7 ms·
As a Bulgarian living and working in London for more than a year now, I have no intention of going back. The IT sector in the country is booming and the money y
by _hao 7y ago
As a Bulgarian living and working in London for more than a year now, I have no intention of going back. The IT sector in the country is booming and the money you can make relative to the cost of living is insane - you can live like a king. To me that is not enough. Money are not enough to make me go back, even though I miss my friends and family. One of the biggest problems for me is that the country is stuck in this perpetual battle between western and Russian influence and that the government on all levels is mafia. There's a lot more that can be said, but speaking for myself and some friends/family that share my opinion that's not going to change soon.
EDIT: mrtksn's comment paints a very good picture.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- moltar 7y agoWhat are the tech salaries like in Bulgaria?
- _hao 7y agoIf you have 5 years of experience as a Senior Back-end engineer you can get something between 2000€-4000€ net (after taxes) in the Bulgarian currency lev - BGN. The Lev is pegged to the Euro at 1.95BGN for 1€. In the capital where the tech jobs are located with that kind of salary you can afford anything you want.
- algo_trader 7y agoCan u mention the best/walkable/sociable neighbourhoods for a visiting developer in Sophia and/or Bansko?
- walshemj 7y agoAnd what salary would you get for Google in London? FYI as an experienced professional I have just been pitched a couple of civil service jobs in London grade 8 to Grade 7 at around 75k - and that would give me about 6.5 k That's the eqvielent of a full Colonel / GS15 if its the higher grade. And I bet a FANG in London pays way more than that as do train drivers
- UserIsUnused 7y agoWith with a much higher pay, London is still much more expensive.
- blue_devil 7y agoFYI, and I kid you not, FANG in London pays 1/3-1/4 of the same job in Seattle (not even going to go into SV numbers). UK taxes are of course double, and rents similar, if not more expensive for London.
- draw_down 7y agoYeah, this dynamic has always shot down any idea of mine to live in the UK, or Western Europe. The salaries are crazy low. I don’t get it.
- tbojanin 7y agoMy cousin is in his 20's, roughly makes 10,000/ month (~ $5600 USD). That salary is absolutely amazing. The article states the minimum monthly salary is $320 ( which a large amount of people make, given that Bulgaria lacks a middle class). The reason he stays in Bulgaria is because of that, he wanted to come join me in the US, but he didn't want to emigrate. edit: mrtksn's comment hits the nail on top of the head.
- kungito 7y agoI keep hearing about these famous salaries in Croatia as well but my impression is that most people get a starting monthly net salary of 1000€ after masters in CS or SDE. Then there's some people who interned during college which get salaries from 1200-2000€ after college depending on how much networking they did. Then there's like 1% of developers/scientists who make 2-5k€ by being able to somehow market them to some external big corps as specialists or consultants but most people including me do not know how to do this. Is your cousin doing remote work for some fancy company or is that by being a full time in a local company?
- tbojanin 7y agoHe is doing full time for a local company. Given that he is in his very late 20's (almost 30). He started around 1200Euro but built his way up to his current salary by jumping companies/roles every 2 years for a salary boost (similarly to how its done in the states).
- senko 7y agoSalaries in the region can vary wildly. Your data for Croatian dev salaries is mostly accurate - junior hires will net up to €1k, if they have some exp (interns or good personal projects) that miight go to €1.5k. Actually €1.5k is median dev salary, with seniors fetching €k2 net and team leads maybe up to €2.5k. Note that this is all net monthly salary. Taxes, social, medical and pension contributions (all witheld by employer) add to roughly again that amount for these salary levels. Here's a recent survey (in Croatian but you'll be able to make sense of the charts and tables) with a lot more details (PDF): https://www.ictbusiness.info/media/infografika/developerske-place/Tomislav_Grubisic-Analiza_placa_developera_programera_2019.pdf https://www.ictbusiness.info/media/infografika/developerske-... Then there's freelance work, which exploded in recent years, partly due to a miscalculated tax break: if you're freelancer and register as a sole proprietor, you pay miniscule tax for up to €40k per year, handily beating most local companies' hiring budgets. This lead to massive uproar by said companies, and there's now quite heated debate around the minutia of it. There are primarily two reasons for the complaints: first is that remote companies (which often hire these freelancers on full-time basis) basically get 50% discount, and the second is that local companies started laying off people and "conntracting" them as "freelancers", which is illegal but the guidelines on how exactly that's determined are extremely vague. And that's just one country :)
- kfk 7y agoUp to net 4000-5000 from what I have heard. Rent is 300-400 eur in the city center. Dinner is 15 euros, lunch 5-8 euros. A decent apartment is 100-150k.
- spdionis 7y agoAn important point here is that you probably can't get reasonable financing to buy said apartment. Mortgages in a similar country start from 6%.
- UserIsUnused 7y agoDepends, if their banks have to follow the central euro bank rates or not, since they have their currency they might not have to, I don't know the specifics on how that works. Anyway, Central bank has interest at negatives, people are buying houses in EU with very little interest.
- spdionis 7y agoYeah, my comment is relevant only for non-euro countries.
- tomp 7y agoWow, that's more than in Slovenia (as far as I know) (another former communist EU country, but officially far more developed) - net salary, I don't know how the tax rates and social contributions compare...
- eanthy 7y agoHow does the politics and whatever people are saying affect your day to day life though? If you can make 10k a month there and buy a flat for 15k, in a few years you don't even need to work anymore. Why would you not even consider living there? Maybe as the old saying: familiarity breeds contempt
- vladimirralev 7y agoThe problem is everything you own can evaporate. 5 years ago we had "the bank of the year" go insolvent in the most ridiculous way, followed by the dumbest cover-up you've ever seen. Cheaper flats like 15k are almost certainly a scam, and unless you are paying a high monthly bribe for "maintenance" you may get a letter from the local authority that your papers are not in order and the building has to be demolished or otherwise fix your newfound legal issues with the land/permits. Things like that are very common in rural areas. In bigger cities there are other scams and other rules to follow. Apparently another scam with fake POAs or corrupt judicial enforcers is picking up pace these days too.
- saiya-jin 7y agoThat's a thing with corrupt, mafia-ridden places - high income will get noticed, unless you try to hide it continuously, effectively and consistently. Then why to have it in the first place. This is not some anonymous 10-million mega city, but place where people know people and foreigners stick out. Politics being corrupt means that anytime you want law to protect you, there would be a hand expecting bribe. Also, usually medical care in such places tends to be subpar. Etc etc etc. It might be a good investment, unless taxation on owned property is/will become bad. Unless you speak well local language, dealing with many things related to ownership will be a pain.
- tyzerdak 7y agoBecause in any day your apartment can be turned into potato. Mafia can get eye on you, or government. Or more extreme for example Crimea occupied, ppl got to jail for nothing and nobody gives a fuck. Better to be in some bigger country with at least some law power. I would go to GB, Canada or Australia if i had a chance.
- Iwan-Zotow 7y ago> and Russian influence wtf are you talking about? you are in EU and NATO, what is the problem?
- gdy 7y agoSouth Stream, Belena nuclear plant
- Iwan-Zotow 7y agoboth canceled
- gdy 7y agoUnder pressure from the EU to the detriment of Bulgaria, all because of the tensions between the EU and Russia.
- chewyland 7y agoThe problem is Russian influence. They continue to be locusts in EU countries and want everything to be bad and miserable and poor. Source, Canadian living in BG for 6 years.
- lostmsu 7y agoDo people speak Russian a lot in Bulgaria in everyday lifes?
- krastanov 7y agoNo. Russian used to be a popular second language to know for the generation that is now in their 50s. People under 40 that know a second language would most probably know English, not Russian. However, there is a significant Russian diaspora in Bulgaria (and it seems to be growing), and they do speak Russian at home.
- lammasass 7y agoSane logic. I returned from the uk to romania, and it is one of the worst decisions. Romania is still corrupt and the culture is absolutely vile.
- pergadad 7y agoLiving in a country with lots of Bulgarian expats. 100% understand your position and would do the same thing - but so sad that most of the good and honest people leave the country. If so of you stayed things would probably change very quickly. :-(