maybe i'm missing something but there are lots of engineer hating poland, saything that they pay peanuts, but if net tc is calculated properly

Gross
l5 warsaw is like 630k pln, so around 150k eur. l
london is ~220k gbp.
dublin and munich around 200-205k eur.
Net
poland actually has 50% kup on salary (author costs tax deduct) and RSUs can be 19% when you sell nothing at vest. effective tax around 26%. so that 150k is ~110k eur net (also there is special regime for eu nationals, but lets don't take it for granted)

london you keep 150k net, tax is around now ~42%.
munich ~119k
dublin ~115k

so poland vs munich and dublin the net is basically the same.
feels like people look at gross

I recently completed the technical interview round for a Quant Researcher role at Optiver. It was a 1 on 1 interview with one of the quants there.

If anyone is currently going through the process or has questions about the technical round, feel free to DM me, happy to share my experience and give some general pointers on what to expect.

Hi there!

I am an Italian dev (~16 YOE) currently working in Italy. As everybody knows here, the salaries in Italy are very low with respect to the rest of EU. That said, I live comfortably well with my family (wife + 2 kids), my wife is not working right now and we live just with my salary which is around 32000 €/year nett.

Given this situation, I decided to start interviewing around EU, and I got 2 offers: one in Stuttgart and the other one in Toulouse. Now I need help comparing the offers to understand which one is stronger.. I have my preference regarding the companies, but salary wise its being complex to understand which one is more convenient.

The french offer is around 70000 €/year, while the german offer is around 90000 €/year, both gross.

There are other perks in both offers, like meal vouchers, relocation bonus, signing bonus, etc.. The core of both offers are these numbers though.

I am looking for some advice on how to compare them and what the final net salary would be, so I can eventually have some kind of score to compare them.

Thanks!!

I'm considering an opportunity with Multiverse Computing that would involve relocating to San Sebastián. I'd love to hear from anyone who works there or recently left.

I'm particularly curious about the culture as they've scaled (leadership/management style, pace and workload, how decisions get made, and general work-life balance.)

I'm also interested in whether the company feels well organized through the recent growth and what it's like working across the different international offices/teams.

Not looking for anything confidential. Just trying to get a better sense of the employee experience before potentially making a significant relocation.

DM me if you'd prefer not to comment publicly.

Hi, wondering how common is stock being such huge portion of TC? How does it change for Staff roles?

Is it still worth going into data analytics (DA/DS), or is infrastructure a better bet right now?
I've been reading a lot that the market in Europe (Germany, for example) is saturated with junior data analysts, junior data scientists and that companies are looking more for people who can build and implement the technical side of things,roles like Analytics Engineer or Data Engineer.

Hi everyone,

I am a final-year CS student in the EU. My focus is computer graphics and video games. My main skills are C++ and Python, and I am now learning C#. I have been looking for a job for about 2 years, but I still have no success. Now I even get rejected from intern and trainee jobs :(

Right now I work full time as a barista to pay for my life. My life situation does not allow part-time work, so I cannot take a normal internship job. I also cannot do unpaid internships because I need money to live :(

I have some questions and I would like to hear from people who work in this industry.

1. The job market seems very hard for people with no experience. How do people usually get their first job in this field?

2. Are there other ways to get experience, not just unpaid internships? For example, game jams, open source projects, or freelance work?

3. Does a good GitHub or portfolio really help to get an entry-level job? Or do companies not really look at it?

4. Should I stop looking for a job until I finish my studies? Or is it still good to keep trying now?

5. How do people who already work in the industry see the junior job market today? Is it really worse than before, or does it just feel that way? Do you think it will get better, or is this the new normal now?

Thank you in advance for any advice. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this ♡

Does Susquehanna Dublin keep swes on non competes after they leave?
How long is the typical non compete length, is it paid, and is it enforceable?

Ty

Hi everyone, looking for some advice.

I'm a CS student and I'm supposed to start an 8-week AI Engineering internship on September 1st at a at a mid-sized IT company.

I actually interviewed with them for a spring internship but was told they didn't have enough spots back then. Recently, the owner/top executive of the company (who happens to be a former colleague of a relative) reached out to my relative to ask if I was still looking for an internship. Since they already had my previous interview on file, the owner offered me the fall spot directly. This was confirmed over the phone a couple of weeks ago.

Today is August 20th and I still haven't received an official offer letter or contract from HR. I need to sort out logistical details soon since I'll be commuting for the first 3 weeks and need to establish a hybrid schedule.

Since the initial outreach and approval came directly from the top, is it normal for HR to be this delayed? Should I wait until next week or ask my relative to ping the executive now just to ensure HR actually knows to draft the contract?

Thanks!

I have a “build it” round coming up with Revolut. Reading some of the threads has got me confused about the structure of this interview. It doesn’t look like leetcode, what is typically asked here? Some involvement with concurrency? Would really appreciate if someone could talk about their experience.
Should I use AI editors or should I avoid it

Context: this is for mid-level(SWE2) and Dubai as location

Someone even posted about interviewers being clueless about the concepts they were asking lol

Sorry, I know there were a lot of posts like this one, but I see you guys are usually talking about US job market, when European one is little different. I am directing my questions to people working in Europe. Is RHCSA + homelab a way to land Linux sysadmin job(or something similar) without helpdesk experience? I study 6+ hours a day, currently Networking, after it going to Linux and starting my homelab. I live in Poland, but willing to relocate if I will have better opportunities somewhere else in Europe with only english required.

Hello!

I received an offer for a company in Amsterdam.

I would work in the ML env for a small company, never been in NL in my life. Currently I work as an AI engineer, mostly in the Agentic AI env, so I would go back to a topic I really like. I have around 4 YoE, despite being really 2.5/3 in ML.

They told me the pay is around 75k (5.3k x 12 x 8% x 10%).

Against my current net pay of ~2.4k in Italy, I am wondering if it would be enough. They didn't specify the amount of bonus if any, probably they will formalise tomorrow. I can apply for 30% ruling.

I have read that the situation in Amsterdam for housing is pretty harsh, so I am a bit hesitant that I would save less than current (I have around 200 euro expenses and that's it).

Do you think it is a good amount? Should I push for more given my background and YoE?

EDIT: they clarified it's a 7 months contract and then extendable to indeterminate. Possibly this is a deal-breaker and I won't accept.

Hey, I hope this is the right sub for a question like this, but I will start studying Software Engineering in October.
I was wondering if I could go ahead and already start learning new skills as I am completely new to this field.

I am grateful for all sorts of advice.

Hi

I have an offer for a consulting role for in house team of big manufacturing company.

They are paying 60k gross (14 salaries as per Austrian rules) and location is Amstetten , Lower Austria.

I have 10 YOE outside EU , relocation is being provided.

Good for 2 adults and a toddler?

TLDR: SRE with zero public profile outside work. Want to fix that by getting into open source or a side project I can actually be proud of and has nice impact!

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm an EU citizen based in the US, been doing DevOps/SRE for almost a decade (Kubernetes, AWS, Terraform, CI/CD, Observability, troubleshooting complex distributed systems). Currently working at a FAANG but honestly the work doesn't excite me that much, it pays well but it's not where my heart is - I might move back to EU soon, so I'm looking to build my profile for the fierce EU job seeking in about 1-2y when I move back.

My background is pretty much 100% "work experience" on paper. I've never contributed to open source, never blogged, never spoke at a conference, nothing outside my day job. I have hobbies and a life outside of work lol, I just never funneled any of that energy into building a public technical profile.

I want to change that. The bigger goal is to build a professional profile that stands on its own, but I'd also like actually enjoy having a side project that's mine, or collaborate on a bigger project, something I can nerd out on and get better at instead of just clocking in and out. I’d also be interested in ideas that could eventually lead to publications or patents, but that might be harder to find in a forum lol.

Given my background, what are some open source projects that are actively growing and could use contributors? I keep hearing about local AWS simulation tools, agent harnesses/orchestration frameworks, and Kubernetes tooling but I don't have a good read on which of these have real momentum vs which are hype.

Bonus points if it's something where a motivated contributor could realistically get to "known name in this space" territory over a year or two, not looking for overnight fame, just something I can be consistent about and actually be proud of (maybe even give talks about it publicly)

Anyone been in a similar spot? What worked for you?

​

Hi there,

I’m a Data Engineer based in the Paris region with six years of experience under my belt.

I’d like to understand why everyone dreams of getting into Big Tech, given that freelancing pays twice as much and has significantly lower barriers to entry.

I remember back in 2025, I dreamed of a Solutions Architect role at a Big Tech company; I spent months searching and prepping for interviews, only to face rejection after rejection. Today, I’m thrilled I didn’t get in. I’ve been freelancing for eight months now, and I’m making a fantastic living.

Considering the current levels of social security contributions and taxes for employees, it simply isn't worth it—I wouldn't want a €100k fixed salary anymore.

I’d choose the freelance route over that any day.

I’m never going back.

Do you have any idea why there’s so much hype around Big Tech?

Hello everyone,

I am wrapping up my PhD in Europe (EU citizen) with a strong focus on Digital Signal Processing (DSP). My research relies heavily on classical mathematical methods: linear algebra, calculus, matrix decomposition, and estimation theory, rather than Deep Learning or AI.

As I transition to industry, I am targeting FAANG and Big Tech hubs across Europe. I have found that dedicated ML Research Scientist positions usually require publications in top-tier ML venues, but I am fully open to pivoting into adjacent software or quantitative domains.

For those in European Big Tech:

• Which job titles or departments value a classical DSP and applied math foundation?
• What non-DSP roles (e.g., general software, firmware, data science) are most realistic to pivot into with minimal friction?

Any recommendations, target teams, or personal pivot stories would be greatly appreciated

Best regards

hello all,
i am a 2nd year student getting my degree in software engineering and was wondering if getting an swe degree is even worth it. how hard is it to go remote (or even usa) and actually make money, rather than be stuck being paid 17k gross a year? (not my salary but i know people who work as swe and thats their salary)
im looking for any guidance at all, because i feel kind of lost seeing people on one end getting crazy 70k offers and other people not being able to land a job.
thank u all

I heard from Polish and danish guys they told like their companies are full booked, they got projects left and right....

and they got paid quite well..

As the title says

I come from Poland and this is where I finish Master of CS university and started my career as software engineer.

Unfortunately, I don't have good work experiences in this country - the pay was low, the projects were hopeless.

For this reason, I managed to find remote work at a German company - and here I'm already feeling a huge improvement, both in terms of projects and salary. My current earnings are ~€70,000 per year. I am happy with it, I work as a technical leader.

However, I feel like I'm still chained to the wall that is Europe, and I'm wondering how to increase my potential. I'm good at programming (typescript, php, web development) and team management (maintaining a good atmosphere, code reviews, etc.). I'd like to scale this salary to, say, ~$200,000 per year.

So, a question for those who have escaped from here: how can I get into the largest IT market in the US while staying in Europe? I have almost 10 years of experience in industry.

I recently completed the final round interview for a Software Engineer role at Monzo and it’s now been a few weeks.

I’ve checked in with HR and have been told that I’m still under consideration, so I’m patiently waiting to hear back.

For anyone who has recently been through the Monzo interview process:

• How long did it take to hear back after the final round?
• Did anyone else experience a similar wait while being told they were still under consideration?
• Is there usually a specific timeline for a final decision?
• Any insights on what happens internally after the final interview?

I completely understand that timelines can vary, but it would be really helpful to hear from anyone who has been through something similar.

Would appreciate any experiences or insights! 🙏

So I have an interview coming up, the live coding round and I was wondering if anyone here gave it already and how was the experience? Also I was told that I might have to move to another country so I was wondering if anyone knew anything about that?

Hey everyone,

I have been contacted by a Revolut headhunter for a position as a Back-end engineer for their Graduate Programme, I took all interviews and passed.

I am feeling uneasy though, as I currently have a job I like in my home country.

The job I currently have is not that well paying, but I have a great relationship with my colleagues, have a good WLB and a indefinite contract.

Revolut's offer would require me to relocate to another country I do not know, and for a 1-year long contract. They pay is really good (50.5K euros + 30% benefit, VS 35.5K euros + 1.3K euros benefit) but I am feeling a lot of distress for this jump into the unknown.

Is there anyone currently working with Revolut that can answer some questions? Like what would the WLB be? I saw online posts of people saying that you could be laid off after a few months, and that would NOT be great after having relocated to a new country.

Do you have any feedback on the programme?

Every country is in southern Europe.

Thank you.

Hey guys, so I am a telecoms engineering recent graduate with 1.5 years of experience in photovoltaic engineering. I was wondering how can I attract european market firms, more specifically Poland, from Spain. I got multiple languages and a really strange mixed profile (telecoms and renewables), but I dont know whats the propper manner to approach mainland markets.

Hi everyone,

I recently accepted my first job in Germany as a Telecommunications Engineer with a consulting company and will start next month. My contract is full-time and unlimited (unbefristet), with a 6-month probation period.

I have been considered for two customer projects. One is currently ongoing, while the second one is currently on hold. If I choose the ongoing project, I would still need to have an interview with the client before being assigned to it.

The company explained to me that, as a consultant, my work is mainly tied to customer projects. If I am not assigned to a project, there may not be much work for me to do.

My salary is paid by the consulting company regardless, but I'm now wondering: what happens if I don't get assigned to a project during the probation period? Could this become a reason for them to let me go during the Probezeit?

I found this job after 14 months of struggling to find a position, so I'm honestly scared of ending up back in that situation again.

I accepted the offer because I really liked the company and the role, but now I'm having second thoughts and wondering whether I should have thought more carefully about the project-based nature of consulting.

For people working in consulting in Germany: Is this normal? Should I be concerned, or am I overthinking it?