Top 3 cities for Software Engineers in Europe
Top 3 cities for Software Engineers in Europe
Second article of a series that explores how tech opportunities are distributed across Europe.
With today’s article I want to list what I believe are the top 3 cities in Europe for software engineers.
Before I start, I would like to note that the best city in Europe to work as a software engineer can be a subjective matter: a lot of it depends on what each person values and is looking for in terms of opportunities, field they want to work in, skills or background they have, lifestyle they seek and so on.
3rd place - Amsterdam
A "typical" European city in terms of culture and lifestyle, Amsterdam is a really great place to live and work as a software engineer.
Home to one of Europe's top tech market with relatively high salaries, great welfare and services, plenty of things to do for both families and young people, bikeable, safe and with opportunities for a healthy work-life balance, it safely makes this top 3 list in my opinion.
Salaries in usd
entry level engineers: 40k-80k for traditional companies, 70k-120k for big tech;
mid-level engineers: 60k-110k for traditional companies, 90k-170k for big tech;
senior engineers: 80k-160k for traditional companies, 140k-240k for big tech.
Taxes
Note 1: if you are an expat, for the first 5 years in the Netherlands you can take advantage of the 30% Ruling and pay lower taxes; after these 5 years (or if you're Dutch) your taxes will be higher.
Note 2: keep in mind that a lot of things like healthcare, schools and universities are tax-paid in the Netherlands, so you'll benefit from a lower cost of living, especially if you have kids or need a lot of health treatments.
70k usd total compensation → 33%, or 17% with 30% ruling;
100k usd total compensation → 40%, or 23% with 30% ruling;
150k usd total compensation → 44%, or 29% with 30% ruling.
Cost of Living
(Assuming a similar standard of living that 6500 usd/month would give you in NYC, which is a very good budget for a single person and maybe even enough for a couple or a family that is trying to stretch it. If you want to see how your spending in your city compares to this, you can use this website)
3500 usd/month;
42k usd/year.
Savings
(assuming spending to be equivalent to 6500 usd/month in NYC)
70k usd total compensation → 5k usd/year or 15k usd/year with 30% ruling;
100k usd total compensation → 18k usd/year or 35k usd/year with 30% ruling;
150k usd total compensation → 42k usd/year or 65k usd/year with 30% ruling.
Companies having notable offices in Amsterdam
Uber
Databricks
Booking
Optiver
IMC
Amazon
Adyen
Google
MessageBird
ING
Flow Traders
Lifestyle
weather: not the most sunny place, but also doesn’t get extremely cold;
expat friendliness: Amsterdam is very international and while it might not be extremely easy to build relationships with a lot of locals, it should be relatively easy to meet other expats;
misc: great bars, restaurants and clubs; not a lot of nature; amazing if you like biking around.
Conclusion
If you're a young expat engineer and get an offer from a good company in Amsterdam, you can move there and enjoy the lower taxation granted to you with the 30% ruling for 5 years. You can stay there for a few years, have a good income and saving rate, gain valuable experience, hopefully have a good time, and afterwards you can decide if you want to continue staying there (maybe with your family) or relocate somewhere else.
2nd place - London
A great place to be in Europe as a software engineer is London. By far the most cosmopolitan city on this list, it offers the largest amount of quality tech companies with office in Europe, in addition to a lot of tech opportunities in hedge funds and finance in general. It is also the most welcoming city for expats, with English being the country language and with large communities of second and third generation immigrants from India and China.
Salaries in usd
entry level engineers: 50k-90k for traditional companies, 80k-140k for big tech;
mid-level engineers: 70k-110k for traditional companies, 90k-170k for big tech;
senior engineers: 80k-160k for traditional companies, 170k-320k for big tech.
Taxes
Note: some things like healthcare are tax-paid in the UK, others are more expensive especially universities.
85k usd total compensation → 32%;
110k usd total compensation → 35%;
160k usd total compensation → 37.5%.
Cost of Living
(assuming same standard of living that 6500 usd/month would give you in NYC)
4700 usd/month;
56.4k usd/year.
Savings
(assuming spending to be equivalent to 6500 usd/month in NYC)
85k usd total compensation → 1.5k usd/year;
110k usd total compensation → 15k usd/year;
160k usd total compensation → 43.6k usd/year.
Companies having notable offices in London
Google
Facebook
Snap
Jane Street
Coinbase
Apple
Amazon
Hudson River Trading
Citadel
ByteDance
Two Sigma
Lifestyle
weather: similar to Amsterdam;
expat friendliness: London is extremely international and as an expat you could probably feel at home relatively easy there;
misc: amazing bars, restaurants and clubs; not a lot of nature; can feel a bit hectic or stressful at times; pollution typical of a large city.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a place that you can commit to and where you can confidently prepare for and target big tech companies or high-growth startups, London will offer you the similar-most experience to what you could get in the US: be it having multiple big tech companies having similar interview processes and compensation ranges, interesting startups with equity upsides, hedge funds or even large European tech companies with large offices.
This, in addition to the networking opportunities the city offers, the amount of startups being created and the unicorns operating there, makes London the best place in Europe for opportunities and career growth.
It is also a great place for singles and people early in their career, with plenty of things to do in your free time: culture, restaurants, nightlife, events and so on.
Of course, being a large city, you also have most big cities' problems such as pollution, crime, commute and so on. But I think it is still better than most big cities in the US, for example.
If you're not planning to have a career in top companies though, and want to have a 'chill' developer life, then London might not be the best place: there are many low paying dev jobs there, and the city is big and has a bit of a stressful vibe to it while also being quite expensive, so it might not be worth it to live the 'hustle' life there without a high pay.
Number 1 - Zurich
Zurich is the city in Europe with the highest salaries for software engineers and with the lowest taxes, making it the best city for software engineers in Europe to increase their savings. This is on average, with the caveat that Zurich is also quite small, and the tech employment market there is a bit limited (even if you were to include other cities across Switzerland). This on one hand makes it difficult to find any job, and on the other hand can also potentially limit your career growth by not giving you a lot of opportunities.
That said, there are ways to make up for the small market size, such as doubling down on networking and/or choosing companies and teams with large scope.
Salaries in usd
entry level engineers: 80k-110k for traditional companies, 150k-220k for big tech;
mid-level engineers: 100k-140k for traditional companies, 190k-280k for big tech;
senior engineers: 130k-170k for traditional companies, 270k-380k for big tech.
Taxes
Note: some things like universities are free, healthcare is semi-private which means residents need to pay a mandatory health insurance of around 300-600 usd/month.
110k usd total compensation → 24.5%;
180k usd total compensation → 30%;
250k usd total compensation → 34%.
Cost of Living
(assuming same standard of living that 6500 usd/month would give you in NYC)
6000 usd/month;
72k usd/year.
Savings
(assuming spending to be equivalent to 6500 usd/month in NYC)
110k usd total compensation → 11k usd/year;
180k usd total compensation → 54k usd/year;
250k usd total compensation → 93k usd/year.
Companies having notable offices in Zurich
Google
Facebook
Snap
NVIDIA
Microsoft
Apple
Oracle
Snyk
GetYourGuide
UBS
Swisscom
Lifestyle
weather: a little bit better than London and Amsterdam, slightly less rainy, a bit more sunny, very clean air;
expat friendliness: Zurich is quite international but people complain that it’s hard to make friends with locals;
misc: lots of great nature including amazing mountains, rivers and lake; well located in Europe and great for travelling; quiet city which makes it laid-back but also a bit boring for some people.
Conclusion
It is a great city for families and people who love the outdoors, and also for people who are trying to maximise their savings in a short amount of time. It lacks some big city amenities, yet it still has enough of it for most people.
Final Conclusion
In terms of lifestyle, London will appeal to someone who enjoys the big city amenities and energy, and who wants to have access to many career and networking opportunities, Zurich will appeal to someone who wants a more quiet and laid-back city well positioned for travelling and outdoors and with good financial upsides, and Amsterdam will be something in the middle combining good big city amenities with a liveable and human-sized environment.
In terms of savings, here is how the three cities compare, ranked from highest to lowest savings rates:
Please note that the calculation was done using 6500 usd/month NYC lifestyle, which is probably more than what most junior engineers will be spending, but which can also be relatively easily reached if one indulges a bit more or has a spouse and/or kids to support.
I am considering 3 categories for salaries (junior, mid-level, senior), and I am taking the salary number for each category by averaging local and big tech salaries at that level in that location. I tried to implement this strategy uniformly across the 3 cities, such that we can have a reasonable comparison.
Zurich
110k usd total compensation → 11k usd/year;
180k usd total compensation → 54k usd/year;
250k usd total compensation → 93k usd/year.
Amsterdam on 30% ruling
70k usd total compensation → 15k usd/year with 30% ruling;
100k usd total compensation → 35k usd/year with 30% ruling;
150k usd total compensation → 65k usd/year with 30% ruling.
London
85k usd total compensation → 1.5k usd/year;
110k usd total compensation → 15k usd/year;
160k usd total compensation → 43.6k usd/year.
Amsterdam without 30% ruling
70k usd total compensation → 5k usd/year;
100k usd total compensation → 18k usd/year;
150k usd total compensation → 42k usd/year.
