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Having been monitoring the software development market in Europe for quite some time (being European and always wondering what it would be like to come home and

Having been monitoring the software development market in Europe for quite some time (being European and always wondering what it would be like to come home and continue my development career) it astounds me why anyone would pursue development there given the advertised salaries for developers. With the high cost of living and the ridiculously low (comparatively speaking) salaries, it's a wonder any software developer would even take an interview - especially given that software developers can make 3-4 times more in other markets with comparatively lower costs of living. The only market that appears to differ from this (based on advertised salaries) is the banking/finance sector. But despite the fact that they're not doing anything that the rest of the technology sector are doing (from a technology perspective), their incestuous hiring practices make it all but impossible to get in unless you know the right person or already specifically have banking/finance experience. So you could have 25 years of extremely relevant experience from other fields spread across various startups, small businesses and huge multibillion dollar corporations, have in depth experience writing platforms and APIs for leading corporations with highly scalable web facing platforms with all the latest technologies, have spent 5 years at some point in your past cobbling together antiquated technologies such as Access databases and Excel spreadsheets, just as many of these companies still are, but unless you've specifically got experience in the financial sector, they're not interested... despite their common claim that it's really hard to find good developers. It's not hard to find good developers if you take your blinkers off and ask yourself what is it you're doing that's so special that you can't hire someone with all the right personality traits and technological experience but because of some arbitrary bias that they don't specifically have experience in your sector, they're unsuitable. So that's my two biggest gripes about hiring practices - one specifically pertaining to hiring software developers in Europe, but the other equally applies in North America too. Agism isn't nearly as evident as cronyism and incest.

_delirium 12y ago
In Denmark, the usual reason people work here despite higher salaries elsewhere is that many people just strongly prefer to live in Denmark (or if not in Denmark, at least in the Nordic region), for a mixture of cultural and quality-of-life reasons. The specific reasons vary based on the person, but some include: this is where your family/friends already are, prefer the urban layout of the cities (transit, biking, safety, etc.), prefer the working conditions (hours, vacation policies), prefer the social support, especially for families (subsidized childcare, parental-leave policies, no university tuition), etc. That and reasons like people wanting to raise their kids as Danes, which is harder to do if they grow up elsewhere. It's very common for people to work abroad for a bit in their 20s, though, as a kind of seeing-the-world thing that combines work and tourism, and then return later.
yulaow 12y ago
You would be surprised to know that, considering all bonus and malus, even with a very low pay compared to what I would get in US the quality of my life is far better here in EU that there. And I mean FAR FAR better. Just considering main reasons: social security, free universal healt care, almost not-existent costs for top universities, types of contracts, not enforceable anti competition agreements, food quality, air quality, full social support to make a family, etc. Should I continue?

_delirium 12y ago

In Denmark, the usual reason people work here despite higher salaries elsewhere is that many people just strongly prefer to live in Denmark (or if not in Denmark, at least in the Nordic region), for a mixture of cultural and quality-of-life reasons. The specific reasons vary based on the person, but some include: this is where your family/friends already are, prefer the urban layout of the cities (transit, biking, safety, etc.), prefer the working conditions (hours, vacation policies), prefer the social support, especially for families (subsidized childcare, parental-leave policies, no university tuition), etc. That and reasons like people wanting to raise their kids as Danes, which is harder to do if they grow up elsewhere. It's very common for people to work abroad for a bit in their 20s, though, as a kind of seeing-the-world thing that combines work and tourism, and then return later.

yulaow 12y ago

You would be surprised to know that, considering all bonus and malus, even with a very low pay compared to what I would get in US the quality of my life is far better here in EU that there. And I mean FAR FAR better. Just considering main reasons: social security, free universal healt care, almost not-existent costs for top universities, types of contracts, not enforceable anti competition agreements, food quality, air quality, full social support to make a family, etc. Should I continue?