
Show HN: How to Find a Job as a Software Developer in Switzerland – Guide - Varqu
https://swissdevjobs.ch/blog/how-to-find-job-as-software-developer-in-switzerland-complete-guide
======
harryf
Would tend to say the salaries on the jobs listed there are a little on the
low side compared to what you could probably get for those jobs. As it’s
targeting developers outside of Switzerland, perhaps that’s led to a bias
downwards.

It’s common story for people findig their first job in Switzerland to end up
with a low end salary thinking its high. Then they find out how much it costs
to live here...

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Varqu
It might be that you can sometimes get a higher salary than advertised but
they values are provided directly by the companies posting the jobs and they
seem in the range of PayScale:
[https://www.payscale.com/research/CH/Job=Software_Engineer/S...](https://www.payscale.com/research/CH/Job=Software_Engineer/Salary/8d55ae7f/Zurich)

In the end you can find a Senior earning 250k CHF annually and one earning
100k, there are many factors that come into play.

It's also important to consider both salaries and costs of living but I would
say from my 2 year experience here that you can live better than in Silicon
Valley and save in the same time.

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krn
I think Berlin, Germany provides a much better value for money for software
developers, because one would need to earn 200k in Zurich to maintain the same
standard of life that requires only 100k in Berlin[1].

Switzerland is a great choice for someone who just wants to save as much money
as he can during a short period of time before moving somewhere else, or for
people working in non-tech industries, who would make very little doing the
same job in other parts of Europe.

Still, there are much more enjoyable places to be in Europe for someone
without kids, and much more cheaper for someone with.

[1] [https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-
living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-
living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Germany&city1=Berlin&country2=Switzerland&city2=Zurich)

~~~
Varqu
Good points.

Berlin has definitively a bigger Startup scene and generally more companies to
pick from than Zurich.

In terms of salary you have to also account for taxes (100k in Germany will be
taxed at around 45% and in Switzerland (Zurich) around 30%.

~~~
austinjp
Well yes, but some Swiss taxes are applied at the point of sale e.g. trash
bags, which are very expensive. It's not straightforward to compare salaries
in these circumstances.

~~~
j7ake
You can buy a bag a day and it will cost you less than half a percent of your
net income.

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xiphias2
If you want to go to Switzerland and earn 200k, just go to Google and get
promoted there. It's far the most fun workplace in Zurich.

It also helps if you're a female intern/step intern, the male-female ratio for
interns is about 1:5 .

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ArtWomb
Yes. Swiss has it all. Would be interested to hear about tech scene there. As
well as where to source the finest shokolade ;)

~~~
cheesedoodle
I realised that Switzerland is not a favourable country to move to if you are
planning to start a family or have more kids.

"Under federal legislation, gainfully employed mothers are entitled to
maternity leave, but there is no law granting fathers the right to paternity
leave." [0]

Add to that, the cost of health care and child care:

"half day" day-care system. [1] Subsidised day-care is at 50-150CHF a day! [2]

If you are looking to re-locate to an EU country, you might find better
options where work/life balance is greater AND cost of living is lower. [3]
However, the pay-scale is probably adjusted to the cost of living.

[0] [https://www.ch.ch/en/paternity-leave/](https://www.ch.ch/en/paternity-
leave/) [1] [https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/children-and-
childcare/...](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/children-and-
childcare/41292356) [2]
[https://www.expat.com/en/guide/europe/switzerland/10476-chil...](https://www.expat.com/en/guide/europe/switzerland/10476-child-
care-in-switzerland.html) [3] Estonia, Sweden, Finland, pdf =>
[https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=19932&langId=e...](https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=19932&langId=en)

~~~
Varqu
Yes, if you consider a 4 person family it starts to get pricey. Basically, for
a lot of my friends it meant that one of the parents would be a stay-at-home
parent.

On the other hand, if you are single - there is probably not a better place in
Europe, even in the world to work as a Developer, save a substantial part of
your salary and have good work life balance in the same time:
[https://www.quora.com/Is-130K-CHF-total-annual-gross-a-
good-...](https://www.quora.com/Is-130K-CHF-total-annual-gross-a-good-salary-
to-live-in-Switzerland)

~~~
cheesedoodle
Not all family members would consider relocating and leaving their current
jobs to become a full time stay-at-home parent, solely because of the cost of
living. On the other hand, I know many would appreciate the chance of being
full-time with the kids and why not do it in Switzerland.

Its just something to really think about should you be in a position where you
might relocate. Either to make sure you can afford child care or that your
partner is ok with not working.

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Varqu
If you have questions for about living and working in Switzerland as a
Software Engineer let me know:
[https://twitter.com/SwissDevJobs/status/1109728672297177088](https://twitter.com/SwissDevJobs/status/1109728672297177088)

I plan a few more articles to describe it from my current >2 year experience.

The topics that will be touched:

\- IT market in Switzerland: startups, BigCorp and other companies

\- SV vs Switzerland for living and working

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shelune
Would be really nice if this can be done to more countries. I'm interested to
know how things look in the whole EU.

