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Comment by nitely | Hacker News Reader

I've received offers from companies in Denmark, Ireland and Netherlands. They did not care about the lack of a formal degree and they would sponsor a work VISA. I think the hardest part about finding a job in Europe is finding one that won't low ball you.

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If you don't mind, what do you do?

It seems like a lot of the jobs I see are for such specific roles they have to reach worldwide to find someone with that knowledge.

The kind of stuff I only read about in headlines here but that I will never get close to at work or in a personal project.

I am just curious if it's rather hopeless if you aren't "THE BEST"[0].

[0]rockstar, ninja, other buzzwords.

I got offers too. See example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12847351 . I mostly do backend, but like that there are also for frontend.

Nah man, I mean, sure it depends what you do, but for example I'm just an iOS developer, I got a job here in Barcelona after a month of searching and more offers after that. They are all just normal companies who need employees.

Edit: It's true that I was already here in Barcelona, not applying from the States.

I am curious if you are based in the US? I have heard more than a few times about EU companies paying significantly less that the US for the same positions.

Were any of them willing to negotiate?

The margins are much smaller than in the US.

Can you quantify "much smaller?" 30%? 50%?

Also do you have any insights into why this is?

Never seen any margin higher than 20% of the base value.

As to why, I can only give the vacuous "cultural differences". No idea, really.

20% of what base? Are you referring to a figure in the article?

You have to take into consideration that living in a European country is a lot different -- you're not going to get the same salary you would in San Francisco, for example. The quality of life is different, expenses are different, probably you don't need a car, apartments are cheaper, etc etc. Each country is unique. In Spain I don't have a really high salary (though it's above the average salary in Spain), but, compared to what? I live comfortably, all my personal needs are met -- so who cares?

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