481–490 of 585 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason US developers are paid more is because US startups are much more successful. As to why they are so much more successful is a different question.
They are paid more, because the US is a much more expensive place to live (at least in California).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I appreciate that child labor have been regulated out of the greedy hands of our capitalist overlords. Child labour ended because of capitalism. The increased income and power that begets then allowed for child labour laws to come in - it certainly didn't happen in pre-industrial societies or capitalists wouldn't have been able to employ them in the first place. Same goes for slavery, not only did economic pressure…
Capitalists didn't end child labor. In fact they opposed banning child labor. Had the governments not banned it, it would probably still be legal.
John Fielden[1][2], one of the most notable social reformers, especially for factory workers, was the owner of a mill:
> On his father’s death in 1811, Fielden and his brothers inherited the family cotton-spinning business at Todmorden, which became one of the greatest manufacturing concerns in Great Britain. Unlike most mill owners, Fielden soon became a supporter of legislation to protect factory labour.
So we can see that any them and us is a false dilemma and hence, not true. Not only that, even with opposition from "most mill owners", reforms still went through (even though some MPs at times slowed it or watered down some of the reforms).
So, capitalists in a capitalist society did indeed do what no other societies had done before. As Fieldsen notes in his The Curse of the Factory System:
> Here, then, is the "curse" of our factory system: as improvements in machinery have gone on, the "avarice of masters" has prompted many to exact more labour from their hands than they were fitted by nature to perform, and those who have wished for the hours of labour to be less for all ages than the legislature would even yet sanction, have had no alternative but to conform more or less to the prevailing practice, or abandon the trade altogether
Human greed is not limited to capitalists, but the reforms were.
[1] https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Fielden
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fielden
Edit: typo and, of course, formatting. Why can't we get an editor, dear HN?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I might be an outlier but I went to a tiny middle America liberal arts university that you probably never heard of, and work for a SV startup. And I haven't heard the topic of where people went to school come up a single time.
But you grew up in the US. You are not a "foreigner".
If there's any lesson to learn from this thread I guess it's that no amount or level of credentials can overcome cultural biases, racism, and discrimination.
Some of the stuff in this article may be fine, and trying to raise money is certainly harder in Europe, but I thought one of the biggest drags on Europe's tech industry is poor pay for engineers and other tech talent? In the U.S., going into a tech career can be one of the best ways to make a high salary quickly -- especially without needing an advanced degree. Without this incentive, you'll have a lot less people pu…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We already see a wealth gap between the North and South and the West and East. Also between the old and young. Not sure what that means for the future. Europes wealth is based, to a large extent, on hardware and a huge number of wealthy citizens. As long as hardware is a thing (not talking electronics but stuff like cars and so on), and we manage to not cut of the poorer 20-30% of society, Europe should do fine.
Even in the electronics space EU has some big players — NXP, ST, Infineon, Bosch, Philips, ASML, Orsam, etc.
European businessmans are in general very cunning and old fashioned, they don't like sharing their profits with their employees or with othere people in general.
We get to life a relatively quiet and relaxed life, but for an employee or for a young tech enterpreneur is impossibile to make nearly as much as in the US, because the "hot jobs" here in europe are not in the tech space but in the "old space": attorneys, bureucreats, medics, church people, politics, and so on. Obviously a lot of tech workers make the switch for the US or other countries.
Source: i live in Italy where a senior top-level engineer makes 40k euros/year gross, a self-employed medical doctor specialized on foot diseases makes 100/200 euros/30 minutes, evading taxes 80% of the time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So? Software demand is driven by the tasks software need to solve. Whether those tasks involve human interaction or not is surely irrelevant for the demand for software?
Software demand isn’t driven by the number of copies that can be duplicated across servers. It is driven by distinct use-cases.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention the VAT (Value Added Tax) that is a big weapon of market selfdestruction.
How so? It only affects the end consumer. It’s deductible for businesses.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is something I’ve noticed working with European people and also traveling. I think there is a cycle here where because working with software is considered low status, many good software people leave, and lots of smart people probably do not go into the field at all unless they truly love software. This would tend to drive the talent pool down, IMO, which keeps away good software jobs, keeping it low status. In t…
How do you define "low status"? Is elderly care "low status" according to your definition? It's not according to mine. I consider myself a proud member of a "normal status profession" where my skills can be adequately utilized.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You may disagree, but “nonsense” sounds a bit excessive. An Italian or Spanish software developer earning 30K euros per annum would likely go to the US if they were offered an American salary. Many of those who went to the UK or to Germany (me included) would have crossed the Atlantic for the right offer.
So you are claiming that the only reason European developers don’t cross en mass is due to non-open borders?