[Traubenfuchs]

Yikes. Those are (central) European numbers, but we get free insulin, free dentistry and free brain & heart surgery, several mandatory weeks of paid time off and months of notice period.

I guess the 100k or even 200k, or 300k starting meme finally died at a time of record inflation no less.

[umanwizard]

Other than the months of notice period, American tech workers get all of those things.

[lisasays]

Bulge-bracket tech workers might get those things, or enough cash to offset their absence.

Average-case tech workers certainly do not get several mandatory weeks of PTO. And the co-pays on their healthcare are also quite often "meh" (specifically, well short of 100 percent).

[Traubenfuchs]

Also between jobs / when unemployed / being laid off?

[JB_Dev]

Pretty much, yea. You easily make enough money to pay for COBRA. Then if that runs out you can get (an admittedly bad) plan from the marketplace. But it all comes back to point (1) - the amount you make more than makes up for it.

[codegeek]

"Pay for COBRA"

Yes but COBRA can cost upto 102% of the cost which was mostly covered by your employer before. Now that you are laid off, you have to pay the whole thing (sometimes employers are nice to still cover when they lay you off but mostly they don't). For a family of 4, it can easily be $2500/Month depending on the state you live in.

[JB_Dev]

You missed this critical part “you easily make enough money to…”

If you are making >$250K year, an extra $2500/month is not a significant bump. Especially as it is temporary while you are between jobs. Temporary could even be a year or longer.

Factor that cost into your emergency savings and draw down when you need to. You still end up massively ahead of a developer outside the US.

I am not endorsing the US system - it is objectively garbage. But the point is that the pay difference more than makes up for the downsides in healthcare.

[codegeek]

I don't know. I am a very idealistic person when it comes to spending money. I hate spending even $5 on what I think is extortion and bullying which is what the healthcare costs in US are. I am privileged enough to be able to afford it but still don't like it and would do anything to get rid of it.

[cosmolev]

At first, I thought you were referencing the absence of the sugary drink tax when you were talking about "free insulin."

[alfalfasprout]

lol 100-300k is hardly a meme and is very much market rate still for great talent. It was a meme for juniors.