[BoorishBears]

Everyone talks about how US tech salaries are inflated values because they don't include the cost of healthcare, a lack of guaranteed PTO, etc.

I like feel they're actually under-inflated (at least for comparing high paid workers in both places) because of equity.

The company I work at has rallied many times over 100% since I joined a bit over a year ago. I could sell my equity and "semi-retire" 30+ years early, working when/if I feel like it and not eat really into my savings

It wasn't some grand plan to join a company that would do well during a pandemic, but I did intentionally choose a public company since saying in the tech sector has exploded would be an understatement, and I wanted equity in that.

I'm guessing a lot of people who joined FAANG companies in the last few years are all probably sitting on enough to start thinking about that.

There are those who feel this is a bubble and not sustainable... maybe? But the way I see it is, even if this is the bubble before the next dot com era-style bust, it's better to have a position in it provided by my work and cashing out along the way, than not and end up losing my job anyways.

[ghaff]

>Everyone talks about how US tech salaries are inflated values because they don't include the cost of healthcare, a lack of guaranteed PTO, etc.

In all fairness, if you're working for a public tech (and many other) companies, you probably have good health insurance that's at least subsidized and 3-4 weeks of PTO which may not be great by European standards but isn't nothing. (Though admittedly increasingly shared with sick time so if you're out a lot, it's less good.)

[BoorishBears]

Yeah I didn't touch on that because some people argue it's still not enough, but if you're in the top 5% of earners in the US (which the poster above is in Germany) I think the difference in perks isn't as great as people play up