5 ms·

I'm earning 6 figures in central Europe working remotely for the Americans. Local corporations can't match that let alone beat it. I'm cheaper than U.S. resourc

I'm earning 6 figures in central Europe working remotely for the Americans. Local corporations can't match that let alone beat it. I'm cheaper than U.S. resources, yet a lot more experienced and productive. I'm happy and the employer is really, really happy. If anything remote work solidified US strong hold on IT talent, not broke it.

pcurve 5y ago
Definitely great news for you, but not so great news for IT talent located the U.S. if more companies start doing this. It's also bad news for employers in your country, because they're losing top talent like yourself to deep pocketed American companies.
- jopsen 5y ago
  > but not so great news for IT talent located the U.S. if more companies start doing this. We've been saying that for 30 years. In the end, the demand for engineers is much bigger than we think. And if price of engineers goes down just a little bit, more projects will become feasible, so demand will go up. So, if anything we might see wages grow less aggressively, long before they stall, and wages will stall long before they go down. Who knows how long the party will last, but odds are it's longer than nmy career. (Unless a bubble blows up SV tomorrow, hehe)
- throwawaygh 5y ago
  Meh. I think folks under-estimate the variety of economies in the US. I could move to WV and live very comfortably on about 60K a year. I could very realistically take a 10x paycut (not that I would bother working for someone else in software at that point... "my engineers/scientists might leave and create the start-up that kills me" is definitely upward pressure on wages at least for a certain class of tech worker) (FWIW, I don't really have a horse in this race; my skillset is unique enough that everyone who competes with me for jobs qualifies for special visas and there's a 10:1 or maybe even 100:1 labor shortage with a 6+ year ramp-up time. But I've worked with off-shore talent and seen the comps... my general impression is that Americans over-estimate the cost of living in the cheapest parts of our country and MASSIVELY under-estimate the cost of living in urban cores of other countries)
- rwaksmunski 5y ago
  The most I was offered locally so far was 60k. While I appreciate where you are coming from, put yourself in my shoes for a moment, if you had the opportunity to triple your income today, would you take it?
- throw123123123 5y ago
  In every country it always is and must be the interest of the great body of the people to buy whatever they want of those who sell it cheapest. - Adam Smith, 1776.

pcurve 5y ago

Definitely great news for you, but not so great news for IT talent located the U.S. if more companies start doing this. It's also bad news for employers in your country, because they're losing top talent like yourself to deep pocketed American companies.

jopsen 5y ago
> but not so great news for IT talent located the U.S. if more companies start doing this. We've been saying that for 30 years. In the end, the demand for engineers is much bigger than we think. And if price of engineers goes down just a little bit, more projects will become feasible, so demand will go up. So, if anything we might see wages grow less aggressively, long before they stall, and wages will stall long before they go down. Who knows how long the party will last, but odds are it's longer than nmy career. (Unless a bubble blows up SV tomorrow, hehe)
throwawaygh 5y ago
Meh. I think folks under-estimate the variety of economies in the US. I could move to WV and live very comfortably on about 60K a year. I could very realistically take a 10x paycut (not that I would bother working for someone else in software at that point... "my engineers/scientists might leave and create the start-up that kills me" is definitely upward pressure on wages at least for a certain class of tech worker) (FWIW, I don't really have a horse in this race; my skillset is unique enough that everyone who competes with me for jobs qualifies for special visas and there's a 10:1 or maybe even 100:1 labor shortage with a 6+ year ramp-up time. But I've worked with off-shore talent and seen the comps... my general impression is that Americans over-estimate the cost of living in the cheapest parts of our country and MASSIVELY under-estimate the cost of living in urban cores of other countries)
rwaksmunski 5y ago
The most I was offered locally so far was 60k. While I appreciate where you are coming from, put yourself in my shoes for a moment, if you had the opportunity to triple your income today, would you take it?
throw123123123 5y ago
In every country it always is and must be the interest of the great body of the people to buy whatever they want of those who sell it cheapest. - Adam Smith, 1776.