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Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

nytimes.com

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Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#81

Post by swarnie_ »

elliotpage wrote: post #80
angarg12 wrote: post #11

> As the tech workers land the big salaries, home prices are skyrocketing, and the locals are being squeezed out. Joke is on them, I'm a new tech immigrant to Cambridge and I still can't buy a house here.

As someone who born and raised in Cambridge the possibility of owning anything larger than a shared shoebox has plummeted into impossibility.

I can relate.... I'm just a little further away in Buckinghamshire but the local train can get you to zone 1 in under 30 minutes.

4 x my salary would get me a 2 bed flat if i didn't mind living in a ghetto.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#82

Post by tinktank »

shanghaiaway wrote: post #54
tinktank wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL. I'm sure all the investors up to their eyeballs in the loss-making, ever hyped unicorns would beg to differ.

Which UK company makes the same profit per employee as FANG? None.

Which one of your so-called value-adding unicorns are actually making a profit?

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#83

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

tigershark wrote: post #43
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Err no, certainly not. German salaries are at least on par with London, and ~twice as high than the rest of the UK.

Not from what I know.

Maybe my numbers are off, but at least in Munich startups are ~80k, automotive ~100k. What are you seeing?

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#84

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

samwillis wrote: post #31
angarg12 wrote: post #11

> As the tech workers land the big salaries, home prices are skyrocketing, and the locals are being squeezed out. Joke is on them, I'm a new tech immigrant to Cambridge and I still can't buy a house here.

We gave up on trying to buy in Cambridge and moved north to Stamford, its just over an hour on the train (one stop past Peterborough) and about the same by car (if you avoid the worst of the rush hour, will be 45 min with the new road in 2020). Lovely here, much nicer then a villages near Cambridge and about the same time to commute!

Good choice - Stamford's delightful. (Grew up in Rutland, still very fond of the area.)

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#85

Post by kalkut »

adventured wrote: post #19
angarg12 wrote: post #14

> According to the recruitment website Hired, the average tech salary in London is $78,000 a year, versus $142,000 in Silicon Valley. And this is one of the reasons for the brain drain that the mention before. Silicon Valley firms pay significantly more than the competition, and they are still paying almost half of what they do in the US. It isn't only about money, but it would be naive to deny it's impact on people'…

In complete terms it's more like 3x that $78k figure. The salary would be bad enough. The big US tech companies are nearly all publicly traded. So that $142,000 is really $250,000 or more in total compensation. The UK, and Europe more broadly, not only can't compete with the salaries, they can't compete with the ability to dish vast stock compensation thanks to the immense market caps that Google et al. have. If you'…

> The top 1/4 in the US have easy, fast access to some of the most elite medical care on the planet. And if you're making $142k in salary in the US, your healthcare is entirely paid for.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that the top 25% earners have access to healthcare. The point of public healthcare is to make sure that the remaining 75% will not get indebted to barely survive.

What would worry an European worker would be :

- What would happen to my (and eventually wife's and kids') access to healthcare if I lose my job ?

- What if I want to start a business ?

- What if I want to go back to college ?

- What if I have to take care of a family member full-time ? Who protects me and this member ?

I am sure US medical care is very elite but what I also see is that a very large part of people who fell into poverty in the US did so because of unexpected health problems that would be taken care of in most European countries.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#86

Post by signal11 »

another-one-off wrote: post #63
robert_foss wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal counter is that I just couldn't morally accept contributing taxes to a nation which: - Exploits the poor and non-citizens - Overthrows governments and bullies smaller countries - Has only the most rudimentary social security system - Does not really have a concept of healthy work/life balance. With little time off and none at all for people with newborns. - Takes near-zero environmental responsibility - L…

That starts to rule out a lot of English speaking countries, including probably the UK. I mean, in the UK alone you'd need to evaluate what, if anything, separates the modern British morals from the morals of the British Empire which was not a very nice organisation [1]. They technically didn't overthrow and bully, but that was because they conquered and colonised. I don't think the lineage of government institutions…

> I gather the Indians still claim that some parts of British royal jewelry were stolen from them and should be returned with an apology.

Bit offtopic, but this is complicated. A lot of the jewellery were taken from present-day Pakistan (or were gifts from kings in that area) so it's not clear to which country they should be returned to.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#87

Post by 6ak74rfy »

fooker wrote: post #76
bepotts wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People on the internet love to exaggerate how bad living in the US is. The US is a big country and there's plenty of places that most people wouldn't like to live (every country has locations like this), but if you're a tech worker, there's no place better in the world to live than in the US. You don't have to live in the Bay Area, you can live in Seattle, New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, or Atlanta. Don't like th…

America is an amazing place to live if you do not have to be stuck in the same place for decades waiting for a green card.

This.

The visa scene is US is fickle and very unfriendly even for folks in high tech companies. For instance, the Green Card process is same for a software developer (no matter what company she is in) and a taxi driver. Of course, I don't have anything against taxi drivers, but I do believe education and professional qualifications should play some role in the Green Card process.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#88

Post by pjmlp »

cup-of-tea wrote: post #67
angarg12 wrote: post #11

> As the tech workers land the big salaries, home prices are skyrocketing, and the locals are being squeezed out. Joke is on them, I'm a new tech immigrant to Cambridge and I still can't buy a house here.

House prices have been skyrocketing for ages already and it's helped by the fact that Cambridge is within commuting distance of London. There's no way your average senior dev could afford to buy a house in Cambridge at this point.

Yep and it is affecting the Bristol area as well.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#89

Post by riyadparvez »

fooker wrote: post #76
bepotts wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People on the internet love to exaggerate how bad living in the US is. The US is a big country and there's plenty of places that most people wouldn't like to live (every country has locations like this), but if you're a tech worker, there's no place better in the world to live than in the US. You don't have to live in the Bay Area, you can live in Seattle, New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, or Atlanta. Don't like th…

America is an amazing place to live if you do not have to be stuck in the same place for decades waiting for a green card.

I think you have better chance getting a green card if you're an illegal immigrant than if you're on H1-B.

Re: Tech Giants Take Their Talent Hunt to Cambridge, UK

#90

Post by cafard »

swarnie_ wrote: post #72
handbanana wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why’s that?

My guess would be healthcare costs, bay area living costs or the dice you you have to pass every time you encounter a police offer.

"the dice you have to [roll] every time you encounter a police [officer]"? Are engineers recruited from Cambridge of the sort that particularly attract the attention of the police?
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