Got offer 4x of what I earn in EU, terrified of US w. culture. Fears unfounded? | Hacker News Reader

Got offer 4x of what I earn in EU, terrified of US w. culture. Fears unfounded?

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21 pointsJimWestergren10 comments

In my opinion the biggest differentiator in whether to work in Europe or USA is the number of children you have.

If you have zero children, USA is better than Europe. With one child, it becomes a toss-up. With two or more children, Europe becomes more and more favourable.

With every additional child in USA you add thousands of dollars per month of expenses. By contrast, every additional child in Europe usually adds only hundreds of dollars per month of expenses.

The extra income from USA gets swallowed up quickly once you have children.

Eh, I think it is a wash. And most people don't have the option of choosing where they work. Emigrate, really? I live in a lower cost of living place (Midwest) and I know multiple families with 3+ kids. But what sets these places apart is that parents can find child care or one spouse can stay at home. The community here actually pulls together in the childcare way. That's a rare thing. And even where I live it is becoming rarer.

Also now with work remote I think things will change further.

This may depend on childcare preferences. If you want daycare or nannies perhaps. There is also the healthcare wildcard. If your family remains relatively healthy you can do well with many kids in the US. Or get a job at FAANG with great coverage.

Side note: replace old.reddit.com with teddit.net in any Reddit URL and you'll get a less noisy reading experience, especially on mobile.

Sounds like they might just want to try something new for the exploration of it, despite knowing they already have a better situation (except for the "new" factor, which can be compelling). Young and healthy and single is a better time to try and fail than older, less healthy, and with family responsibilities (though I'd argue it is healthier to take more responsibility for extended family unity, speaking as someone who has been away from mine for decades).

I’ve worked both in the EU and the US. Working in the US is 100% worth it, especially if you don’t have kids. It costs about 10k to move one’s belongings to Europe, including having people pack your stuff. If you don’t like living in the US, you can leave at any time for relatively little money. My experience is that the money is worth it given the relatively few strings attached.

Ask for triple pay but full remote from Europe. Win-win

Lots of FUD over there but maybe the extreme views expressed there are a needed counterweight/ reality check on the Silicon Valley fairy tale.

Not me, but an interesting discussion on Reddit.

They also advertise "unlimited paid time off" but your manager has to approve it. So realistically I am not gonna get much vacation.

More to the point, it is strong indication that the management at this "well funded and very reputable" company is basically incompetent as far as "managing down" is concerned -- and/or suffers greatly from cognitive dissonance.

Not that that means they shouldn't take the job, of course. Just that they should have no illusions as to what that 300k salary is really paying for, in this particular case.

Which is: for your willingness to keep your mouth shut and pretend you aren't being lied to. And to be slowly but incrementally pushed to an early grave by the 12+ hour work days, and the damage to their mental health and relationships from not being able to make use of a reasonable PTO throughout the year.

But again, no judgements here. If that's an arrangement you think you can put with for a year or two before justly quitting this company and finding another one that offers similar salary but with reasonably sane work conditions -- go for it.

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