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by emptysongglass 1337 days ago
It is. We're getting paid peanuts compared to our American counterparts and we do the same work. What's worse is we pay higher taxes. The only way this changes is by European tech workers standing together and demanding matched salaries.
6 comments

The point is that Indian workers are held hostage due to threat of deportation / returning home. European remote workers still live at home and have much more job mobility.
European workers face the same threat in the USA...
When we're in the US, sure; but the implication of your previous comment was that this was remote work.
But the flip side is you don't have to save $,000s for your kids college tuition, generally much lower property tax and cheaper healthcare.
> But the flip side is you don't have to save $,000s for your kids college tuition, generally much lower property tax and cheaper healthcare.

Irrelevant. Just because you work for a US company that does not mean your kids should go to US colleges.

Yes but you do not face deportation right? Infact if you were to move to the us on a H1B yould get your gc in a couple of years. GCs (for Indian born) are like a 25 year wait! Doesn't matter your citizenship. Govt perpetuated racism my friend!
It's really fascinating how it is so much easier to understand the problems we face but so much harder to wrap our minds around the problems that other people face.
Well it's fair that your payment is adapted to the cost of living in your country/area.
No it isn't. You're doing the same work. It is fair to get paid the same for the same work.
I live in Silicon Valley and had to pay a plumber 150USD just to visit and fix a small problem. Do you pay a plumber in your area 150USD (in local currency) for 30min of work? If not, why not?
Yes in Denmark it can be even higher than this. So Danes are being compensated (it's actually much less than SV programmers: I'm getting a take home of 81k a year for senior) but are paying more for plumbers.

This is one hundred percent a problem of exploitation and cultural expectations and needs to change.

Do people pay plumbers the same in SF as they do in Charlotte?

As an employee I want to be paid the highest that anyone else is paid for the same work. More so if the value generated is the same regardless of location. Yet I can understand employers wanting to help maintain sustainable communities, even where cost of living is high.

Governments too want some control over their currencies and its value.

I don't desperately need to have understanding for governments or corporations. They can all take care of themselves without my help.
My point is it's a collective concern too. Because without coordinating all prices globally there will be variance in costs of living. Which could price out lower valued jobs from certain areas entirely.
In terms of compensation maybe (I'd say Indians in USA generally make more than EU devs), but you don't fear being fired and deported.

That said, Russian and Chinese developers had the same happening in companies in the UK.