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I don’t understand why we get paid so much here. I’m from the UK but have been working in the US since I got my degree and my total comp - after adjusting for c

I don’t understand why we get paid so much here. I’m from the UK but have been working in the US since I got my degree and my total comp - after adjusting for cost-of-living is easily 2x-3x what it would be in the UK for the exact same work. It’s similar if you compare Seattle with Vancouver, BC - it’s only a 2-hour drive away, but salaries for the same work are around 50-66% of Seattle’s.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Because you participate more in the value of the product you produce? What would you prefer, than the executive board should keep all that instead?
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  In my current business at least: the market is 5x bigger than the UK’s (5x the population after-all). But that doesn’t explain other disparities.
  - apta 6y ago
    It just means that they're heavily underpaid in the UK.
jackcosgrove 6y ago
I would argue developers in the UK and Canada are underpaid. Silicon Valley is unique even in the US in that the companies see developers as revenue sources rather than costs.
- mehrdadn 6y ago
  > I would argue developers in the UK and Canada are underpaid. What about non-software engineers?
  - jackcosgrove 6y ago
    My outsider impression of the UK, and other anglophone places outside certain American tech companies, is that technical roles are undervalued relative to business roles.
- bambataa 6y ago
  Until fairly recently UK developers could earn far more by contracting. The job market was weirdly bimodal.
coldcode 6y ago
I live in a large, but not very tech, eastern city and I make about what interns get at Google. Then again the cost of living is way way less so I come out ahead.
eigenvector 6y ago
US tech pay is led by the FAANG companies, all of which are US-based and capture a massive share of all profit from Internet business. Everyone else is forced to catch up and try to compete with those pay levels. You may be doing the same work in Copenhagen or Calgary, but most likely for a company that generates way less money from that work.
RhysU 6y ago
A friend deliberately overpays his babysitter relative to market rates. Anytime his family needs help, the babysitter is happy to oblige. US FAANG employees are paid highly so that they do not look elsewhere. The better for the FAANG companies to hoover up any opportunity that another industry could conceivably address.
- vimax 6y ago
  To do it in true FAANG style, you'd need to collude with all the other parents to set the market rate lower and ensure noone offers your babysitter anything higher.
blaser-waffle 6y ago
> It’s similar if you compare Seattle with Vancouver, BC - it’s only a 2-hour drive away, but salaries for the same work are around 50-66% of Seattle’s. USA-ian in Canada here, still technically a WA resident too -- compensation isn't normally that bad, the ~40% currency difference is what really hurts. Normally the Vancouver-Seattle difference isn't as pronounced, though it's still skewed heavily towards Seattle. The biggest difference, IMO, is that housing in the Vancouver area is crazy expensive, way more than Seattle, and completely out of sync for local salaries.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

Because you participate more in the value of the product you produce? What would you prefer, than the executive board should keep all that instead?

DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
In my current business at least: the market is 5x bigger than the UK’s (5x the population after-all). But that doesn’t explain other disparities.
- apta 6y ago
  It just means that they're heavily underpaid in the UK.

jackcosgrove 6y ago

I would argue developers in the UK and Canada are underpaid. Silicon Valley is unique even in the US in that the companies see developers as revenue sources rather than costs.

mehrdadn 6y ago
> I would argue developers in the UK and Canada are underpaid. What about non-software engineers?
- jackcosgrove 6y ago
  My outsider impression of the UK, and other anglophone places outside certain American tech companies, is that technical roles are undervalued relative to business roles.
bambataa 6y ago
Until fairly recently UK developers could earn far more by contracting. The job market was weirdly bimodal.

coldcode 6y ago

I live in a large, but not very tech, eastern city and I make about what interns get at Google. Then again the cost of living is way way less so I come out ahead.

eigenvector 6y ago

US tech pay is led by the FAANG companies, all of which are US-based and capture a massive share of all profit from Internet business. Everyone else is forced to catch up and try to compete with those pay levels. You may be doing the same work in Copenhagen or Calgary, but most likely for a company that generates way less money from that work.

RhysU 6y ago

A friend deliberately overpays his babysitter relative to market rates. Anytime his family needs help, the babysitter is happy to oblige. US FAANG employees are paid highly so that they do not look elsewhere. The better for the FAANG companies to hoover up any opportunity that another industry could conceivably address.

vimax 6y ago
To do it in true FAANG style, you'd need to collude with all the other parents to set the market rate lower and ensure noone offers your babysitter anything higher.

blaser-waffle 6y ago

> It’s similar if you compare Seattle with Vancouver, BC - it’s only a 2-hour drive away, but salaries for the same work are around 50-66% of Seattle’s. USA-ian in Canada here, still technically a WA resident too -- compensation isn't normally that bad, the ~40% currency difference is what really hurts. Normally the Vancouver-Seattle difference isn't as pronounced, though it's still skewed heavily towards Seattle. The biggest difference, IMO, is that housing in the Vancouver area is crazy expensive, way more than Seattle, and completely out of sync for local salaries.