27 ms·

Curious question: does that also mean you get US salaries between $100K - $120K?

fy20 5y ago
I'm in Eastern Europe working for a US company earning just over $100k/yr. Been working for this company for 4 years now. Before that I was working as a contractor in the UK earning more, but wanted something remote and more relaxed :-)
klyrs 5y ago
I know somebody working in Canada, getting paid the same as other seniors at an SF-based startup. It's quite a bit more than that range. The lease on the startup's SF office came up as the pandemic hit, so they vacated the premises and used the considerable savings to hire more developers.
itake 5y ago
In 2017, I had $132k USD/yr salary working in Vietnam full time. I am sure you can negotiate a lower salary if you don't want to earn more than $120k.
- longnguyen 5y ago
  Curious: where can I find those remote opportunities in Vietnam?
- mettamage 5y ago
  I need to find myself a remote US job then :D
- registeredcorn 5y ago
  This might be a bit personal but, honestly, what is the QoL like with that level of income? I've been to a few Asian nations previously and was extremely impressed how well one could eat on such a small amount of money. I had never seriously considered staying long-term, due to complications you may be familiar with, but I would imagine you can live pretty well with that kind of pay.
  - itake 5y ago
    I have always lived my life frugally (at the cost of QoL) in all of my adventures both domestically and internationally, with that said, in VN to have a more "western" level of comfort, the costs equal or surpass the costs in a western country. Quality of goods, services, and properties are measurably lower and you need to spend more to keep the life style you want. There are things that we get in the USA insanely cheaply, but over there its really expensive. Items like Motrin, cars, electronics, and good mattresses are difficult to find or measurably more expensive. Just to throw a few examples, there are no Apple stores in Vietnam and the Apple products sold in official apple stores in Thailand or Singapore are measurably more expensive due to import taxes and higher prices. The home construction was low quality and always had pests and mold. Even the new apartments were rushed together and often never completed. I loved my time there and look forward to returning, but you have to compromise in both career development and life style.
    - registeredcorn 5y ago
      Thanks for being so open about all of that! :) There's a lot to consider there that I hadn't thought of previously.
  - redis_mlc 5y ago
    If you speak and read the local language, life is very good on a US salary. The main QoL issues are that things take longer to do (you can visit 10 stores in the US in the time it takes to do 1 or 2 there), and traffic jams can suck. Also, engineers there have the same status as rock stars in the US. Note that a lot of "digital nomads" report having problems getting new work there, or worse, returning to the US broke and struggling to find work - so starting their life and career over.
gtirloni 5y ago
It depends. Some companies pay local salaries, others just keep paying whatever they pay at HQ.
- jbn 5y ago
  can't really do this for very long. the local country will usually want to collect its own business/employment taxes on employed work.
  - gtirloni 5y ago
    It varies by country and your fiscal status, but as long as you pay taxes on your earnings, you're usually fine. If HQ salary > local salary, the government just gets more taxes.
anonymous2324 5y ago
Currently I'm making under $100K but I realized I'm getting severely underpaid. I'm currently interviewing at a bunch of places offering salaries ranging between $120K on the low end up to over $170K on the high end. They are all startups hence this question as I was wondering if bigger organizations would be worth looking into as well.
- digaozao 5y ago
  How did you found these opportunities? Some network of friends? Or regular stackoverflow jobs or another portal?
msbarnett 5y ago
Yeah, I'm making above that USD, as a Canadian remotely for a company in the US.
908B64B197 5y ago
Yes. Any company that tries to play games with CoL is a red flag, to be honest. It basically mean they can't attract the best everywhere (since you know top performers are already working for SF level comp for remote companies) so good luck competing.
- slyall 5y ago
  Asking for Bay Area level pay gives up a big advantage if you live elsewhere. If the going rate in SF is $200k then if I want the same I have to be better than somebody local. Whereas if I am working for $100k then that compensates if I'm in a different timezone and perhaps not up to the skill level of a SF local.
  - 908B64B197 5y ago
    > I'm in a different timezone and perhaps not up to the skill level of a SF local. I don't think time zone has anything to do. Hell, even local devs have a reputation of having biological clocks all over the place. Skills definitively matters however.

fy20 5y ago

I'm in Eastern Europe working for a US company earning just over $100k/yr. Been working for this company for 4 years now. Before that I was working as a contractor in the UK earning more, but wanted something remote and more relaxed :-)

klyrs 5y ago

I know somebody working in Canada, getting paid the same as other seniors at an SF-based startup. It's quite a bit more than that range. The lease on the startup's SF office came up as the pandemic hit, so they vacated the premises and used the considerable savings to hire more developers.

itake 5y ago

In 2017, I had $132k USD/yr salary working in Vietnam full time. I am sure you can negotiate a lower salary if you don't want to earn more than $120k.

longnguyen 5y ago
Curious: where can I find those remote opportunities in Vietnam?
mettamage 5y ago
I need to find myself a remote US job then :D
registeredcorn 5y ago
This might be a bit personal but, honestly, what is the QoL like with that level of income? I've been to a few Asian nations previously and was extremely impressed how well one could eat on such a small amount of money. I had never seriously considered staying long-term, due to complications you may be familiar with, but I would imagine you can live pretty well with that kind of pay.
- itake 5y ago
  I have always lived my life frugally (at the cost of QoL) in all of my adventures both domestically and internationally, with that said, in VN to have a more "western" level of comfort, the costs equal or surpass the costs in a western country. Quality of goods, services, and properties are measurably lower and you need to spend more to keep the life style you want. There are things that we get in the USA insanely cheaply, but over there its really expensive. Items like Motrin, cars, electronics, and good mattresses are difficult to find or measurably more expensive. Just to throw a few examples, there are no Apple stores in Vietnam and the Apple products sold in official apple stores in Thailand or Singapore are measurably more expensive due to import taxes and higher prices. The home construction was low quality and always had pests and mold. Even the new apartments were rushed together and often never completed. I loved my time there and look forward to returning, but you have to compromise in both career development and life style.
  - registeredcorn 5y ago
    Thanks for being so open about all of that! :) There's a lot to consider there that I hadn't thought of previously.
- redis_mlc 5y ago
  If you speak and read the local language, life is very good on a US salary. The main QoL issues are that things take longer to do (you can visit 10 stores in the US in the time it takes to do 1 or 2 there), and traffic jams can suck. Also, engineers there have the same status as rock stars in the US. Note that a lot of "digital nomads" report having problems getting new work there, or worse, returning to the US broke and struggling to find work - so starting their life and career over.

gtirloni 5y ago

It depends. Some companies pay local salaries, others just keep paying whatever they pay at HQ.

jbn 5y ago
can't really do this for very long. the local country will usually want to collect its own business/employment taxes on employed work.
- gtirloni 5y ago
  It varies by country and your fiscal status, but as long as you pay taxes on your earnings, you're usually fine. If HQ salary > local salary, the government just gets more taxes.

anonymous2324 5y ago

Currently I'm making under $100K but I realized I'm getting severely underpaid. I'm currently interviewing at a bunch of places offering salaries ranging between $120K on the low end up to over $170K on the high end. They are all startups hence this question as I was wondering if bigger organizations would be worth looking into as well.

digaozao 5y ago
How did you found these opportunities? Some network of friends? Or regular stackoverflow jobs or another portal?

msbarnett 5y ago

Yeah, I'm making above that USD, as a Canadian remotely for a company in the US.

908B64B197 5y ago

Yes. Any company that tries to play games with CoL is a red flag, to be honest. It basically mean they can't attract the best everywhere (since you know top performers are already working for SF level comp for remote companies) so good luck competing.

slyall 5y ago
Asking for Bay Area level pay gives up a big advantage if you live elsewhere. If the going rate in SF is $200k then if I want the same I have to be better than somebody local. Whereas if I am working for $100k then that compensates if I'm in a different timezone and perhaps not up to the skill level of a SF local.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  > I'm in a different timezone and perhaps not up to the skill level of a SF local. I don't think time zone has anything to do. Hell, even local devs have a reputation of having biological clocks all over the place. Skills definitively matters however.