[HN Gopher] Europe data salary benchmark 2023
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       Europe data salary benchmark 2023
        
       Author : acossta
       Score  : 70 points
       Date   : 2023-05-27 17:34 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (medium.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (medium.com)
        
       | thomasingalls wrote:
       | Why isn't France ever in these datasets?
        
       | negamax wrote:
       | European salary data without taxation and benefits is useless.
        
         | mahmoudhossam wrote:
         | Taxation is highly dependent on location and personal factors
         | (single income vs double income household) and other factors
         | that are irrelevant in this context.
         | 
         | Also "benefits" in the American sense aren't really a thing in
         | the EU.
        
           | carom wrote:
           | Pretty sure a month or two of vacation is common in the EU.
        
             | mahmoudhossam wrote:
             | Only those aren't benefits, they're basic rights protected
             | by law.
        
           | ChuckNorris89 wrote:
           | Taxation is kinda relevant because there can be huge
           | differences between countries which translate to what you
           | take home.
           | 
           | For example 80k might sounds good in one country but after
           | tax you might take home less than if you made just 60k in
           | another country.
        
             | mahmoudhossam wrote:
             | True, but I'm not sure how you'd reflect something like
             | that here tbh.
        
           | Yujf wrote:
           | I don't know "the american sense", but benfits are definetely
           | a thing in Belgium. I think like 60+% of engineers get
           | company cars.
        
             | akavi wrote:
             | I assume that cars are not seen as a taxable benefit in
             | Belgium?
        
               | dukeyukey wrote:
               | Private health insurance is taxable in the UK but every
               | non-intern tech job I've had has had it as a benefit.
        
               | akavi wrote:
               | Interesting. Curious if that's cultural influence from
               | the US (where it isn't taxable)
        
               | jonasdegendt wrote:
               | It is but at a hilariously cheap rate. It's pennies on
               | the dollar (or euro, in this case) compared to owning a
               | car outright.
               | 
               | It's a fringe benefit that was invented in order to
               | enable employers to sweeten the pay package without
               | having to straight up pay more, and respectively pay a
               | lot more taxes.
               | 
               | We've a large bunch of these tax efficient fringe
               | benefits in Belgium but the company car is by far the one
               | that provides the most value.
        
               | Hamuko wrote:
               | https://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-company-car-
               | conundru...
               | 
               | > _Of the 6 million cars on Belgian roads, about 10
               | percent are company cars._
               | 
               | > _Even a first job often comes with a car, and most
               | employees also get unlimited fuel cards._
               | 
               | That sounds fucking crazy.
        
               | photonbeam wrote:
               | My dad had an unlimited fuel card for a company car,
               | everyone used that car frivolously
        
             | mahmoudhossam wrote:
             | I was referring to healthcare which constitutes the bulk of
             | benefits in the US.
             | 
             | Also PTO is more regulated in the EU than it is in the US.
        
               | cscurmudgeon wrote:
               | > constitutes the bulk of benefits in the US.
               | 
               | What? What do you mean by bulk?
        
               | mahmoudhossam wrote:
               | As in healthcare is very expensive over there and that
               | most of it is tied to the employer.
               | 
               | I'm not sure what you're asking here.
        
             | nerbert wrote:
             | Doesn't 60% of Belgium get company cars? Not something
             | related to engineering, it's one of the basic perks a lot
             | of people get.
        
               | jonasdegendt wrote:
               | No, it's definitely still a mostly white collar type job
               | benefit, and about 14% of working people get a company
               | car.
               | 
               | This translates to about half a million company cars.
        
             | Hamuko wrote:
             | I've never heard of an engineer getting a company car in
             | Finland. People mostly just get a phone plan and some
             | sports and culture vouchers.
        
               | mahmoudhossam wrote:
               | That is also my experience in Germany, minus the phone
               | plan.
        
       | itcrowd wrote:
       | There's a huge difference in CoL between the mentioned metro
       | areas. Pretty useless comparison in that regard.
        
         | rocketbop wrote:
         | Cost of living seems to vary as much if not more than by if and
         | when you bought your house than where you live in Western
         | Europe at the moment.
        
           | hereonout2 wrote:
           | Absolutely in the UK and especially London, I could have a
           | much more comfortable life on a much reduced salary had I
           | brought a house 10 years ago.
        
           | ChuckNorris89 wrote:
           | Pretty much yeah. The price for groceries or bills don't
           | differ too much between EU countries at this point, but the
           | price of real estate and having your own place either paid
           | off or secured at a good price and a good rate makes the
           | biggest difference.
           | 
           | Earning 50% more before tax somewhere else is not a good deal
           | if there's 200 people fighting for every moldy 20sqm
           | apartment that hasn't seen a renovation in 50 years, and you
           | also no real chance of affording to buy something decent in
           | that area.
           | 
           | Real estate is messed up in EU at the moment. Far too
           | expensive considering the wages and rates.
        
         | ChuckNorris89 wrote:
         | _> There's a huge difference in CoL between the mentioned metro
         | areas._
         | 
         | Then good thing the title is honest and explicitly says "salary
         | benchmarks" and not CoL benchmarks. CoL varies from person and
         | lifestyle.
        
           | Barrin92 wrote:
           | cost of living is highly relevant when you compare salary
           | data because it's one of the primary factors that determines
           | the cost of labor.
           | 
           | If you pay a Berlin salary in SF nobody's gonna show up
           | because that doesn't cover your apartment rent. It tells you
           | little about how much you effectively pocket. If you want to
           | get some use out of this data you need to adjust it for
           | purchasing power.
        
             | koliber wrote:
             | You're right. Which is why it's great that this link was
             | posted. You can now take this available data and combine it
             | with you understanding of the CoL on the various locations.
             | Otherwise you'd only have a feel for the CoL.
        
       | usgroup wrote:
       | This looks false to me for the UK. See for comparison:
       | 
       | https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/
        
         | hondadriver wrote:
         | That seems way more realistic. The salaries in the original
         | article are not common at all for software development
         | positions in Europe as far as I know ...
        
       | emptysongglass wrote:
       | We are getting absolutely fleeced by our American counterparts
       | and paying higher taxes on top. Yet we're every bit as good
       | developers, DevOps Engineers, SREs, you name it in tech. And cost
       | of living in US metro areas vs Europe does not even begin to
       | explain why. I wish we'd collectively take a harder stance on the
       | bargaining line because it is insane to me we be paid half, a
       | third less and then shell out very high taxes on top (OK Bulgaria
       | you get a pass).
        
         | onlyrealcuzzo wrote:
         | In the states, we'd be getting paid less if the companies
         | should get away with it.
         | 
         | And in the states, we definitely don't collectively bargain.
         | 
         | So something else is the issue.
        
           | MrBuddyCasino wrote:
           | Yes, there are hardly any European companies with FAANG level
           | profitability. Thats it.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | woobar wrote:
         | You can't have your cake and eat it too. You like your social
         | safety net? You like stronger worker protection? Long
         | vacations? Someone has to pay for all of it. Either through
         | higher taxes or lower wages.
        
           | emptysongglass wrote:
           | I have to take out salary insurance because welfare benefits
           | wouldn't even begin to cover living expenses. You have such a
           | thing in the US too. In Denmark, it's easy to fire and easy
           | to hire (let at hyre og fyre [1]) so what am I liking here?
           | At US Google I understand it's 30 days paid time off a
           | calendar year: that's the same standard as Europe.
           | 
           | Yet Google will happily pay the same role less than half when
           | hired here.
           | 
           | I've done my research: this is cultural inertia, as another
           | commenter alluded to. "We pay this much because that's what
           | the market rate is for [country in Europe]".
           | 
           | [1] https://www.detdanskearbejdsmarked.dk/den-danske-
           | model/portr...
        
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       (page generated 2023-05-27 23:01 UTC)