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Average software engineer salary in London is ~42k (https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/london-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,6_IM1035_KO7,24.htm https://w

Average software engineer salary in London is ~42k (https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/london-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,6_IM1035_KO7,24.htm https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/london-software-enginee...). Average FDE base salary at palantir london is 76k (https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/Palantir-Technologies-Forward-Deployed-Engineer-London-Salaries-EJI_IE236375.0,21_KO22,47_IL.48,54_IM1035.htm https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/Palantir-Technologies-For...). Average 'consultant' at IBM in london is 42k (https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/IBM-Consultant-London-Salaries-EJI_IE354.0,3_KO4,14_IL.15,21_IM1035.htm https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/IBM-Consultant-London-Sal...). This is not what an 'underpaying sweat shop' looks like. The hours are a red herring. Sure, there's people who work very long hours, because they have nothing else to do. But in 2 years as an FDE at Palantir I averaged maybe 50h a week, and only remember one crunch week in all two years where I chose to work >80h (i.e. work on the weekend).

user5994461 10y ago
You might not realize but 50 hours average is a lot. The 42k figure is very low. That's likely for all IT roles including tech support and help desk. If you are good enough to enter Palantir (they have some standards despite the bad PR), you are good enough to enter a real tech company. Note that if you are a consultant going left and right to a new client regularly, you should make a comparison against being an independent contractor too.
- Anderkent 10y ago
  50h average is highish but not overwhelming. (Also I probably overestimated, I probably have as many ~50h weeks as 35-40h weeks; but I figured better be conservative) You get people on hackernews talking about how they work 60-80 hours all the time. 42k is not very low for an effecitvely entry level software engineer position. My first job in london after (a v. good) college was ~30k (5 years ago though, so sure inflation probably makes that ~32-33k now); finance was paying ~38-40k to grads back then. Of course independent contracting is a thing; but you can't really be an independent contractor right after college (unless you built a great network, but then you're a ridiculous outlier), and even with job experience it's not a clear tradeoff. But generally, it feels like you've moved the goalpost quite a bit here. Originally you claim the company exploits young graduates to build a sweatshop. Now we're talking about how they compare to the best tech companies around, and independent contracting.
  - walshemj 10y ago
    And HMRC will hit you with IR35 s contracting is no longer as lucrative as it was unless of course your an accountant or a lawyer
  - alistairSH 10y ago
    50h average is highish but not overwhelming. That's 25% over a "standard" work week in the US. If that 42k is based on 40h/week, you'd need to earn 53k+ to "break even" on a 50+h/week (which Palantir appears to do). FWIW, there are plenty of 40h-45h/week software jobs in the US that pay well into six figures.
  - user5994461 10y ago
    There is a wide range of companies, usually body shops at the bottom and tech companies at the top. Of course there is a wide variance, a great consulting shop is better than a terrible software company. Palantir London is decent in compensation from what I have heard (that doesn't speak for their other offices). They are however known for pushing 60h+ hours weeks very very bad until your whole life is your work, screwing people with shares that will never be paid, and sending people here and there around various locations. Of course, there is also variance within a single company. It's possible that you've got a good position at Palantir.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

user5994461 10y ago

You might not realize but 50 hours average is a lot. The 42k figure is very low. That's likely for all IT roles including tech support and help desk. If you are good enough to enter Palantir (they have some standards despite the bad PR), you are good enough to enter a real tech company. Note that if you are a consultant going left and right to a new client regularly, you should make a comparison against being an independent contractor too.

Anderkent 10y ago
50h average is highish but not overwhelming. (Also I probably overestimated, I probably have as many ~50h weeks as 35-40h weeks; but I figured better be conservative) You get people on hackernews talking about how they work 60-80 hours all the time. 42k is not very low for an effecitvely entry level software engineer position. My first job in london after (a v. good) college was ~30k (5 years ago though, so sure inflation probably makes that ~32-33k now); finance was paying ~38-40k to grads back then. Of course independent contracting is a thing; but you can't really be an independent contractor right after college (unless you built a great network, but then you're a ridiculous outlier), and even with job experience it's not a clear tradeoff. But generally, it feels like you've moved the goalpost quite a bit here. Originally you claim the company exploits young graduates to build a sweatshop. Now we're talking about how they compare to the best tech companies around, and independent contracting.
- walshemj 10y ago
  And HMRC will hit you with IR35 s contracting is no longer as lucrative as it was unless of course your an accountant or a lawyer
- alistairSH 10y ago
  50h average is highish but not overwhelming. That's 25% over a "standard" work week in the US. If that 42k is based on 40h/week, you'd need to earn 53k+ to "break even" on a 50+h/week (which Palantir appears to do). FWIW, there are plenty of 40h-45h/week software jobs in the US that pay well into six figures.
- user5994461 10y ago
  There is a wide range of companies, usually body shops at the bottom and tech companies at the top. Of course there is a wide variance, a great consulting shop is better than a terrible software company. Palantir London is decent in compensation from what I have heard (that doesn't speak for their other offices). They are however known for pushing 60h+ hours weeks very very bad until your whole life is your work, screwing people with shares that will never be paid, and sending people here and there around various locations. Of course, there is also variance within a single company. It's possible that you've got a good position at Palantir.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]