US, Canada, Australia. All have higher salaries for software people, though not all as good as London finance contracting has been.
I earn around the same level you do and am leaving for Australia sometime in the next few months. I don't expect to make anything close to my current contracting income, though I do plan to start a consulting company over there at some point.
However, both CA and AU have other benefits. While pay is lower, the standard of living in my view is much higher and are much safer. For those two reason I think they might be a good choice, but not pay. Correct me if I am wrong, as I am still considering a decent alternative to the UK - preferably somewhere safer and with better quality services.
Comparing to London contractor money, sure it'll be less and I'm preparing for that, but compared to most salaried work. Look at the averages - Average software engineering salary in Canada $102,866. That average in the UK? £31K. Just over half the Canadian figure.
(I'd allow that the average figure in the UK does not paint an accurate picture because a lot of the higher skilled people opt out of employment to go it alone, like ourselves)
I very much agree on the standard of living aspect, having had direct experience of life in Australia. There's just more space, and more respect for public facilities etc.
> I've worked in Australia, and compared to the pay of most salaried programmers in the UK, the money on offer was much better. Hell, doing the same damn job for a big corporate over there as I had done in London (same team and everything) netted me a 60% payrise.
New data points are always welcome - I might have to read more on the topic as I am clearly missing some data in regards to AU (my peers told me otherwise, maybe they do something wrong).
I don't think I know anyone in our sector that's currently salaried so I can't say I have many personal datapoints there. However I do think that outside of London the UK pays salaried software folks pretty badly.
> I do know however that people who earned a lot...
Maybe there's less variance and less room at the top end in CA and AU? That could explain our conflicting views.
My last experience over there was not as a "senior", though I had a few years experience I wasn't at the top of my game compared to today.
> Others tell me they are simply increasing their daily rate to cover for IR35
"Inside IR35" contracts are bad for a variety of reasons, such as the extra control the client has over you as well as the requirement to use an umbrella company (technically it's not required - you can very well deduct & pay the relevant taxes on your side, but given the liability shift, clients are unlikely to agree).
It’s not US salaries but £120K after tax a year would put on on the property ladder even in central London rather quickly.
You have to increase the rate by well over 30% and that puts you into territory of what agencies charge. Company might as well drop you and go with an agency then as they don't want to deal with IR35 as there is too many misconceptions and fines are heavy for getting it wrong.
>although I am not inside IR35
That's what I meant though, this is going to end soon. There will be no "outside IR35". One of the more foolish decisions of the UK state recently (and they're not lacking in that department).
If the end client decides it is so (and assumes liability), you can still be outside. If the end client is a "small business" then there is no change*.
The best thing I can think of for those who want to continue to operate as an independent business is to actually become more business-like. Start a consultancy with a couple of like-minded individuals, based on your skills. Let clients and agents know you are available to deliver work on a fixed-cost basis, not join a project on a day rate.
But I agree, the whole thing is a nasty mess, and it's going to screw a lot of people.
(*though I imagine HMRC will be launching many more investigations into such small businesses. This is the bit that gets me, they leave a grey area in which you can get screwed).
But yes I agree, that is what's happened. Umbrellas must be rubbing their hands with glee.