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To some extent, this also applies to software. Except for DeepMind and a few other select places like Altos Labs, getting past £100k is hard, especially outside
by nextos 2y ago
To some extent, this also applies to software. Except for DeepMind and a few other select places like Altos Labs, getting past £100k is hard, especially outside London. Unless you go into finance, of course. But then, you have to stick to London. Finance is like a black hole that sucks a big chunk of the mathematical, CS and statistical UK talent. They have very proactive recruiters trying to e.g. connect with Oxbridge students when they are approaching graduation.
- shermantanktop 2y agoIt’s shocking. Software engineers in the UK are treated like engineers in the US were in the 1960s. Low respect, low pay, while city boys strutting around in shiny suits snapping their fingers to get anything they want.
- torginus 2y agoThat's a weird statement considering I'd have guess the greatest amount of respect and adoration (not necessarily money) (non-software) engineers have gotten in the US would've been during the Space Race and Cold War years. It was real respect for the trade as well, not some secondhand respect that people who make a lot of money and wield a lot of social influence get.
- kjkjadksj 2y agoIt was respected in the sense that there was a need then in american manufacturing for engineering. But the compensation was nowhere near other professional class jobs. So really the respect seemed a bit false: to get people into the door pigeonholed so they can’t leave for higher compensation. Then when manufacturing was outsourced after the 1960s, many of these jobs disappeared. Now people in Guanzhou are designing the factories and process controls.
- dukeyukey 2y agoThis isn't my experience at all, and I've been in London tech for 8 years now. I'm not entirely sure what "low respect" means here, but anywhere I've worked the company is pretty wary of knarking of their developers because we can just up and find another job basically immediately. We get paid a fair bit too - not sure compared to finance, but not hard to hit the 95th percentile or so.
- shermantanktop 2y agoGlad to hear it’s working out for you. I’ve talked to too many UK devs who feel handcuffed when they get even 50% of the US equivalent, because it’s a pay cut to go elsewhere. But, as you say, it’s all relative.
- dukeyukey 2y agoCan't beat yourself up for not getting a salary commensurate with an entirely different economy and strict visa rules. That's just torturing yourself.
- shermantanktop 2y agoIf you work for an American company, then your teammate back in NYC might be a daily reminder.
- retrac98 2y agoI know plenty of engineers (web application developers) making over £100-£150k outside of London, usually in fairly low-stress remote jobs. The pay is clearly nothing compared to the US, but I wouldn’t say it was massively hard for them to get where they are. They all have 5+ years experience at a senior level, and are otherwise just reliable, capable, low-maintenance employees, but maybe that’s rare!
- GasVeteran 2y agoThey are almost always contractors. If you work permanent it tops out max at about £75,000-90,000.
- retrac98 2y agoThey’re not, they’re full time employees.
- GasVeteran 2y agoThen they are very few and far between. Generally the absolute limit is £90k. I've never seen any role for more than 90K unless it was a company in London and those are typically hybrid and not remote.
- jonatron 2y agoThe jobs above 90k generally don't specify a salary on the job posting. Just two examples: Goldman Sachs and Meta.
- GasVeteran 2y agoSo like I said originally these jobs are few and far between. The point is that in the UK the salaries are much lower than those in the US and this is across all experience ranges.
- zipy124 2y ago