Sunday, October 03, 2010

Spanish Salaries Are Just Outrageous

I had a Skype exchange on Friday with a colleague of mine who I'd worked with in Germany. Knowing that I was having one of my occasional "rest" periods in Madrid, he pointed me to a job position that might be of interest. Based in Madrid, the job is for a senior programmer in my field, with the requirements - being a "senior" position - of appropriate qualifications and several years experience. Then there is the salary; 25-30,000 per annum. Euros I assume, although it could have been in dollars. Life in Spain must be very cheap, he suggested. Not so, I replied. Not any more. He couldn't believe that a position with such high requirements would offer such a low salary. It's not just unemployment that makes many Spaniards look overseas for better prospects.

4 comments:

Lavengro said...

I occasionally do translation work for an agency in Holland. They pay 50% more than I can screw out of Spanish agencies.

Jan said...

...and the cost of food is no longer cheap!

CafeMark said...

I'm afraid there are plenty of similar jobs in London and the South-East at 20, 22k etc. I've even seen sys admin roles at £8 or £9 a hour advertised (although I admit it was probably a ruse to justify importing more cheap labour). The combination of outsourcing and onshoring has destroyed peoples' careers. The funny thing is, in 2 years time there will be a lot of work resolving all the bugs that the monkeys are now creating. Incidentally, teaching English is far more lucrative in Madrid than in London (as you'd expect). Footballers too seem to earn enough to get by ;)

ejh said...

You sound like you need a laugh. Did you see the news on TVE last night, referring to "Newport, Escocia"? Commentary and caption.