I have a hard time believe their time is worth less than $75/hr or so.
It is. And the quality is on par with any us eng. People here forget that the big comp packages are a minority even in the US. The cost tho is much higher than just salary.
replyWestern Europe is mostly consultancy, and the rate paid by client is usually higher, and doesn't matter if it's eastern Europe, Portugal or even India.
replyCompany time != Pay rate, if you're working somewhere that's publicly traded check out "revenue per employee" metrics sometime.
replyI hire contractors for a large enterprise in the US. The going rate is typically $85-$100/hr for a senior dev, depending on specialization. Lead-level maybe $120 for the right skill set.
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replyOf course, the SWEs making that much (over 200k) are not representative of the broader field. That's the point.
replyPay hits a ceiling, and that ceiling is moving lower regardless of experience. That has nothing to do with AI, but what the market will bear. Hiring counts of humans must increase no matter what. Moving some of the spend to AI reduces the risk of hiring less qualified employees they might have rejected a decade ago.
Wages at the top end are stagnating to subsidize this. That's undeniable.