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Ask HN: Why London Software Engineer Pay is so much lower than in US?

11 points by dorafmon ↗ HN
I have been a quant developer in London for the past 5 years. When I look my salary and bounus it is about 50% compared to new grads in US. Why US has such a high pay and do you think it is worth the move? I am a British Citizen, does that mean I have to have a h1b visa as well?

7 comments

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wetpaws
Lower demand = lower prices.
giantg2
Taxes and entitlement programs differ too.
softinio
I moved to the USA myself from London. Based on my experience it is totally worth moving to the USA if you see your long term future as a software engineer. Pay aside, the choice and types of projects you can work on are more interesting too in my personal opinion with more opportunities to work on a wider range of technologies.

Yes you will need to get a visa. There are many visa options available to you. H1B is just one of them and the most popular one for getting a visa via work sponsorship.

Looking back at my time in London to be paid well you need to avoid being a permanent employee and work as a contractor, but not all software engineer roles are in demand as a contractor so choose something that there is :-) A good contract in the city will make you a lot of money :-)

Of course with Covid, I am not sure how things will change so you may want to wait for a post covid era before deciding to move.

Of course this my personal opinion from my experience of making the move and my knowledge of London work life is based on my experience from when I lived there. Hope you will find my comments helpful.

On a side note, you may want to explore remote opportunities with companies outside the UK as so many have moved to that model.

Nextgrid
> On a side note, you may want to explore remote opportunities with companies outside the UK as so many have moved to that model.

Would you have any advice for finding good remote contracts outside of the UK? My experience with recruiters has been an absolute terrible when it comes to roles abroad.

runawaybottle
Try one of the contracting companies (I know Epam hires a lot of Europeans), and they will contract you out through them to American companies. You’ll probably still get a local-based salary, but you can start building up some experience at global companies. From there it’s up to you how you want to leverage that experience. They do also try to relocate you with a L-1 visa if need be.
kyawzazaw
Apart from L-1 (which requires an internal transfer), EB-based visa (lots of documentation), O-1 visa, what other options exist?
ystad
Join a FAANG company in London, and transfer over to the US