Should Software Engineers Move East?
3 short stories on the future of remote work, offshoring, and financial independence.
This article is a collection of 3 posts I made on LinkedIn.
Since they’re quite in-depth, and touch on a similar topic, I thought of unifying them in an article here, in order to provide some inputs regarding the topic of living and working as a software engineer in the west or in the east.
With ‘west’, depending on the story, we mean the US, or the US + Western Europe.
With ‘east’, we mean either just Asia, or Asia + Central/Eastern Europe.
Story 1
A tech worker based in Poland told me that they recently turned down an offer from Glovo in Barcelona. Here's their story (which I think is interesting and worth sharing):
- Senior profile. They had a good impression of Glovo, at least in terms of core business and products/services, so they applied for a position there.
- They passed the interviews and got an offer for 95k euro/year + 20% stock.
- They spent 1 month in Spain to get the feeling of the country and life. The impression was that most of Spain was affordable but Barcelona was not.
- This seemed to be a good offer for the local market, according to their research on Levels/Glassdoor.
- Given that most high-paying jobs in Spain were in Barcelona or Madrid, their realisation was that Spain wasn't the most friendly place in Europe for tech workers.
Other considerations from them (I'm just copy-pasting here):
<<
1. High taxes (even during first 5 year period) compared to Poland.
2. Expensive private education if you don't want your children to spend years learning Catalan (in addition to Spanish).
3. I make similar money living in Cracow, Poland and working remotely for a US company with much lower cost of living.
4. Years ago I was earning 110k chf/year in Switzerland for an entry level engineering role.
These 4 facts mainly made me reject the offer.>>
This case is quite emblematic and in my opinion here are the takeaways:
- Poland is one of the best places in Europe for tech workers at the moment, if not THE best place: low cost of living, low taxes, high availability of relatively high-paying jobs (some local jobs can pay well, and also a lot of US companies have their payroll streamlined in the area and prefer to hire remote workers here than in other EU countries), great standard of living, upwards trajectory.
- Spain can still be appealing and offer good salaries for top engineers, but it's not gonna be the best place to make and retain money as a dev in Europe. I still see it a valid option, especially as a "lifestyle play": I lived almost 2 years in Spain (Seville, Madrid, Barcelona), and life there is pretty good IMO. It's a relatively safe place, food is good, weather is very nice, pace of life is healthy, you can get good education for your kids, especially if in private schools. I speak the language so maybe I'm biased, but I think Spanish can also be easy to learn (and useful too when travelling :)).
What do you think? Would you have accepted the offer?
If you have a story yourself, that you think would be valuable for people out there to see and you want to share it anonymously, hit me up in DM!
Story 2
Software Engineers are going through one of the toughest times since the inception of the internet.
Layoffs, hiring freezes, Computer Science graduates finding no jobs...
People find the reasons for this phenomenon in the general "financial situation" of the world, and in other macro and geopolitical factors.
I'm gonna try to throw another angle at you right now 💡
Hear me out 👇
Let's look at the hiring trends of Google 🔎
In Zurich, they currently have 4 SWE openings, 3 of them for staff+ level.
In London they have 10, most of them for senior+ level.
In Dublin they have 8, most of them for senior+ level.
In Warsaw? 65, at all levels.
Bangalore? 143.
You can verify this data yourself on their career site.
What about Stripe? Another top tech company.
Here's the number of openings for software engineers in their European offices:
London -> 2
Dublin -> 2
Bucharest -> 4
Bangalore -> 5
Databricks?
Germany -> 6
Amsterdam (European HQ) -> 9
Belgrade -> 9
Oracle?
Zurich -> 2
Barcelona -> 10
Dublin -> 18
Prague -> 20
Bangalore -> 28
Bucharest -> 30
These companies don't mind paying a lot to hire the absolute best talent.
So, if it's the case that they're pushing on offshoring, it means that regular companies will be offshoring even more.
This is in line with what I hear about regular non big tech companies in Zurich: most of them are expanding into their satellite offices in Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Romania and Asia, rather than in Switzerland.
This didn't use to be the case before. For sure not at this magnitude.
Junior engineers in the west are the ones struggling the most.
Where are the only Databricks' openings for junior engineers? Belgrade.
I don't want to make any conclusion around the future of employment and offshoring in tech.
I'm also well aware that developers are struggling everywhere right now, even in Eastern Europe or India.
But the data is here: they're struggling the most in the USA, then in Western Europe, then in Eastern Europe and India.
I want to ask you a question:
For a profession that can technically be done from anywhere, does it make more sense to pay someone 'X' to have them live a middle/middle-upper class life in a high cost of living place, or pay them 'X/2' and have them live an upper class life in a low cost of living place?
The latter seems more like a win-win solution to me.
I don't think you have a much worse healthcare, education and quality of life living in Bangkok or Warsaw on $100k-$200k taxed at <25%, than in California on $200k-$500k taxed at 50%.
In fact, I think the opposite might be true.
Maybe this was something inevitable all along, and the restricted availability of capital in recent times is just speeding up the trend, together with the Covid remote shift?
Should all devs move east and south? 😄 ✈️ ⛴
Drop your thoughts in the comments! 👇 🔥
Story 3
A friend of mine, also a Software Engineer, has worked in both the USA 🇺🇸 and Poland 🇵🇱. Currently, he's living in Warsaw, earning about $160k as a remote developer for a US-based startup.
He spent a decade in New York City 🗽 before moving to Warsaw a few years ago.
Recently, missing NYC's vibrancy and social life, he returned there for a few months to evaluate a potential comeback.
He’s quite progressive—think polyamory and Burning Man—so it might seem that NYC would suit him better than the more traditional, yet modern, Warsaw.
Yet, after spending a few months back in the Big Apple, he found its high pace and constant hustle too stressful for long-term living.
The root issue? NYC’s high cost of living, which forces everyone into a perpetual hustle to stay afloat.
Even though he could aim for jobs paying between $200k and $500k, the significant increase in monthly expenses—like a bigger flat, childcare, and other family needs—wouldn't effectively boost his purchasing power.
Moreover, high-paying tech jobs in high-cost-of-living (HCOL) areas often come with intense pressure to deliver substantial ROI, adding to workplace stress.
Additionally, the risk of job loss, which many engineers in the US have experienced recently, could drastically impact his financial stability, given the minimal social security support in the US — a stark contrast to other HCOL places like Switzerland 🇨🇭, which offer more substantial safety nets.
Despite the potential for higher salaries in NYC, the financial and emotional toll seems too great.
He's now considering remaining a remote worker in Warsaw or possibly moving to Lisbon or Barcelona for a more progressive environment, where even a lower salary could support a comfortable lifestyle without the constant grind.
He seems to be prioritizing peace of mind over chasing higher earnings in a high-stress environment, especially considering that a higher salary wouldn’t necessarily enhance his purchasing power.
What do you think?
Is the trade-off of a high salary worth the relentless pace and high cost of living in a city like NYC?
Do engineers in LCOL experience great purchasing power while keeping living costs low, and live a more relaxed life?
Check out my other 2 posts on this topic of remote work, purchasing power, offshoring and quality of life. Links in comments.
If you ask me, I'd also make the same choice he did, especially when considering a long-term solution. 💆♂️ 👍
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed these little stories! :)
This topic is quite broad and multifaceted. We’re touching several themes here, such as offshoring, cost of living vs salary, purchasing power, saving potentials, efficiency of where to carry out software development work, corporation’s hiring trends etc.
Probably more articles on this topic coming soon 👍
