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Comment by DandyDev | Hacker News Reader

And what kind of person you think we are talking about here for 60k in Amsterdam? Is that a senior Software Engineer? Or even an engineering lead (responsible for a bunch of other SEs)? Because 60k per year in Amsterdam equates around 4.6k per month + holiday pay. I can hire at most a medior - senior SE for that in AMS (let's say 4-5 years of experience) and I really don't believe a person with that kind of experience would earn 300k a year in SV.

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> I really don't believe a person with that kind of experience would earn 300k a year in SV.

I just spoke with someone two years out of CS undergrad who’s starting at $350k TC at one of the big SV unicorns.

I'm 3.5 years out of CS undergrad, successful in my niche, receive good reviews at work. Graduated top 10% of my class and was hired before I ever graduated.

I make 78k in a medium cost of living US city where a 3 bedroom 2 bath house costs $450,000 1 hour away from work. The same home costs $700,000 within 20-30min of work.

Something overlooked a little bit is student loan debt many American devs start with. I have $50k in student loan debt myself.

We make more than in Europe, but most of us aren't drowning in money like people from SV would make you think.

> you think we are talking about here for 60k in Amsterdam? Is that a senior Software Engineer? Or even an engineering lead (responsible for a bunch of other SEs)?

Yes, at most I'd say at that seniority level, that's why I'm questioning it. (300k is probably at a higher level AND with stocks, etc)

(Though I mentioned Berlin, not AMS, which has slightly higher salaries)

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