Which regions offer the best compensation for a European web developer aiming for around $140k?
This was a questions asked on Reddit cscareerquestionsEU's sub
The user asks:
Recently, I encountered a career crossroad when our development team was let go due to budget cuts. My background encompasses 6 years in Web Development, predominantly in Ruby on Rails, complemented by 2 years as a full-stack developer focusing on React. As of now, my earnings hover just under $100k per year as a contractor based in Poland.
My objective is to transition to a role that brings me closer to the $130k-$140k annual compensation range. While Amsterdam has been buzzed about as a potential hub for developers in Europe concerning remuneration, I've also been eyeing opportunities outside the EU, possibly in the Arabian Peninsula based on some insights.
Being an EU citizen, I'm aware of the limitations regarding working in the US due to visa issues. However, I'm eager to gather perspectives on where to steer my career next, considering both European and international horizons. I've set a timeline of about 3 months to ponder this transition, and while I've done a fair share of research, I'm convinced this community might offer fresh viewpoints.
Thanks in advance!The following is my reply.
There are a few variables to consider.
Salaries and cost of living: as others have said, 100k as a contractor in Poland takes you further than 140k in Switzerland (I think you'd be looking at 60k vs 50k EUR in yearly savings respectively, assuming a comfortable non-stingy lifestyle);
Assuming what you want to increase is actually a combination of lifestyle and saving rate, what you're trying to optimise further is a salary/cost-of-living/taxes combo. I think you have a few options.
Option 1: maintain costs and taxes low (I think Poland is already optimal for this) and increase salary; this means getting a higher paid remote job. 140k for a remote job is possible, but not easy. I know some people in this position and they started working in higher paid countries like Switzerland or the United States, built a track record with a company/team and then moved to another cheaper country within the same job keeping the high salary (a risk here is that you become dependant on that specific company for your salary, as it will be harder to find another remote one at similar rates in case you lose the job). In this article there are some links for finding remote jobs some of which with high pay.
Option 2: increase salary by a substantial amount while also increasing your cost of living. You could try to aim at 150k senior jobs in Amsterdam, Zurich, London or Dublin, and then once you're there you can grow your career further and reach 200k+ salary levels. In Amsterdam and Zurich if you're making 150k-250k you would be saving 60k-100k a year. See the numbers at the end of this article.
Option 3: big tech. As a sr. engineer in Google Warsaw you could be making around 130k total compensation (source), although you wouldn't be a contractor and you'd pay a bit more taxes (but you'd also have more benefits). I think if you're willing to spend some time preparing this could be worth it if you're confident in your engineering skills: Warsaw has a lot of big tech companies so you could prepare and apply/interview to them all (this article has an extensive lists of big tech companies with an engineering office in Warsaw). Moreover, once you're in big tech it is relatively easy to stay in big tech, which means that you could later on relocate to higher paying places in Europe (Amsterdam/Zurich/Dublin/London) and easily (source) reach 300k+ as a sr engineer (which would allow you to save 150k+ a year). I mean, you could even prepare and apply to big techs all over Europe for senior roles and pretty much everywhere you'll get paid more than 130k. In case you want to do this, you could check this article that lists big tech offices in good high paying locations in Europe.
UAE/Dubai: no income taxes, but higher cost of living, fewer companies offering contracts here compared to Eastern Europe (because of GDPR, timezone, costs etc.). I wouldn't consider it for 100k remote job, unless you want to live there for other reasons. If you find a 150k job that lets you work from there, it could be interesting. If you want a local company, you can check Careem.
USA: you need visa. Either you marry someone, or you find a company working for the government that can sponsor a EB-1 visa (rare). The path I would strongly advise in this case would be to enter pretty much any big tech company in Europe (especially big ones especially Amazon or Meta or Google) and after 1 or 2 years ask for a transfer to the US: what happens in this case is that you get a L1 visa, you move to the US with a small raise, apply for a green card and after 1 or 2 years once you have the green card you can actually change company and get a proper high salary (if you haven't burnt out in the meantime…). As you can see this is a 3/4 years plan, so... a bit complex. But you could go for option 3 and later on if you're still interested then you can put this one in place. Personally, I wouldn't do it. I looked into it in the past and then for me it wasn't worth it: you have to put in a lot of work, and with that kind of work you can get super high pay in Europe as well. But in the end it's a matter of taste, I wouldn't advise against it either.
Hope this helps! Good luck! :)
