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I can't answer all these questions, but I'm doing this right now. Moving from Denver, CO -> Berlin, Germany. I start in May. I'm taking about a 50% pay cut on p

I can't answer all these questions, but I'm doing this right now. Moving from Denver, CO -> Berlin, Germany. I start in May. I'm taking about a 50% pay cut on paper (for a Senior Software Engineer position), although what's interesting is Berlin has a lower cost of living, and in particular rental prices are actually reasonable. My plan is for this to be a ~5 year thing, just because it would be hard to leave my family. I already know I'm going to miss gaming with friends online due to the time difference.

shetill 5y ago
Senior Software Engineer in UK here, I can barely save anything after rent and bills. Honestly I don't even know why I don't just go US, have nothing here, no house, no friends, no family.
holdenbruce 5y ago
doing a similar thing this summer, moving from nyc to berlin
- shankr 5y ago
  Good luck with apartment search!
  - bogomipz 5y ago
    I'm guessing this is still as insane as ever? Or has Covid actually changed that?
    - shankr 5y ago
      Yeah same as before. But if you throw money at it, might get resolved.
karaterobot 5y ago
> I'm taking about a 50% pay cut on paper (for a Senior Software Engineer position) A friend of mine moved from Seattle to Munich for work as an SSE, and his experience with respect to the pay cut matches yours. He was expecting that, but did not factor in the increase in taxes on top of that. He said he was broke and living off savings for the first time in his adult life, while working 40 hours a week for a major software company.
- Hamuko 5y ago
  How can you be broke as a senior software engineer? Even if the wages are lower than in the US, they're probably still in the better half of the wage pyramid. (I'm a senior software engineer in Europe, doing alright) Did he have massive student debt or something?
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    > How can you be broke as a senior software engineer? Housing and taxes are both expensive.
    - Hamuko 5y ago
      They're not that expensive, and if a senior software engineer can't put a roof on top of themselves while paying taxes, how can anyone expect a school teacher or a nurse to do so?
      - Nextgrid 5y ago
        Those are not mutually exclusive. Both software engineers and school teachers can be in the shit. I'd argue that the tax impact is even worse for software engineers (as the top end of their salary is mostly consumed by the higher tax brackets) and their net situation ends up not much above that of a school teacher.
  - karaterobot 5y ago
    He didn't mention debt. I kinda wanted to be vague, since I'm just recapitulating a breakfast conversation I had nine months ago, and don't know a ton of details. I believe that he had to continue paying U.S. taxes in addition to the higher German taxes.
    - larkost 5y ago
      If your taxes wind up higher, then you have to file your U.S. taxes, but they wind up being minimal to 0, as the U.S. counts the taxes you pay there in lieu of paying to the U.S.. Mostly your extra expense should be in fees paid to one of the tax accountants who actually know their way around these tax laws/treaties.

shetill 5y ago

Senior Software Engineer in UK here, I can barely save anything after rent and bills. Honestly I don't even know why I don't just go US, have nothing here, no house, no friends, no family.

holdenbruce 5y ago

doing a similar thing this summer, moving from nyc to berlin

shankr 5y ago
Good luck with apartment search!
- bogomipz 5y ago
  I'm guessing this is still as insane as ever? Or has Covid actually changed that?
  - shankr 5y ago
    Yeah same as before. But if you throw money at it, might get resolved.

karaterobot 5y ago

> I'm taking about a 50% pay cut on paper (for a Senior Software Engineer position) A friend of mine moved from Seattle to Munich for work as an SSE, and his experience with respect to the pay cut matches yours. He was expecting that, but did not factor in the increase in taxes on top of that. He said he was broke and living off savings for the first time in his adult life, while working 40 hours a week for a major software company.

Hamuko 5y ago
How can you be broke as a senior software engineer? Even if the wages are lower than in the US, they're probably still in the better half of the wage pyramid. (I'm a senior software engineer in Europe, doing alright) Did he have massive student debt or something?
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  > How can you be broke as a senior software engineer? Housing and taxes are both expensive.
  - Hamuko 5y ago
    They're not that expensive, and if a senior software engineer can't put a roof on top of themselves while paying taxes, how can anyone expect a school teacher or a nurse to do so?
    - Nextgrid 5y ago
      Those are not mutually exclusive. Both software engineers and school teachers can be in the shit. I'd argue that the tax impact is even worse for software engineers (as the top end of their salary is mostly consumed by the higher tax brackets) and their net situation ends up not much above that of a school teacher.
- karaterobot 5y ago
  He didn't mention debt. I kinda wanted to be vague, since I'm just recapitulating a breakfast conversation I had nine months ago, and don't know a ton of details. I believe that he had to continue paying U.S. taxes in addition to the higher German taxes.
  - larkost 5y ago
    If your taxes wind up higher, then you have to file your U.S. taxes, but they wind up being minimal to 0, as the U.S. counts the taxes you pay there in lieu of paying to the U.S.. Mostly your extra expense should be in fees paid to one of the tax accountants who actually know their way around these tax laws/treaties.