4 ms·

I believe that the title sounds more dramatic than the story actually is. A shifting regulatory environment is unpleasant, but not unusual for companies of cert

I believe that the title sounds more dramatic than the story actually is. A shifting regulatory environment is unpleasant, but not unusual for companies of certain scale, or certain industries. Ask any internationally operating bank.

notahacker 8y ago
The banks and multinationals will be fine. The employees who find their jobs/departments have been relocated, the local service providers who benefited hugely from the larger companies' business less so.
- coldtea 8y ago
  So, sort of like when the workers found their jobs/industries have been relocated to cheaper places in EU, China, etc, but now for the tenpercenters and/or financial employees who benefited from that previous round?
  - grey-area 8y ago
    No, everyone will be poorer (in money, opportunities, and in spirit). However it will mostly hit the poorer portions of the population - manual labourers who will see industries predicated on EU access disappear (car factories), agriculture, fishery which depends on EU subsidies that a London-centric government won't replicate, factories in poor areas like Wales which again rely on EU distributed subsidies, those who depend on benefits which will have to be dramatically cut due to falling tax revenue. The 'elite' or 'tenpercenters' as you call them will be just fine - they are flexible and wealthy enough to move country if required to preserve their wealth or found companies elsewhere, and will continue to have that opportunity. It's going to take decades for this to play out though, because of transition agreements and attempts to soften the impact we probably won't see it at first (unless they opt for the WTO rules version of Brexit).
guitarbill 8y ago
On the other hand, good to hear about. Our team had 8 Europeans (including me), and while 6 of them left after Brexit (including me), I know a few people who are still on the fence. Life has largely gone on as normal, and the lack of talent has driven compensation up * . But unless you're a contractor making hay while the sun shines, it's good to keep things like this in mind. * also helps that a lot of business expenses, such as hardware, are USD, so GBP losing value hasn't affected dev salary budgets much
- contravariant 8y ago
  >also helps that a lot of business expenses, such as hardware, are USD, so GBP losing value hasn't affected dev salary budgets much I don't quite understand, wouldn't a falling GBP make expenses higher?
  - richardwhiuk 8y ago
    If you are paid in USD, and expenses are in USD, then the GBP salary budget looks better.
    - guitarbill 8y ago
      Right, a lot of multi-national budgets are USD, so even if you aren't directly "paid in USD", that's what the beancounters see. And of course, you can always simply pass on the price increase to the customer, e.g. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/24/microsoft_price_rises/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/24/microsoft_price_ris...
- Lio 8y ago
  > ....and while 6 of them left after Brexit (including me), I know a few people who are still on the fence. Life has largely gone on as normal, Brexit hasn't happened yet, so it's too early to say if life will go on as normal or not.

notahacker 8y ago

The banks and multinationals will be fine. The employees who find their jobs/departments have been relocated, the local service providers who benefited hugely from the larger companies' business less so.

coldtea 8y ago
So, sort of like when the workers found their jobs/industries have been relocated to cheaper places in EU, China, etc, but now for the tenpercenters and/or financial employees who benefited from that previous round?
- grey-area 8y ago
  No, everyone will be poorer (in money, opportunities, and in spirit). However it will mostly hit the poorer portions of the population - manual labourers who will see industries predicated on EU access disappear (car factories), agriculture, fishery which depends on EU subsidies that a London-centric government won't replicate, factories in poor areas like Wales which again rely on EU distributed subsidies, those who depend on benefits which will have to be dramatically cut due to falling tax revenue. The 'elite' or 'tenpercenters' as you call them will be just fine - they are flexible and wealthy enough to move country if required to preserve their wealth or found companies elsewhere, and will continue to have that opportunity. It's going to take decades for this to play out though, because of transition agreements and attempts to soften the impact we probably won't see it at first (unless they opt for the WTO rules version of Brexit).

guitarbill 8y ago

On the other hand, good to hear about. Our team had 8 Europeans (including me), and while 6 of them left after Brexit (including me), I know a few people who are still on the fence. Life has largely gone on as normal, and the lack of talent has driven compensation up * . But unless you're a contractor making hay while the sun shines, it's good to keep things like this in mind. * also helps that a lot of business expenses, such as hardware, are USD, so GBP losing value hasn't affected dev salary budgets much

contravariant 8y ago
>also helps that a lot of business expenses, such as hardware, are USD, so GBP losing value hasn't affected dev salary budgets much I don't quite understand, wouldn't a falling GBP make expenses higher?
- richardwhiuk 8y ago
  If you are paid in USD, and expenses are in USD, then the GBP salary budget looks better.
  - guitarbill 8y ago
    Right, a lot of multi-national budgets are USD, so even if you aren't directly "paid in USD", that's what the beancounters see. And of course, you can always simply pass on the price increase to the customer, e.g. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/24/microsoft_price_rises/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/24/microsoft_price_ris...
Lio 8y ago
> ....and while 6 of them left after Brexit (including me), I know a few people who are still on the fence. Life has largely gone on as normal, Brexit hasn't happened yet, so it's too early to say if life will go on as normal or not.