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How do salaries compare in Sydney vs the US if you're at a competitive company? If you knew a talented and ambitious programmer early in their career in Austra

How do salaries compare in Sydney vs the US if you're at a competitive company? If you knew a talented and ambitious programmer early in their career in Australia would you recommend they stay or move abroad?

Clewza313 5y ago
Quite good by local standards, but a far cry from Silicon Valley levels. Taxation is a killer as well, and the cost of housing in Sydney is not far off SV levels. If you by "ambitious" you mean ladder-climbing/director/co-founder by 40, SV definitely has a lot more options. But if you just want interesting work, it's not too hard to find.
- AlchemistCamp 5y ago
  I was thinking more like by late 20s if they start young, but basically yes. I personally didn't enter the industry until my 30s and in many ways I think I'm fortunate that my first job was at a startup in Beijing and the next 3 years were all in SF. Back when I was there, it was an amazing place to learn, albeit very expensive and without a commensurate quality of life outside of work.
- jdub 5y ago
  "taxation is a killer"... and yet, some of it is actually spent keeping people alive.
gumby 5y ago
I would recommend you mostly disregard the headline salary or taxes and look at cost of living and resulting disposable income. When you add tax + cost of medical care in both countries the US is higher. Cost of housing, even in Sydney, is high but lower than the Bay Area. The lifestyle is quite different. I am planning to move but am a bit concerned that my (us citizen) partner will find even that adjustment difficult. I think it’s superior or I wouldn’t be longing to move after long term residence in Palo Alto. One thing about disposable income: you’ll often see people around the Bay Area with expensive cars and toys but who live in a small rented apartment. They don’t make enough to buy, so after rent have a lot of disposable income. Over the long term that’s not financially as good as living somewhere else.
- viraptor 5y ago
  There's also public transport. Both Sydney and Melbourne have a decent train/tram/bus network that's usable for daily transport. I'm not familiar with Bay area specifically, but I've seen US areas where the car is a requirement.
brendangregg 5y ago
Sydney is currently deemed a bit lower, but not by huge amount. (So I'm not sharing something I don't know if I can, let me say that someone _else_ in a very similar situation got a 20% cut going to Sydney.) And I think that won't last in the long run, as companies embrace remote and there is competition, it'll be a race towards parity with the US.
joshka 5y ago
Seattle is the answer there to avoid the CA state tax, cheaper rent / cost of living. Check levels.fyi for entry level SDE1 jobs / salaries. $160-190K USD total comp. Rent (usually your biggest expense) for a studio / 1BR is about 1.5-2K/mo. Tax brackets are quite different (that entry level job might push you into the 32% marginal rate, while in AU, that would be the 45% marginal bracket). Mid career you could be earning 3-6x your Aussie salary post tax (depending on the exchange rates, life choices etc.), particularly if you find yourself earning significantly more due to stock appreciation.
- deirdres 5y ago
  Ah, but the weather... yes, I know it doesn't rain as much as people think (I've been there at all times of year) but it is awfully dark for awfully many hours in the winter.
  - joshka 5y ago
    Yep - the weather is terrible. It rains all the time and the people are frosty too :D *Sydney gets more rain per year than Seattle
    - deirdres 5y ago
      Very true! But it's a lot warmer and the day/night seasonal change is not so extreme.
0xy 5y ago
Go to the US. Australia cannot compete on salary, even after cost of living differences. You can easily earn double in the US. The E-3 visa makes it a lot easier than other countries, too.

Clewza313 5y ago

Quite good by local standards, but a far cry from Silicon Valley levels. Taxation is a killer as well, and the cost of housing in Sydney is not far off SV levels. If you by "ambitious" you mean ladder-climbing/director/co-founder by 40, SV definitely has a lot more options. But if you just want interesting work, it's not too hard to find.

AlchemistCamp 5y ago
I was thinking more like by late 20s if they start young, but basically yes. I personally didn't enter the industry until my 30s and in many ways I think I'm fortunate that my first job was at a startup in Beijing and the next 3 years were all in SF. Back when I was there, it was an amazing place to learn, albeit very expensive and without a commensurate quality of life outside of work.
jdub 5y ago
"taxation is a killer"... and yet, some of it is actually spent keeping people alive.

gumby 5y ago

I would recommend you mostly disregard the headline salary or taxes and look at cost of living and resulting disposable income. When you add tax + cost of medical care in both countries the US is higher. Cost of housing, even in Sydney, is high but lower than the Bay Area. The lifestyle is quite different. I am planning to move but am a bit concerned that my (us citizen) partner will find even that adjustment difficult. I think it’s superior or I wouldn’t be longing to move after long term residence in Palo Alto. One thing about disposable income: you’ll often see people around the Bay Area with expensive cars and toys but who live in a small rented apartment. They don’t make enough to buy, so after rent have a lot of disposable income. Over the long term that’s not financially as good as living somewhere else.

viraptor 5y ago
There's also public transport. Both Sydney and Melbourne have a decent train/tram/bus network that's usable for daily transport. I'm not familiar with Bay area specifically, but I've seen US areas where the car is a requirement.

brendangregg 5y ago

Sydney is currently deemed a bit lower, but not by huge amount. (So I'm not sharing something I don't know if I can, let me say that someone _else_ in a very similar situation got a 20% cut going to Sydney.) And I think that won't last in the long run, as companies embrace remote and there is competition, it'll be a race towards parity with the US.

joshka 5y ago

Seattle is the answer there to avoid the CA state tax, cheaper rent / cost of living. Check levels.fyi for entry level SDE1 jobs / salaries. $160-190K USD total comp. Rent (usually your biggest expense) for a studio / 1BR is about 1.5-2K/mo. Tax brackets are quite different (that entry level job might push you into the 32% marginal rate, while in AU, that would be the 45% marginal bracket). Mid career you could be earning 3-6x your Aussie salary post tax (depending on the exchange rates, life choices etc.), particularly if you find yourself earning significantly more due to stock appreciation.

deirdres 5y ago
Ah, but the weather... yes, I know it doesn't rain as much as people think (I've been there at all times of year) but it is awfully dark for awfully many hours in the winter.
- joshka 5y ago
  Yep - the weather is terrible. It rains all the time and the people are frosty too :D *Sydney gets more rain per year than Seattle
  - deirdres 5y ago
    Very true! But it's a lot warmer and the day/night seasonal change is not so extreme.

0xy 5y ago

Go to the US. Australia cannot compete on salary, even after cost of living differences. You can easily earn double in the US. The E-3 visa makes it a lot easier than other countries, too.