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If you can qualify for that, you might also qualify for O1/EB1 visas in the US which gives a fast track to green card. From what I've heard London has similar

by klipt 5y ago

If you can qualify for that, you might also qualify for O1/EB1 visas in the US which gives a fast track to green card. From what I've heard London has similar high cost of living to Silicon Valley but much lower software engineering compensation, so seems a less desirable place for engineers to work.

qeternity 5y ago
London cost of living is nowhere near Silicon Valley. London can be expensive, but it can also be quite affordable.
- shankysingh 5y ago
  Specailly because public transport is amazing, living outside city is doable, while drawing comparable salary.
  - bluescrn 5y ago
    Public transport is vastly more effective than anywhere else in the UK. But it's still pretty grim, hugely overcrowded at peak times, very unpleasant in warm weather, and that was before there was a deadly virus in the air.
    - hogFeast 5y ago
      It depends what you mean by effective. The requirements for public transport are far larger, and the region does get ludicrously lavished with funds for public transport (the recent expansions actually cost more than supplying the whole country with fibre...obv, the govt took the choice to allow telecoms companies to jack up prices 5%+RPI every year rather than cut back on projects that might lead to lower house prices for those in govt) but the train service in the South-East is comically bad relative to the rest of the UK along almost every metric (again, part of this is the load but...not all of it). So outside London, you can just buy a cheap car, that is an option outside London (only Birmingham and Edinburgh are really undrivable). And if you are in any large city outside London, then the public transport is usually pretty good. Glasgow has an underground system, Newcastle does, Manchester has quite a big tram network iirc, rail is usually far better outside London, buses are usually pretty good (although not everywhere). The only issue that I can see people on here running into is the fact that there is a lot of housebuilding, and infrastructure in some of these new areas is poor...and, although cars are cheap, some cities are just shutting down all car travel from outside (Edinburgh is one, although it is sometimes difficult to distinguish what is deliberate and what is just incompetence).
- bluescrn 5y ago
  Affordable if you're earning 6 figures, or if you're prepared to live like a student, perhaps...
itsbits 5y ago
I don't understand as well..why are compensations so low in London compared to other places? I mean even if you consider cost of living..not good at all
- fridif 5y ago
  People are masochists that don't know any better.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  My understanding is that London is extremely bi-modal. There’s £30k jobs and £300k jobs and not a lot in between. So you can get a good salary but it’s hard to make the enormous job to get into that band.
  - twic 5y ago
    Something like this, but not quite this. The going rate for a good senior developer at a decent company is on the order of 80 - 90 k (maybe more). Where by "good" i mean "Pivotal Labs alumnus", and "senior" i mean 5+ years experience, and "decent company" i mean successful FTSE100 company or funded startup, since those are most of the data points i have. That's base salary, and there will be pension contributions, benefits, maybe worthless options, etc, but not a stock package that doubles the total comp. High finance and FAANGs with London offices pay much more - more base salary, and chunky stock or bonus packages. Not all of finance pays well - plenty of high-street banks pay their developers poorly (and it shows). I work in a successful trading firm and earn comparably to an L5 at Google, according to levels.fyi. Day rates for contractors seem to vary a lot, but 400 - 600 a day, maybe? The contracting scene is still adapting to recent tax law changes, though. This is assuming we're talking about programmers. Median salary across the whole of London is ~40k. Tons of people earning 20k working in a shop etc.
    - user5994461 5y ago
      >>> Day rates for contractors seem to vary a lot, but 400 - 600 a day, maybe? The contracting scene is still adapting to recent tax law changes, though. Contracting has taken a massive hit with COVID and with the change in tax rate, that both happened almost at the same time. Contracting was definitely the way to make it in London. You could charge £500-1000 easily a decade ago with very little taxes. Depends on the skillset. I think that was made it on-par with what you could make in the Silicon Valley and NYC depending on the exchange rate (2016 Brexit really hurt). Some commenters may rightfully point out that it's not as high as L6 compensation, but it's much easier to get and you don't have to spend $60k for a year of college or a day in a hospital (that's the number one of my US coworker quoted for his daughter).
vultour 5y ago
COL is ~1k per bedroom in zone 2/3. I'd say average compensation for "serious" IT positions is 50-70k, you can get to about 150k if you work for a hedge fund or in senior positions at large corporations, after that it's very difficult. So yes, obviously less desirable than making 400k in SF, but as far as Europe goes it doesn't get much better anywhere else.
- klipt 5y ago
  > as far as Europe goes it doesn't get much better Sure, I'm just saying that if you qualify for a highly skilled visa you can probably get one anywhere, so it's better to compare options before you put down roots and you're subject to sunk cost fallacy. A UK passport used to be a great asset but after Brexit I think the value has gone down significantly.
- isatty 5y ago
  Not exactly EU, but it does. Switzerland.
- ptr 5y ago
  That compensation is on par with Stockholm, and that's in Europe. With a lower COL.
digianarchist 5y ago
Or Express Entry for Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry.html https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...

by klipt 5y ago

qeternity 5y ago

London cost of living is nowhere near Silicon Valley. London can be expensive, but it can also be quite affordable.

shankysingh 5y ago
Specailly because public transport is amazing, living outside city is doable, while drawing comparable salary.
- bluescrn 5y ago
  Public transport is vastly more effective than anywhere else in the UK. But it's still pretty grim, hugely overcrowded at peak times, very unpleasant in warm weather, and that was before there was a deadly virus in the air.
  - hogFeast 5y ago
    It depends what you mean by effective. The requirements for public transport are far larger, and the region does get ludicrously lavished with funds for public transport (the recent expansions actually cost more than supplying the whole country with fibre...obv, the govt took the choice to allow telecoms companies to jack up prices 5%+RPI every year rather than cut back on projects that might lead to lower house prices for those in govt) but the train service in the South-East is comically bad relative to the rest of the UK along almost every metric (again, part of this is the load but...not all of it). So outside London, you can just buy a cheap car, that is an option outside London (only Birmingham and Edinburgh are really undrivable). And if you are in any large city outside London, then the public transport is usually pretty good. Glasgow has an underground system, Newcastle does, Manchester has quite a big tram network iirc, rail is usually far better outside London, buses are usually pretty good (although not everywhere). The only issue that I can see people on here running into is the fact that there is a lot of housebuilding, and infrastructure in some of these new areas is poor...and, although cars are cheap, some cities are just shutting down all car travel from outside (Edinburgh is one, although it is sometimes difficult to distinguish what is deliberate and what is just incompetence).
bluescrn 5y ago
Affordable if you're earning 6 figures, or if you're prepared to live like a student, perhaps...

itsbits 5y ago

I don't understand as well..why are compensations so low in London compared to other places? I mean even if you consider cost of living..not good at all

fridif 5y ago
People are masochists that don't know any better.
chrisseaton 5y ago
My understanding is that London is extremely bi-modal. There’s £30k jobs and £300k jobs and not a lot in between. So you can get a good salary but it’s hard to make the enormous job to get into that band.
- twic 5y ago
  Something like this, but not quite this. The going rate for a good senior developer at a decent company is on the order of 80 - 90 k (maybe more). Where by "good" i mean "Pivotal Labs alumnus", and "senior" i mean 5+ years experience, and "decent company" i mean successful FTSE100 company or funded startup, since those are most of the data points i have. That's base salary, and there will be pension contributions, benefits, maybe worthless options, etc, but not a stock package that doubles the total comp. High finance and FAANGs with London offices pay much more - more base salary, and chunky stock or bonus packages. Not all of finance pays well - plenty of high-street banks pay their developers poorly (and it shows). I work in a successful trading firm and earn comparably to an L5 at Google, according to levels.fyi. Day rates for contractors seem to vary a lot, but 400 - 600 a day, maybe? The contracting scene is still adapting to recent tax law changes, though. This is assuming we're talking about programmers. Median salary across the whole of London is ~40k. Tons of people earning 20k working in a shop etc.
  - user5994461 5y ago
    >>> Day rates for contractors seem to vary a lot, but 400 - 600 a day, maybe? The contracting scene is still adapting to recent tax law changes, though. Contracting has taken a massive hit with COVID and with the change in tax rate, that both happened almost at the same time. Contracting was definitely the way to make it in London. You could charge £500-1000 easily a decade ago with very little taxes. Depends on the skillset. I think that was made it on-par with what you could make in the Silicon Valley and NYC depending on the exchange rate (2016 Brexit really hurt). Some commenters may rightfully point out that it's not as high as L6 compensation, but it's much easier to get and you don't have to spend $60k for a year of college or a day in a hospital (that's the number one of my US coworker quoted for his daughter).

vultour 5y ago

COL is ~1k per bedroom in zone 2/3. I'd say average compensation for "serious" IT positions is 50-70k, you can get to about 150k if you work for a hedge fund or in senior positions at large corporations, after that it's very difficult. So yes, obviously less desirable than making 400k in SF, but as far as Europe goes it doesn't get much better anywhere else.

klipt 5y ago
> as far as Europe goes it doesn't get much better Sure, I'm just saying that if you qualify for a highly skilled visa you can probably get one anywhere, so it's better to compare options before you put down roots and you're subject to sunk cost fallacy. A UK passport used to be a great asset but after Brexit I think the value has gone down significantly.
isatty 5y ago
Not exactly EU, but it does. Switzerland.
ptr 5y ago
That compensation is on par with Stockholm, and that's in Europe. With a lower COL.

digianarchist 5y ago

Or Express Entry for Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry.html https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...