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At some point, higher individual compensation doesn't matter much if everyone else in your community is overworked and underpaid. I think many Dutch or French

At some point, higher individual compensation doesn't matter much if everyone else in your community is overworked and underpaid. I think many Dutch or French software developers are living better lives than developers in California, all things considered.

constantcrying 3y ago
>At some point, higher individual compensation doesn't matter much if everyone else in your community is overworked and underpaid. I think that totally depends on the individual and their circumstances. >I think many Dutch or French software developers are living better lives than developers in California, all things considered. European developers generally earn much less than Americans, especially after taxes you can get to a 2x difference with comparable cost of living depending on area. In generally wages in Europe are much more even, here in Germany you have a heavily bracketed income tax system, even significant increases in wage usually become much smaller if you consider the additional taxes.
- silverquiet 3y ago
  Developers the world over earn much less than Americans. It's why I've always told American developers to be careful what they wish for when it comes to remote work. But it might just be possible that there's more to life than money.
  - Rinzler89 3y ago
    >But it might just be possible that there's more to life than money. There is yes, but a house is still paid in money.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - rsdfdfdfdf 3y ago
      Housing is universally messed up everywhere in Western world, no matter salaries. Where the salaries are higher, houses prices are accordingly higher as well. Only places where housing is affordable are the ones with no jobs. Good for remote workers, but not much else.
      - Rinzler89 3y ago
        >Housing is universally messed up everywhere in Western world, no matter salaries. Not to the same scale though. IN Europe and especially Canada housing is way more expensive to buy than in the US relative to local wages. Americans forget how good the4y have it.
harimau777 3y ago
This is definitely the case for me. The number one thing bringing down my quality of life is that my friends don't have time/money to do things and I'm worried about their physical, mental, and financial health.
willcipriano 3y ago
All individual compensation is a delta over what a low skill worker would get. Pay fast food workers 80k a year and software engineers would start at 300k.
- constantcrying 3y ago
  Also known as inflation.
  - willcipriano 3y ago
    No. Independent from that. Jobs that require more skill or jobs that are more difficult have to offer more to get people to work for them. Raise the bar at the bottom and all wages will go up, otherwise workers will "demote" themselves. This is a distinct effect from prices raising and workers asking higher wages to counteract inflation (if they could do that why aren't they?).
    - avvvv 3y ago
      Then everyone gets to benefit, no? All developing nations have far lower wages than the west, but that's often offset by lower living costs. But try to buy something out of the international market and you'll quickly feel envy. If there is an issue with higher wages then I don't see it
      - MichaelZuo 3y ago
        Nobody would benefit because if fast food workers start at 80k, then a basic hamburger would start at $20. And an iPhone pro would start at $2000.
        CapstanRoller 3y ago
        Your argument doesn't match reality. We don't need hypotheticals here: McDonalds workers in EU countries earn significantly more than their US counterparts, yet a Big Mac costs the same of just a few pennies more.

constantcrying 3y ago

>At some point, higher individual compensation doesn't matter much if everyone else in your community is overworked and underpaid. I think that totally depends on the individual and their circumstances. >I think many Dutch or French software developers are living better lives than developers in California, all things considered. European developers generally earn much less than Americans, especially after taxes you can get to a 2x difference with comparable cost of living depending on area. In generally wages in Europe are much more even, here in Germany you have a heavily bracketed income tax system, even significant increases in wage usually become much smaller if you consider the additional taxes.

silverquiet 3y ago
Developers the world over earn much less than Americans. It's why I've always told American developers to be careful what they wish for when it comes to remote work. But it might just be possible that there's more to life than money.
- Rinzler89 3y ago
  >But it might just be possible that there's more to life than money. There is yes, but a house is still paid in money.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - rsdfdfdfdf 3y ago
    Housing is universally messed up everywhere in Western world, no matter salaries. Where the salaries are higher, houses prices are accordingly higher as well. Only places where housing is affordable are the ones with no jobs. Good for remote workers, but not much else.
    - Rinzler89 3y ago
      >Housing is universally messed up everywhere in Western world, no matter salaries. Not to the same scale though. IN Europe and especially Canada housing is way more expensive to buy than in the US relative to local wages. Americans forget how good the4y have it.

harimau777 3y ago

This is definitely the case for me. The number one thing bringing down my quality of life is that my friends don't have time/money to do things and I'm worried about their physical, mental, and financial health.

willcipriano 3y ago

All individual compensation is a delta over what a low skill worker would get. Pay fast food workers 80k a year and software engineers would start at 300k.

constantcrying 3y ago
Also known as inflation.
- willcipriano 3y ago
  No. Independent from that. Jobs that require more skill or jobs that are more difficult have to offer more to get people to work for them. Raise the bar at the bottom and all wages will go up, otherwise workers will "demote" themselves. This is a distinct effect from prices raising and workers asking higher wages to counteract inflation (if they could do that why aren't they?).
  - avvvv 3y ago
    Then everyone gets to benefit, no? All developing nations have far lower wages than the west, but that's often offset by lower living costs. But try to buy something out of the international market and you'll quickly feel envy. If there is an issue with higher wages then I don't see it
    - MichaelZuo 3y ago
      Nobody would benefit because if fast food workers start at 80k, then a basic hamburger would start at $20. And an iPhone pro would start at $2000.
      - CapstanRoller 3y ago
        Your argument doesn't match reality. We don't need hypotheticals here: McDonalds workers in EU countries earn significantly more than their US counterparts, yet a Big Mac costs the same of just a few pennies more.