to know what they are worth. We are quite shy when it comes to discussing salary. TC info is more readily accessible in the US.

3. Europe needs to grow tech giants that demand top tier talent. That's the main problem with Europe, there isn't a huge amount of ambition to home grow 100bn+ companies that attract the best talent globally. Europe is at a disadvantage because it takes fewer risks and it's also more likely to sell out before reaching tech giant status. We are all using Google, Facebook (or some product of) and Amazon (in countries where amazon can effectively avoid taxes). And the UK sold off ARM, though there is ongoing discussion about that.

If you look at industries that are world leading (i.e banking in London for example), you'll find opportunities to double or triple your salary. Turns out that enough of us are turned off by the idea of working in the banking sector that it doesn't appear to translate into pressure for talent. We are also very well educated so it's not as hard to find people

The interesting thing is I used to try to force people who worked for me to take more time off and they would complain. I think in many ways it was the example I set, which was bad, of always working. It's a regret I honestly have. I'm also happy now that I am just an individual contributor. I don't have to try to change that culture anymore. I only need to change me.