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0 pointsbenterix7mo ago0 comments

> the government would tax your higher than average tech wage till your take home pay would match that of a train conductor's or bus driver's, like in Western Europe

I live in Europe and earn ca. 6 times more than my friend who is a bus driver in the same city. We both have access to free education and, if we wish, also free healthcare, for which I am paying slightly more, but I really don't mind.

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FirmwareBurner7mo ago

That doesn't scan. In which Western European country is that massive difference? Either you have a FANG wage or your friend has a poverty wage because here's how it's in Austria SW Dev wage 3k net/month, bus driver 2,5k. There's no 6x difference here.

So you're proving my point that it works for you when income distribution is not egalitarian because you wouldn't be very happy if you earned the same as your friend.

benterixOP7mo ago

My salary is quite good, my friends in the field earn a bit less, but the gap is still there.

To put things in perspective, according to this website[0], bus drivers earn ca. €20 per hour, within some quite limited margin. I don't know if this data reflects reality. However, the data for SWE show a much, much wider margin[1]. So it would make much more sense to compare the medians, and this gives only 2x difference. A big gap still, but not enormous as in my case.

[0] https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/bus-driver/germany [1] https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/germany

FirmwareBurner7mo ago

You're comparing apples to oranges here. Dataset of levels.fyi heavily skews towards FAANGs and big-tech, not entire SW sector of a nation.

Granted, I was also guilty of that since I was comparing the salary of a tram driver for the local state public transport company where they get great benefits and the union always negotiates top salaries since they have a monopoly and can just increase the bus fare to their customers whenever they need a raise.

But my point still stands. Why bother going to uni to become and engineer in the competitive private sector, if you're gonna net only 500 Euros more than a driver or any other government annex union job?

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Gud7mo ago

If you earn 6 times more than your friend who is a bus driver, you live in a place that has an unusually high income disparity for Europe.

fmobus7mo ago

Tech worker here, I just looked at my total comp, and it's about 4.5x that of a local bus driver. L+1s are probably getting close to 6x.

Gud7mo ago

What's your location if you don't mind me asking? And did you compare the bus drivers total comp to your total comp? :-)

FirmwareBurner7mo ago

That doesn't scan. In which Western European country is that massive difference?

Either you have a FANG wage or your friend has a poverty wage because here's how it's in Austria SW Dev wage 3k net/month, bus driver 2,5k. There's no 6x difference here.

So you're proving my point that it works for you when income distribution is not egalitarian because you wouldn't be very happy if you earned the same as your friend.

benterixOP7mo ago

I have a good job, most of my friends earn, say, 4x bus driver salary.

FirmwareBurner7mo ago

In another comment you shared a avenge bus driver salary as 44k/year. So by your statement, your friends would earn 4x that, meaning 176k/year while you said you earn 6x that at 264k/year.

Sorry, but something is wrong here. Either you're data/math is wrong, or you and your friends work in the top 1% FAANGs/big-tech jobs, because those tech salaries aren't the norm in Europe.

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FirmwareBurner7mo ago

So you're proving my point that it works for you when income distribution is not egalitarian because you wouldn't be very happy if you earned the same as your friend.

benterixOP7mo ago

My salary is quite good, my friends in the field earn a bit less, but the gap is still there.

[0] https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/bus-driver/germany [1] https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/germany

FirmwareBurner7mo ago

You're comparing apples to oranges here. Dataset of levels.fyi heavily skews towards FAANGs and big-tech, not entire SW sector of a nation.

1 more reply

Gud7mo ago

If you earn 6 times more than your friend who is a bus driver, you live in a place that has an unusually high income disparity for Europe.

fmobus7mo ago

Tech worker here, I just looked at my total comp, and it's about 4.5x that of a local bus driver. L+1s are probably getting close to 6x.

Gud7mo ago

What's your location if you don't mind me asking? And did you compare the bus drivers total comp to your total comp? :-)

FirmwareBurner7mo ago

That doesn't scan. In which Western European country is that massive difference?

Either you have a FANG wage or your friend has a poverty wage because here's how it's in Austria SW Dev wage 3k net/month, bus driver 2,5k. There's no 6x difference here.

So you're proving my point that it works for you when income distribution is not egalitarian because you wouldn't be very happy if you earned the same as your friend.

benterixOP7mo ago

I have a good job, most of my friends earn, say, 4x bus driver salary.

FirmwareBurner7mo ago

In another comment you shared a avenge bus driver salary as 44k/year. So by your statement, your friends would earn 4x that, meaning 176k/year while you said you earn 6x that at 264k/year.

Sorry, but something is wrong here. Either you're data/math is wrong, or you and your friends work in the top 1% FAANGs/big-tech jobs, because those tech salaries aren't the norm in Europe.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse