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Comment by user15672 | Hacker News Reader

This really isn't true and I really wish this myth would stop. Sure, if you go into the financial sector or find a startup where they don't know their arse from their elbow about software workers, you can dupe them into giving you more money. But 55k in London is a good wage for a software developer and you're definitely not looking at that if you're mid-level and working for a regular company.

Source: I've lived and worked (and continue to do so) as a software developer, technical lead and CTO in London and have been in several different sectors.

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Oh, 55k GBP is a nice salary by absolute standards, but not for software developers in London.

Yes, you can see people working for so little. But why leave money on the table?

> Sure, if you go into the financial sector or find a startup where they don't know their arse from their elbow about software workers, you can dupe them into giving you more money.

Yes, obviously. Why wouldn't you? If some sectors have more money than sense, that's an opportunity--not a problem.

(I can see that there are reasons to take a lower salary in return for a job you really like; but then you don't get to complain about low pay.)

Source: I've lived and worked in Cambridge (Cambridgeshire), Singapore, Sydney, London in various roles. Mostly in big tech and finance.

And, yes, if you look at Glassdoor you can find the numbers you cited. In my experience Glassdoor seems to be systematically lower than the numbers I get from my own experience and asking friends and coworkers.

(But I might just be living the charmed life that people live who have enough sense to negotiate salaries on job offers?)

Care to explain how 55k GBP (60k EUR) can be a good wage, when the average new grad software developer in Germany makes like 50k EUR? And the cost of living is what, half or less than what it is in London?

Less taxes in the UK means higher take home from the 55k than you would have in germany. And you have to factor in that the 55 figure is probably from a time where GBP to EUR was still 1.4:1. Consider that 55k GBP might have been ~4.5k EUR/mo take home not too long ago vs ~2.5k EUR/mo take home from 50k EUR in germany. Still shitty, but not as shitty as it seems now.

EDIT: Also, using current exchange rates, the cost of living in one of the larger cities (Berlin, Munich, etc) in germany isnt that much lower compared to London anymore.

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