The delta is smaller outside the US though. I mean it is insane to me on a rational level that an embedded engineer/programmer working for a company designing

The delta is smaller outside the US though. I mean it is insane to me on a rational level that an embedded engineer/programmer working for a company designing avionics software/train control software in the UK/France or Germany earns less (by half) what someone in SV does working for some start-ups. I get the whole "they are paid what the market determines they are worth thing" but intuitively I find it weird. If I could do my life over again I'd have gone to Uni and done electronics and then moved into that kind of field, not for the money - it's about the same but because it is interesting and you get to point at a train or plane and say "it's safer because I did my job".