I am always surprised at the salaries in the USA. I have two bachelor degrees and two master degrees from two well established universities, and earn about 2k euro a month (before 20% tax deduction), which is considered fairly decent for a starter. Even then, many corporations outsource software development to Eastern-European countries.
Collecting that data and adjusting for the fact that contractors have to deal with more taxes and insurance, but less restrictions about vacations, seems impossible.
Thankfully 80 EUR/h is not the upper limit if you can cut out the middleman. Speaking of which, I've heard third-hand horror stories of Polish SAP contractors where the middleman(!) made 65 EUR/h, which was probably more than half of the client paid - ouch.
That's what the person at the (un)employment office said once to me. If you know how to count, count on yourself because most of the insurance contributions simply fall into a black hole.
It's hard to imagine today, but it sure did happen.
Unemployment benefits, as I know, are temporary. You'll face the real-world in 2-3 years when it ends.
Just enough to catch up with nuances between different Angular versions and experiment with all cool newest React stacks... or screw it... pulls out a manual on constructing beehives.
Yup, I know some guys contracting in Germany at 100 EUR/h. I myself received an offer (not in Germany, but in neighbouring country) at 120 EUR/h. The EU contracting market looks pretty healthy to me.
What does that have to do with what you should be paid?
My degree has provided a small and consistent boost over my career. It didn't make me significantly more valuable as a new starter.
I think Western Europe has a harmful fixation on a persons credentials.
In the time it took you to gain four degrees an American dev could have gained 6-8 years of experience and be operating as a senior.
I would expect that my effort would have at least some positive effect on my starter's income.
> I think Western Europe has a harmful fixation on a persons credentials.
I think so too. At my work I am doing similar stuff as when I started programming at 12. The main difference is that I had significantly more enthusiasm and energy back then.
I did learn a lot during my study, but it is absolutely not required for most of the jobs. Yet, it is required to have at least an undergraduate degree for practically all jobs. There are lots of improvements possible to this system if you ask me.
The only employers (USA) that I’ve seen even care about or ask about degrees are the ones that practice “alumni nepotism” (we only hire Stanford grads, etc.). Nobody else gives a crap.
> At my work I am doing similar stuff as when I started programming at 12
Given the second comment I'm surprised that you have that expectation and I think it's heavily influenced by your culture.
In the states we don't care about effort at all. We care about outcome.
I think this leads to a huge number of efficiency gains.
On the other hand, I spent a huge amount of time and effort on my eduation. While I could not do this without financial support from my parents, I also made a lot of sacrifices, and I am a little bit bitter that friends who dropped out as undergraduate make more than I do. Makes you wonder why anybody would like to work in IT at all.
IIRC taxes are slightly lower in Germany too. After putting the maximum amount into a 401(k) (self funded, pre-tax retirement) and paying taxes, I took home around $3500 per month, excluding bonuses.
I have multiple degrees from US schools and zero debt.
Also, most public schools will not hire teachers without a 4-year degree, so saying that those going into low-earning fields like teaching ought-not get a degree is questionable at best.
Hiring credentials is an arms race, so if everyone else is getting a degree you're going to have a bad time if you don't -- even for fiends in which no degree is logically required.
1: http://www.admissions.purdue.edu/costsandfinaid/tuitionfees....
Also: What's mentioned here: https://thehftguy.com/2017/01/23/career-advice-and-salary-ne...
Consider how basecamp works for example
https://m.signalvnoise.com/how-we-pay-people-at-basecamp-f1d...