Where to: US.
replies(1):
Everything seems so stagnant and the costs of living are rising while the salaries do not increase whatsoever.
What's worse is that due to its economic decline politicians and leaders try to persuade the populace that a lot of things that we enjoy and contribute to our quality of life are now considered luxury or outright sinful. The same kind of rhetoric that is used to sin tax tobacco, alcohol, gambling is now used on things like:
- car ownership - Air Conditioning - Travel - meat and dairy
In the EU the compensation difference between top 1% and bottom 1% performers is generally absurdly small.
I am meticulous about tracking finance and so far (my daughter is 11) I have spent $374k which if I lived in Europe would now be in my pocket. This isn’t total expenses, this is only expenses that I have to pay for here that I would not otherwise. I also have another decade+ of raising and schooling etc to pay for
Roughly another $50k per year on average I spend currently on other things that I would not be if I lived in Europe…
But of course - do what is best for you. If this is your situation and you like living in the Balkans, go for it. I love the place myself.
Overall though, I don't think this is the safe, easy, simple route. That's moving to the US and grinding some leetcode, not learning the basics of Balkan business culture and EU business regulations. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone who doesn't know very well what it takes - usually by going to a business school or having few years of business experience in EU - elsewhere doesn't count, it's much easier elsewhere.
(I have experience exactly with what you suggest, to be clear. I had to stop doing that and go back to a much simpler and less risky principal engineering / SW engineering management job, as the stress and unclear/anti-business regulations were killing me.)
I know for a fact pre-tax pay is the main number employers discuss. Your sister is doing something wrong.
You would not make 3/5ths of 800k in the EU. If you are lucky - 30-50% of that, pre-tax.
You clearly haven't looked at living in the EU too seriously, evaluated the job market, run the numbers, etc. I have because I was evaluating this for my LDR. I make 1.2 here in the US (unusual circumstances; nominally 600); I'd make a maximum of 250-300 in the EU for a top offer for the same position.
I get taxed at 55% effective here in commie California but it wouldn't be much less in the EU, while my pay would crater. My fixed costs wouldn't be much different either. Food might be nicer though, and I'd be closer to my LDR. But the EU's long term economic prospects are terrible in the tech space. Insane regulatory overhead means that my company rarely even bothers with deploying new features there.