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Ask HN: Six figures salary careers in Europe?
22 points by Gooblebrai 9 months ago | hide | past | favorite | 40 comments
Aside from software engineering, that's it.

Just curious about what other careers nowadays have the potential of a six figures salary, in Europe (as I think in USA is easier to cross that threshold). Geographical location is usually very relevant so if you have anecdata, please share where as well.




Finance. Taking care of the assests of the European Rentiers, Tax avoiders, Leisure and Luxury classes is quite lucrative. You don't have to do too much work either cause those assets inflate themselves.


As a Freelance Software Dev I make 200 to 300K a year. Live in a low tax country (Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus etc.) you will have 10% total tax / social security.

COL will be about 20% of Bay Area so you can buy one or two houses every year from net income and be FIRE very quickly.


Where do you find most of your work? Freelance platforms? Networking?


Sorry, how would get 10% tax in These countries?

Cyprus has 35% incomtax over 60k €, poland 32%, estonia 20% flat...


I presume working for US companies?


how can you make 200-300k per year as a freelancer in europe?


Very much an outlier and I doubt it's reproducible across multiple contracts


Presumably you're getting paid in Euros and not Pounds or Swiss Francs.

And is this six figures USD converted to local currency, or 100k+ in the local?


Does it even matter?


Aside from software engineering? I find it hard in NL to get a six figure salary for software engineering.


exactly, i cannot imagine companies in west europe paying that… if i am wrong tell me who and for what roles :)


>> in Europe

Why would you restrict yourself to that though?

If you want to take a chance on getting rich, move to America. That's America's purpose in the universe.

Give us some information on the reason you rule out the obvious solution to your problem and maybe we can help.


> Give us some information on the reason you rule out the obvious solution

Not so obvious for some. The quality of life, as I measure it, is far too poor for me to consider it. I'm more than happy to be in Europe.


It's hard to move to US because of the visa issue. And US is already full of competent software engineers.


> And US is already full of competent software engineers.

This is probably a good thing. It means there's also lots and lots of companies.

One actual downside of working in the US is that you get US holiday culture.


Immigrating to US isn't as easy as it seems.


Most mid-level jobs in Banking are above £100k. AVP/Associate Director might just break the barrier but VP and above definitely will.

This is for all sorts of roles, not just development - Compliance, Ops, Risk etc. People who actually deal with client money will make multiples of that.


SaaS sales / sales engineers. Much easier to get there compared to SWE as well.


Aren’t most of these paid primarily in commission?


Are there even rich people in Europe? It seems like Europeans are mostly poor with a small super wealthy elite.

Unlike the US where most people are middle class, a sizable number are rich (millionaire plus), and most of the wealthy come from either already well off families or self made.

Everyone craps on US (I mean we are the best at everything lol good and bad) but that’s what happens when you’re the best and at the top of the hierarchy. People say shit about you. It’s not like I care much about that because my life as an immigrant to the USA is phenomenal to say the least.

But I always wonder why Europeans just seem so… stagnant? Like they’ve basically plateaued. Idk.

I’m from a former “colony” so it’s not any concern to me. But I always see these kinds of posts and wonder.


Yes and no.

Western Europe's economic, tax, regulatory, and social welfare systems are a positive and negative, depending on who you ask.

Compared to the US, only a small segment of the population is either very poor or very rich. Everyone is basically lower- to upper-middle class.

But there's a price to that large safety net. The above policies create a disincentive to innovate and build wealth - the reason behind the stagnant you mentioned.

America: the sky is the limit. Western Europe: lower-middle class is the ground floor.


This is what I felt too.

In the US and Asia, people seem to be trying to claw their way to the top. Not everyone succeeds obviously, but some do, and I'd say many others at the very least improve their lot in life.

In Europe, it feels like most people are just content and satisfied with their current lot in life, and even those that are not, aren't really motivated to significantly change their position in society.


Can't speak to Asia, but the big difference between US and EU is that US has a lot more variance in quality of life. Its quite a bit easier to monetize skills, but its also quite a bit easier to become poor because of lack of social safety nets.

In EU there is very little variance, so most people don't see the value in extra effort that they have to put in to get ahead. Middle class is undoubtably much better off in EU - you have a lot more social safety nets and assistance, and furthermore, because most of the people around you are generally in the same boat financially, the lack of materialism is actually quite good for peoples mental health and finances.

The only caveat is, EU can have this sort of setup in large part due to economic influence of US. A lot of wealth from US is exported to EU, which goes on to fund the social safety nets. You wouldn't think that 2007 housing crisis in US would go on to affect job markets in EU, but it very much did. Also, US pretty much subsidizes military capability development costs for all of EU.


I wonder if it’s a chicken or egg thing too. The same amount of effort it would take to substantially improve your financial situation in the US…does not feel like it would have the same impact in EU. If that’s the case, then I can see people just going “what’s the point?”


There are around 23 million US millionaires. I’m not even sure that single million is “rich” any more, particularly if that includes the value of all retirement accounts.

(Post the pension era, $1M safely provides only about $40K/yr in retirement income for a 30 year retirement.)


And there are 20 million millionaires in Europe, I am not sure where does the poor-Europeans statement comes from.


Europe is about double the population of US


Possibly hearsay, but an Italian SWE friend told me a Venetian gondolier can make more than an Italian SWE.


Dunno about precise figures nowadays but the job is severely gate kept and available to locals only.


I would guess that at least some real estate brokers and lawyers earn that kind of money…?


Law, medicine, finance, consulting, investing, celebrity. The usual suspects...


Approximately 10% to 12% of the total working population earns a six-figure salary. In Europe, this occurrence is more prevalent than commonly perceived, particularly within engineering roles or technology teams. Additionally, professionals in marketing, sales, business development, and executive (C-level) positions often fall within this earning bracket.

For further insights and job opportunities in this salary range, visit: https://100kjobhunt.xyz/


Europe is quite diverse.

In germany it would be IT, law, medicine, accounting, engineering and management of all sorts as the most obvious.


Work as a freelancer in any field for €95 an hour, 40 weeks per year, 27 hours per week.


I feel like 95 is more difficult now than 2 or 4 years ago.


and who will do your sales? zero non-billable hours?


Electronics engineer in Switzerland. :)


6 figures USD is ~88k CHF or 7'300/mo.

That's a little higher than the overall 2020 median, but not by much: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/work-income/...

Sectors where the median wage was higher in 2020:

  energy supply
  information and communication
  financial and insurance
  professional, scientific, and technical
  public admin & defense
  education
Edit: looks like all of the above also have median above 6 figures in local currency.


Can you share more about how to find such a job? How many years of experience are required? :) Is proficiency in English sufficient, or are German and French also necessary? I'm a Hardware Engineer based in Poland. :)


Cardiologist and some other *ists?




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