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by LeoSolaris 3419 days ago
There are a few reasons I have seen.

The US has a higher cost of living than most other countries. Those who are comparable pay somewhat more competitively with US jobs. This becomes really clear with remote work. Outside of the major tech hubs, the pay for IT drops off to comparable levels with European companies.

We have a culture that doesn't require a business degree to open a business that investors would take seriously. As a result, companies pay highly skilled IT employees more to keep them happy enough to not start up their own business.

There is more direct competition between deep pocketed firms for talent. High demand always skews the price, and it is faaaar easier for the US firms to hire US based workers.

Traditionally, the US had been the only place to get any form of quality IT. The training programs and college degrees are more established.

We also see that many of our outsourced maintenance IT jobs may be done cheaper, but they are often worth far less than what they charge. That negative impression reinforces the stereotype of US based IT professionals are more competent.

2 comments

>The US has a higher cost of living than most other countries. Those who are comparable pay somewhat more competitively with US jobs. This becomes really clear with remote work. Outside of the major tech hubs, the pay for IT drops off to comparable levels with European companies.

This is partially true but I thought the cost of living in Europe was generally higher than in the US.

Eh, I don't have to own a car, I have cheaper health insurance, vacations cost less (but only because I used all of them to go to Europe before I moved here), and my rent is cheaper. Also, remember that you're getting at least a month off a year, by law, which even now relatively few US companies do.
> Traditionally, the US had been the only place to get any form of quality IT. The training programs and college degrees are more established.

Not sure that I agree with that! Compare to the UK, I don't think this is at all true. Compared to say, India, then that was definitely true.

I don't see is as a reality, merely a common perception. Having worked with several French software devs... I can say that the US devs are far more innovative. The impression that I have formed is that there is a major cultural difference in how the term expert is used. In the US, we tend to be willing to buck authority and expert opinion when we have facts to the contrary. Many of my French counterparts are not willing to even contradict their non-technical bosses over blatantly stupid things. It has lead to such a huge technical debt that it is drastically cutting into production.

Now part of my experience is with a multinational manufacturing company not an IT company. That likely makes a major difference.