As a sometimes-engineer, sometimes-manager in mostly multinational tech, this doesn't reflect my experience at all. I've worked with plenty of low performing I

As a sometimes-engineer, sometimes-manager in mostly multinational tech, this doesn't reflect my experience at all. I've worked with plenty of low performing ICs (as both peer and manager), and the trends are clear: * companies that don't do, or don't do sufficient, technical interviewing * employees with heavy worker protections, like in Germany. I've also worked with fantastic German colleagues btw. But one reason they tended to get paid so much less is that they came with much, much higher risk, as they were essentially un-fireable. Even with imminently clear under performance you're looking at a year of PIPs, paperwork, and CYA bureaucracy. Personally, I've found it more fulfilling to work in at-will places, for much higher wages, with more uniformly excellent colleagues. There's a reason so many of the best software engineers in the world make their way to the US.