Central Europe for Software Engineers

A deep dive

For the FULL deep dive, check out this video:

To read the article on your browser, go here.

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Many devs automatically think of London, Amsterdam, or Zurich when planning their next career move in Europe.

At the beginning of this newsletter journey, I did too :)

And nothing wrong with that! These are all great cities.

Central Europe, on the other hand, often flies under the radar.

Even though it has:

• Lower living costs

• Competitive salaries (especially at top companies)

• A growing tech ecosystem driven by big tech companies expanding in the area

Countries like Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Serbia have all seen a surge in IT opportunities over the past decade.

Thanks to:

• Strong universities

• A focus on STEM education

• Well-established offshoring operations

These places now offer a blend of high-paying roles, vibrant cities, and a more affordable lifestyle compared to Western Europe.

If you value high savings rates, abundance of career options in tech, and a lower daily cost of living, Central Europe might just be your best bet.

Don’t trust me?

Take a look at the recently published levels.fyi heat map on salaries/cost-of-living

If you just look at the salaries, this is the picture:

But if we toggle the “CoL Adjustment” (on the left):

It’s gonna look quite a bit different.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, if you've been following my content over the past year.

Countries in Central Europe such as Poland, Serbia and Bulgaria, are the ones with the HIGHEST PURCHASING POWER for devs in Europe.

Yes:

• Not Germany

• Not Switzerland

• Not Norway

And this doesn't even take into account a few things that are VERY important:

1. Taxes

The graph only takes into account salary and cost-of-living.

Taxes (often higher in Western Europe), also play a huge role in purchasing power.

2. Availability of top jobs

Levels.fyi is skewed towards big tech companies, which means that the average salaries reported there roughly represent the top 10% of the market.

But here's the catch: Central Europe has a higher availability and GROWTH of top paying companies than Western Europe.

This means that you're much more likely to get a job at a top-paying company in this region.

3. Remote

Central Europe is 10x better than Western Europe, if you want to work fully-remotely: fully-remote companies keep global pay rates, so your purchasing power and savings will be drastically better there thanks to lower costs and taxes.

If you want to dive deeper, give a look at this document that I’ve been creating with my audience of engineers in Europe.

With over 700+ data points covering salary, tax rate, lifestyle, family costs, and saving rates.

Please contribute to it if you haven’t already!

Let’s talk about Poland

Poland has quietly become one of the most attractive destinations for developers in Europe.

Here’s why:

1. Strong salary potential

Big Tech and well-funded startups have offices in Warsaw, Kraków, and beyond.

It’s increasingly common to find six-figure offers, especially for senior roles.

2. High quality of life

Modern infrastructure, safe cities, and a growing international community.

3. Tax benefits

Freelancers can take advantage of favorable tax rules (<15% total tax), while full-time employees often benefit from lower rates on stock compensation (approx. 26% total tax on a 100k big tech comp package).

4. Lower competition

Fewer people apply here compared to Zurich or London, so competition for top companies is relatively lower.

Though some still assume Poland lags behind Western Europe, the reality is that its tech scene is expanding rapidly.

Is Poland safe from military conflicts?

Relevant question.

After all, it borders with both:

• Ukraine [directly involved in the conflict with Russia]

• Belarus [in 2025, a satellite-state of Russia]

This poses some risks.

But Poland also:

• Steadily invests in its army (soon-to-be the strongest in Europe)

• Is part of NATO

• Hosts several US military bases

All of this should be a good enough deterrent against invasions.

Moreover, Ukraine and Russia seem to be moving towards a peace deal in 2025.

And the US seems to be working towards bringing Russia on its side, pulling it from China (which 'could' cool down Russia’s invasions in the region).

Also, Russia has been struggling to keep even just 20% of Ukraine, let alone expanding to the rest of Ukraine or other countries, especially well-prepared ones like Poland.

I think for now the situation is quite safe.

In case the conflict in Ukraine gets frozen, Russia keeps on with its military spending and Europe doesn't step up its security game, it could be that in some years the risks will increase.

So, while I think it's safe to be in Poland as of now, moving forward it's still advisable to monitor the situation and have a backup plan and location to move to - if needed.

Keep in mind I'm not an expert on this topic: I've only shared what I learned checking out news and discussing things with AI.

What are your thoughts?

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What are your thoughts on Central Europe and Poland in particular?

Let me know!

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Euro Top Tech Jobs: 4000+ top paying tech jobs in Europe in addition to 90+ fully-remote companies paying $100-600k per year and private guides like this one.

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