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> Programming is barely a white-collar job here vs. Law or Medicine Programmers routinely earn more than most doctors and healthcare professionals. Also, being
by berdario 5y ago
> Programming is barely a white-collar job here vs. Law or Medicine
Programmers routinely earn more than most doctors and healthcare professionals. Also, being "white-collar" is not about having the highest compensation.
Obviously, private practices, big law firms allow for extremely well paid Law and Medicine jobs. But so do big software corporations.
> the quality of life is just lower (less car ownership
I enjoy renting out a car for trips to unusual locations (places not well served by trains), but I argue that a society with less car ownership is actually a more pleasant one to live in
> much smaller homes without swimming pools
Fair, but is that really common for those who live/commute to work into New York every day?
> or air conditioning
You can just install it, it's much more common nowadays than 30 years ago (obviously, more common in the south, and more common when you actually own the property, instead of renting)
> kitchens without garbage disposal, American fridge-freezers or dishwashers,
indeed, never saw a garbage disposal unit. Besides some banana peels I barely produce any organic waste in my kitchen, though. I think I'd bin it in the same "nice marginal improvement" category as robo toilets in Japan.
> American fridge-freezers or dishwashers
You can just buy them. These kind of items are a small fraction of the cost of a home. If you can afford a home, you can also afford these.
- nivenkos 5y agoBut the issue is when you can't afford a home. Here in Sweden the average price for a flat is like 400k euros. And then those are usually in a shared building so you can't "just" install air conditioning even then. The housing crisis is the real issue for sure.
- secondcoming 5y agoThe UK, Ireland and loads of other places are having housing affordability issues. It's quite serious, but nobody wants property prices to fall. Investment funds are buying up new housing estates by outbidding normal buyers. Even John Lewis, a retailer, is getting into the housing business [0]. The whole system is broken. Personally, I'm half-seriously considering buying a boat. [0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57712618 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57712618
- aqsalose 5y agoI have understood that Swedish housing is a specially bad case, or at least in Finland we like to tell unbelievable horror stories of Swedish housing (Stockholm rent-controlled apartment market where one either waits on queue for years, except if you know the right people; if you are not renting, deal with housing mortgages that are structured so that you will never pay them back in full during your lifetime). (edit. Main point, Sweden is not necessarily a representative case of "Europe".)
- benhurmarcel 5y agoHousing is indeed getting quite expensive, but on an engineer's salary you are in the few lucky ones that are easily able to pay off that 400k€ before your 40s (maybe your 50s at most).
- datenarsch 5y ago> Programmers routinely earn more than most doctors and healthcare professionals. Just curious, in which European country do programmers earn more than most doctors? I'm from Germany and doctors here easily earn 6 figures, something virtually impossible for a programmer or SWE.
- theriddlr 5y agoIn the UK, software engineers outearn doctors. Doctors used to have trouble securing work visas when there was a limit on the number of visas issued. When the limit is hit, the applicants will be prioritised according to the number of 'points'. Higher salaries command higher points. https://workpermit.com/news/uk-tier-2-visa-cap-exemption-doctors-and-nurses-success-20180815 https://workpermit.com/news/uk-tier-2-visa-cap-exemption-doc... https://www.imgconnect.co.uk/news/2021/04/nhs-doctors-pay-scales-in-the-uk-explained/59 https://www.imgconnect.co.uk/news/2021/04/nhs-doctors-pay-sc...