6 ms·

Because of the salaries. They are much higher in the US. Also, the SV bay area has an absurd concentration of talent that you probably can't find anywhere else.

Because of the salaries. They are much higher in the US. Also, the SV bay area has an absurd concentration of talent that you probably can't find anywhere else. Having a head start from anyone else helps. But don't worry, I'm sure that in the current climate Europe will be able to gather and retain talent. I personally would be much more happy to work for lower pay than contributing to the prosperity of such a predatory country. Funny thing, I considered working in the US a couple of years ago but 2 reasons made me give up. The emigration felt hard and confusing as if they didn't want people there. And second, my wife was afraid of the gun violence in the US.

seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
Chinese salaries aren’t bad in tech, especially compared to Europe/Japan/Taiwan but even when compared to Canada. It’s pretty clear where talent could go in the future at least if Europe doesn’t up its game.
- decimalenough 9mo ago
  China is not welcoming to talent unless it's Chinese, and since COVID there has actually been an exodus of both locals and expats out of the country. They belatedly recognized this and introduced a "K visa" specifically to draw in talent, but the mere possibility of this bringing Indians has created a furious backlash. https://chinaglobalsouth.com/2025/10/05/china-k-visa-indian-talent-job-competition/ https://chinaglobalsouth.com/2025/10/05/china-k-visa-indian-...
  - seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
    China goes up and down on this, I was there when foreigner employment was on the rise, but that fell off even before COVID. A lot of people left during COVID, surely, but that is recovering now as well. While you aren’t wrong, I think it’s totally possible for their AI and automation boom to draw in significant world talent again. You’ll see first other Asians (mostly Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese) working in China, they are definitely less noticeable. The rest will follow, Chinese are a lot less xenophobic snd more pragmatic than they appear.
QGQBGdeZREunxLe 9mo ago
I work remote and was offered a chance to move to the US. Exactly the same job both sides of the border but US pay was +30% and joint-filing cut my taxes significantly. I was also able to get a few health issues sorted that had been denied by provincial insurance. The thing that really pushed me to leave though was housing costs relative to income. In Canada it has reached absurd levels. It was well into the 50% of take home pay going to housing. Here's it's less than a third.
myk9001 9mo ago
> I personally would be much more happy to work for lower pay than contributing to the prosperity of such a predatory country. Even if that pay was so much lower that you'd have to split your rent with flatmates? (yes, European comp is typically that bad, not oveblowing this) Then I admire your principled position, but you're one in a million.
- RealityVoid 9mo ago
  First of all, I am an EU citizen and I absolutely don't have to split rent with any flatmates. In fact, I own my residence. Second, I did in fact split my rent with flatmates during my 6 years of college, we lived 5 people in about 200sqft, then my first job I split and apartment with 3 other people. That was luxurious already! Sure, it would tricky to live like that if you have a family, but as a young person? It's fine, actually, it was a great learning experience. Anyways, what I want to tell you is that life is not that bad in the EU and things can be much much worse than the current status quo. Personally, I have no concern for myself or my comfort, but for my family. I could live in a box in a ditch.
  - myk9001 9mo ago
    If you own, you hit a jackpot, basically. Then, yes, life in Europe can be very nice. Sharing an apartment while in college is OK, even fun in my book. We're talking about immigrants though, right? (If you don't want more of us in your country, I don't think you're a monster, btw. But entertain me anyway?) Go check out, say, Berlin salaries on levels.fyi or glassdoor or wherever you prefer and filter out US companies. Given these conditions, 80000 euro is an amazing salary. Your take home is going to be around 46400 or 3860 euro monthly. Then head to immoscout24 and check rent prices in Berlin. Let me spoil it a little, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom 65-80 square meters apartment is starting from 1500 euro or so plus 200-300 euro for heating plus the rest of utilities. Or 2000 euro monthly in total. So after rent you're left with what, 1860 euro? Good luck getting through the month with that money in Berlin.
    - Muromec 9mo ago
beej71 9mo ago
One of my friends was an H1B here about a decade ago. He and his wife had a kid in the US, but then left shortly thereafter back to Europe. He said our social systems were "shameful" and neither of them was interested in sending their kid to a school in the US. And I'm reasonably certain now that they view their child's US citizenship as low-value. All of which sucks. They are talented professionals and we drove them away.

seanmcdirmid 9mo ago

Chinese salaries aren’t bad in tech, especially compared to Europe/Japan/Taiwan but even when compared to Canada. It’s pretty clear where talent could go in the future at least if Europe doesn’t up its game.

decimalenough 9mo ago
China is not welcoming to talent unless it's Chinese, and since COVID there has actually been an exodus of both locals and expats out of the country. They belatedly recognized this and introduced a "K visa" specifically to draw in talent, but the mere possibility of this bringing Indians has created a furious backlash. https://chinaglobalsouth.com/2025/10/05/china-k-visa-indian-talent-job-competition/ https://chinaglobalsouth.com/2025/10/05/china-k-visa-indian-...
- seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
  China goes up and down on this, I was there when foreigner employment was on the rise, but that fell off even before COVID. A lot of people left during COVID, surely, but that is recovering now as well. While you aren’t wrong, I think it’s totally possible for their AI and automation boom to draw in significant world talent again. You’ll see first other Asians (mostly Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese) working in China, they are definitely less noticeable. The rest will follow, Chinese are a lot less xenophobic snd more pragmatic than they appear.

QGQBGdeZREunxLe 9mo ago

I work remote and was offered a chance to move to the US. Exactly the same job both sides of the border but US pay was +30% and joint-filing cut my taxes significantly. I was also able to get a few health issues sorted that had been denied by provincial insurance. The thing that really pushed me to leave though was housing costs relative to income. In Canada it has reached absurd levels. It was well into the 50% of take home pay going to housing. Here's it's less than a third.

myk9001 9mo ago

> I personally would be much more happy to work for lower pay than contributing to the prosperity of such a predatory country. Even if that pay was so much lower that you'd have to split your rent with flatmates? (yes, European comp is typically that bad, not oveblowing this) Then I admire your principled position, but you're one in a million.

RealityVoid 9mo ago
First of all, I am an EU citizen and I absolutely don't have to split rent with any flatmates. In fact, I own my residence. Second, I did in fact split my rent with flatmates during my 6 years of college, we lived 5 people in about 200sqft, then my first job I split and apartment with 3 other people. That was luxurious already! Sure, it would tricky to live like that if you have a family, but as a young person? It's fine, actually, it was a great learning experience. Anyways, what I want to tell you is that life is not that bad in the EU and things can be much much worse than the current status quo. Personally, I have no concern for myself or my comfort, but for my family. I could live in a box in a ditch.
- myk9001 9mo ago
  If you own, you hit a jackpot, basically. Then, yes, life in Europe can be very nice. Sharing an apartment while in college is OK, even fun in my book. We're talking about immigrants though, right? (If you don't want more of us in your country, I don't think you're a monster, btw. But entertain me anyway?) Go check out, say, Berlin salaries on levels.fyi or glassdoor or wherever you prefer and filter out US companies. Given these conditions, 80000 euro is an amazing salary. Your take home is going to be around 46400 or 3860 euro monthly. Then head to immoscout24 and check rent prices in Berlin. Let me spoil it a little, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom 65-80 square meters apartment is starting from 1500 euro or so plus 200-300 euro for heating plus the rest of utilities. Or 2000 euro monthly in total. So after rent you're left with what, 1860 euro? Good luck getting through the month with that money in Berlin.
  - Muromec 9mo ago

beej71 9mo ago

One of my friends was an H1B here about a decade ago. He and his wife had a kid in the US, but then left shortly thereafter back to Europe. He said our social systems were "shameful" and neither of them was interested in sending their kid to a school in the US. And I'm reasonably certain now that they view their child's US citizenship as low-value. All of which sucks. They are talented professionals and we drove them away.