some people would rather live in paris than los angels or san francisco (and rightly so, if you ask me)...
Is that still a thing? Or have those would leave have left, after all, it's been ~6 years of Trump already.
Now, that is quite a lot of people. But not nearly enough to reverse decades of brain drain.
Ah ok, thanks for the clarification. I thought this would be more to do with politics.
So we’ll end up with ex-US folks starting up those European companies that decouple Europe from US tech! (Thats tongue in cheek.)
Yes 90k is more than most French software companies pay, but the salary needs to be competitive with those US companies.
Germany is not so great either in that sense though at least in crypto sector, the pay was reasonable... Though as a job it was total BS.
UK was pretty good at some point (though all the really good jobs were gate-kept by IR35 regulations), The Netherlands was pretty good (especially contract roles thanks to big tax discounts for foreigners). But IMO, one of the best countries outside of the US for software work has been Australia. I actually came back to Australia because of it. Though it's not quite as lucrative today but it's certainly still much better paid than France and has potential.
That said, if you want to do your own startup and you do not have special business connections or pedigree, then the US is the only real option IMO.
I think it comes down to easy money. Easy come, easy go. To be rich enough to invest in startups in France, you need to be born into old money or be a complete freak of nature. These kinds of people don't part with their money easily. They need a guaranteed return and they can't rely on any media channel to bring traffic. If you live outside of the US, all media channels are essentially working against you; you can literally feel that and so everything is riskier. It's like playing the same game with a massive handicap.
Salaries are calculated differently in France, Germany, US etc. For example working in Germany you're likely to fork a huge amount monthly to your health insurance. It actually makes it difficult to negotiate comp across borders.
$55k USD brut in France is around 2.8k EUR / month after taxes in France, which counts as the upper bracket of Middle Class in most of the country outside of Paris. Paltry when you're used to tech comps but decent for the vast majority of people here.
On the whole I agree that it's not competitive regionally or globally, and as for myself I'd leave for Switzerland or Australia if I had the opportunity.
2200€ in my pocket each month with health care and taxes paid.
My yearly gross salary 39_000€. My yearly super-gross salary (what the company actually pay) 54_000€.
Actually the company paid less due to CIR (https://entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr/vosdroits/F23533) I don't the number but at absolute minimum the company could have paid 31_320€.
I live in the south east of france not in a big city and I have 13 years of xp.
And to compare to the cost of life :
- 200g of bread is 1€.
- tomato 4€/kg
- beef 27-40€/kg
- 100m2 individual house 350_000€
- 60m2 flat 150_000€Actually, after living in Europe and coming back to Australia, the quality and price of meat is what surprised me most. A lot of times in Europe, I would order a burger and the patty would basically taste like sausage meat; tough and flavorless. In Australia, beef is really good and cheap.
Then we got a PM, who's father in law is the founder of Infosys, who changed the law to favour the likes of Infosys (by making it too risky for smaller players to hire contractors). Scandalous corruption
Contracting was going to be my plan for buying a better house and early retirement, but that's gone now. Thanks Rishi
Similar vibes in Germany though a more modern version.
The Netherlands seemed relatively egalitarian for Europe. It's what I like most about Australia. In Australia, there are no artificial social barriers, no class system.
After failing at startups after a decade, I had to live somewhere I would not be seen as a second-class citizen.
Britain is its own worst enemy. I'm convinced if there was a movement to destroy the intangible class-system the economy would grow big time. The lack of investment comes from old-farts getting away with lack of reinvestment due to a lack of competition - and nobody talks about it.
The 'intangible class-system' is what you felt.
Also, if given a choice of 90k eur in Paris vs let's say 2m usd in US I'm pretty sure suddenly most of the issues people have with US would suddenly disappear ;)