[charlesdm]

Going freelance is likely the right answer in Europe. Many companies are happy to pay 400+ EUR daily for a qualified developer, on longer term engagements.

The last pure engineering gig I did (specialised mobile work while trying to figure out what to do next) a few years ago was for a german multinational company and paid around 700/day. Remote work from home (Belgium, low CoL). That was a long running engagement for about a year.

They were happy to extend pretty much indefinitely but I ultimately started a new entrepreneurial project. At ~220 billable days that amounted to ~155k/year gross.