Tech salaries in South Africa compared to the UK and Australia

But the weather in the UK is depressing; if you have seasonal depression, you might feel depressed permanently.
I have been rather depressed with the 3 weeks of sunshine I have had to deal with. Yesterday was the first day I have enjoyed the weather because it was cloudy and rainy.
I hate the heat and prefer the weather here. I love the cold.
 
I was earning about R420k in SA, I now earn around R1.1m in the UK.
I am still paying off my SA debts, so that amount is fixed. But I am now paying more in child support, and I give my mom money each month.
I pay more in rent, less for food, less for my mobile account, and because I travel less I pay less in transport costs.
Each month I am able to save the local equivalent of what I was taking home in SA before I left. I save my old NETT salary every month after expenses, and after being able to give other people more money than I could when I was in SA.
Financially for me the move has been very beneficial.

And I do love a good Cream Tea...
Very Nice, and I doff my hat to you for actually giving your figures. A working example always help!
 
Very Nice, and I doff my hat to you for actually giving your figures. A working example always help!
If I wasn't paying R8k in debt each month I would have £350 extra each month.
I still lead a life here. I go and see friends, I play airsoft each month, I still buy myself steaks and enjoy my red wine. But I also get to enjoy a walk in a park more often without worrying about drug users or criminals.

A South African work ethic and some skills will get you a good life in the UK.
 
I have been rather depressed with the 3 weeks of sunshine I have had to deal with. Yesterday was the first day I have enjoyed the weather because it was cloudy and rainy.
I hate the heat and prefer the weather here. I love the cold.
Bro you definitely a Brits and not a OG Saffer :ROFL:
 
Must suck to earn £50,271. I'd be fighting to earn £1 less...

View attachment 1750989
This info is not complete.

Once you hit 100k your basic rebate starts being reduced, by a pound every for every 2 pounds over 100k. So in fact you're paying something like 50% tax on money from 100k to 125k as I understand it.
Salary sacrifices to keep under the 100k mark are really impactful. The taxman pays half my car lease!
 
Important to point out that built into the tax I pay is a Gov pension (I also have another pension plan) and NHS. So if you earn £50k your 20% tax includes your hospital plan which makes the taxes you pay in SA more expensive once you factor in the R2k you have to spend on a hospital plan.
Not correct. Your hospital plan and state pension are funded from NI which is an additional deduction from your salary. (your employer also pays, more than you do)
 
Not correct. Your hospital plan and state pension are funded from NI which is an additional deduction from your salary. (your employer also pays, more than you do)
I was simplifying things. I lose about 20% of my salary to the Gov, thats a combo of tax and NI. I saw no point in confusing things, rather tell people the Gov takes 20% and leave it at that.
 
I was simplifying things. I lose about 20% of my salary to the Gov, thats a combo of tax and NI. I saw no point in confusing things, rather tell people the Gov takes 20% and leave it at that.
Ok fair enough.
 
How accurate are the salaries in that table?
All the number look low (SA and UK). For example, I can't imagine that SA web developers make only R197k/y on average. Also, the article states that they gathered the data from Indeed and Payscale, which are notorious for over simplifying things (e.g., not accounting for bonuses/stocks, or grouping things under "software engineer", and ignoring "senior software engineer", etc., where the higher salaries actually are).

Looks like they're off by a factor of approx. 2x, from what I've heard from people.
 
Letr's be realistic, the majority of us on Mybroadband aren't earning minimum wage, so accepting that, how do you factor the equivalent niceties that most of us enjoy, into the equation? (You wanna maintain the same lifestyle at least correct?)
We're not just buying Big Macs either. I get that it's a demonstration that it's not sufficient to simply look at absolute monetary amounts, but a proper comparison is far more complex. Specifically, even the generalized relative spending power between two countries is not a constant ratio - it tends to vary by income, and doesn't factor in relative earnings at all.

I was chatting to my manager in the US and he said he pays $ 4000 a month for two kids in Kindergarten in New York
Yeah, it's about $1900/y per kid on average for a private school, .

Edit: Becuase I have actual work to do I'm not going to do a dissertation on this but, some quick googling yields the following:

Average Salary in NY for a software engineer: $ 132,772 so that's what 11060.16 p/m (note sure about Uncle Sam's cut)
but that would be a whopping 36% of your salary...
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You need to use a site that accounts for bonuses, stocks, etc., and also aggregates titles (senior, staff, principal, etc.). Levels.fyi, can be biased a bit upwards for the country, since small companies in poorer areas aren't well represented, but for NY or Silicon Valley, it's pretty accurate in my experience. Also, the low end is dominated by those in their early career.

All my NY colleagues are north of $500k, total comp.
 
I was earning about R420k in SA, I now earn around R1.1m in the UK.
I am still paying off my SA debts, so that amount is fixed. But I am now paying more in child support, and I give my mom money each month.
I pay more in rent, less for food, less for my mobile account, and because I travel less I pay less in transport costs.
Each month I am able to save the local equivalent of what I was taking home in SA before I left. I save my old NETT salary every month after expenses, and after being able to give other people more money than I could when I was in SA.
Financially for me the move has been very beneficial.

And I do love a good Cream Tea...
You will also find that over time, your income will go up (e.g., with the courses you are doing), you will pay off your debt, and many of your current expenses will become vanishingly small. Obviously, you may hit a few bumps on the way (e.g., if you have kids), but overall the potential to earn £100k when you're senior, or £200k+ in management, or £300k+ in a bank, etc. is there. I'm not saying this doesn't happen in SA, or that it's guaranteed in the UK either, just that the ceiling is far lower in SA for the vast majority of IT/dev types.
 
So, the moral of the story is that the grass is always greener on the other side?
I would say, usually, but one has to be careful. For most IT/dev people, one really need to be making > 2x in absolute terms, IMO. Moving for a slight bump and hoping for a better opportunity later is a risky game.

But the weather in the UK is depressing; if you have seasonal depression, you might feel depressed permanently.
It would indeed be depressing if you have Seasonal Affective Disorder. For many, the "real seasons" provides variety in how they experience life.
 
It would indeed be depressing if you have Seasonal Affective Disorder. For many, the "real seasons" provides variety in how they experience life.
This!
I get to see weather. One day its raining, the next its sunny with a nice breeze, the next its just overcast. Its never just the same (for the most part).
 
The prices of things in Australia is shocking, makes me wonder how those people who emigrated without qualifications are managing there.

My wife is a vet nurse, and in SA she earned more than 4x what their receptionist (at fewer hours) made, so i guess about 2.5 - 3.5 per hour more.
Now in Aus, their "award rates", i.e. minimum wage is are the same.

A min wage worker in Aus is definitely better off than in SA. I think on my wife's salary alone, she would be more or less the same or worse off in Aus than in SA.

So I think someone without qualifications can do pretty OK. They should be able to survive easily. More easily than in SA at least.
 
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This!
I get to see weather. One day its raining, the next its sunny with a nice breeze, the next its just overcast. Its never just the same (for the most part).
Heh, the daily surprise is certainly part of it. For me though, even as an atheist, I enjoy the holiday season. Sitting by the fireplace, when it's snowing outside. Glühwein, eggnog, roast chestnuts (although the last 2 are more USA), lights decorating the streets and buildings (and you can them well, because by 4:30PM it's totally dark). I enjoy standing outside the pubs after work when it's warmer, and sitting inside when it's colder. Not to mention New Years (Hogmanay) in Scotland. I like how the clothes we wear change, and appreciate walking in the parks, or some of the outdoor lunch food options more, since we can only do this part of the year.
 
My wife is a vet nurse, and in SA she earned more than 4x what their receptionist (at fewer hours) made, so i guess about 2.5 - 3.5 per hour more.
Now in Aus, their "award rates", i.e. minimum wage is are the same.

A min wage worker in Aus is definitely better off than in SA. I think on my wife's salary alone, she would be more or less the same or worse off in Aus than in SA.

So I think someone without qualifications can do pretty OK. They should be able to survive easily. More easily than in SA at least.
Have a cousin who tried emigrating to Australia he had a degree worked in business and his wife is a teacher, they came back pretty fast realising they going to have major downgrade in their lifestyle. A couple years later they sucked it up and made the move back.

So you're saying the difference between minimum wage and a professional wags isn't as drastic as South Africa?
 
Have a cousin who tried emigrating to Australia he had a degree worked in business and his wife is a teacher, they came back pretty fast realising they going to have major downgrade in their lifestyle. A couple years later they sucked it up and made the move back.

So you're saying the difference between minimum wage and a professional wags isn't as drastic as South Africa?

Not nearly as drastic.
Teachers earn pretty well in Aus. I think $90K to $120K?

Some interesting jobs listed here:

For example: Stop/go sign holder-upper - $34/hr.
 
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