Comment by BigJ1211
3 years ago
This seems to be a perspective that's exclusively silicon valley (perhaps large parts of the US) based. Not at all true in Europe at the least. Not that it's a bad job by any stretch of the imagination, but even low six figures is really rare in the EU for Software Development.
Easiest is also highly subjective, if your job is making wordpress templates/sites then sure. If you're working on complexer systems then this statement is horseshit. I've done physical and service jobs that were both easier than the software development I do, only difference was that the physical job was also physically exhausting.
My company has noticed that good developers in Germany are cheaper than in India. Good is key here, you can get bad developers in India for very cheap (this might be good enough). The highest paid software positions in Germany are non-union jobs and the majority are not willing to leave the union for more money, which means they are refusing to do the work of a senior engineer, and this in turn means we can't use the cheap labor for lack of leaders.
I remember reading Indians on r/DevOps who were surprised they were earning more than Germans in DevOps/Ops positions.
Adjusted for costs of living or TCO? IT pays peanuts in Europe.
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> highest paid software positions in Germany are non-union jobs
How does one identify a well paying non-union employer? Noname companies in almost all cases pay much less than union employers.
This is Germany, not the US, rules are different.
All I know is a lot of great engineers at my company are internationally refusing more pay to non union jobs. I.have no idea if it applies to other companies, or what the benifits are
> Easiest is also highly subjective
Anecdotally, I've observed (over a 30-year career) that less than half of the people who have the qualifications can actually produce halfway decent code (as in code that doesn't crash the first time it's used or introduce new problems).
I’m from a small Australian city. I earn in the top 5% of the country with 8 years experience and no degree. And I see all my friends who picked software in the same situation.
It’s probably the most privileged position possible.
Maybe it's true in Australia.. however here in Germany e.g. your chance of being a top earner if you have no degree is near nil. Usually you are expected to have university degrees for tech jobs. There are also some without but it's the minority and their promotion prospects are a lot worse.
I was thinking about moving to Germany from Poland. I was surprised that devs there has such low wages in comparison to cost of living. I abandoned the idea after it turned out my QoL will decrease quite a lot even I'd get more money than I've now
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This is true maybe for big, traditional German corporations like Siemens or VW; but have absolutely not the case for any of the start-ups or any of the big tech companies from US.
And especially not true after 2020, when so many more companies are willing to hire people remotely, often for close-to-US-levels of pay.
I have to agree with GP. I know many developers in France/Germany at the Master level, and although their job is far from being the worst, their total compensation is rather in the top 30%. Not bad, but far from a 6-figures.
Same here. I'm from Poland, I've 6 YOE, no degree, and also top 5% of earners. No other job will let me achieve this in such short time. You can earn similar money as a doctor, lawyer or let's say plumber BUT ypu have to do at least one of: a) work 80 a week instead of 40 (and let's be honest, none of us work 8h a day). b) do hard physical work instead of sitting in a chair c) be responsible for people lifes (and face jail in case of failure) etc
In short: I'm privileged AF
Getting a paper is almost mandatory here due to the ease of getting one.
I suspect this was simply so obvious that OP didn't feel it was worth mentioning. If your goal is making a lot of money in software development, you'd be a fool to stay in Europe. You have to move to the US. That's where the money is.