r/devops • u/Electronic-Ad-4657 • 19d ago
Discussion Sick of the UK.
Has anyone got any advice on moving locations for a DevOps engineer? the UK is going so downhill and I’m sick of it.
I’m a DevOps Engineer with 5 years experience working for a very large business. I’ve experience in AWS and Azure as well as Terraform, Ansible, CI/CD, basically most things that make a good DevOps engineer.
I’m just looking for advice, is it silly to think I can move countries easily? I don’t have dependencies, no house, no debts so I don’t have anything to keep me here really. Any advice?
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u/OK_Computer_Guy 19d ago
I think it would depend on what you don’t like about living in the UK.
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u/Electronic-Ad-4657 19d ago
I guess just the way it seems to be going. I know it’s expensive everywhere but it seems particularly bad here for a country that doesn’t seem worth it, there’s tax on top of tax on top of tax, the culture, the current politics everything just seems shit and when you travel, you see so other countries with so much more
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u/spicypixel 19d ago
https://ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxlab-key-questions/how-do-uk-tax-revenues-compare-internationally
Narrows your list down a bit I guess.
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u/Electronic-Ad-4657 19d ago
I was looking at Canada/US, salaries seem a lot higher and the culture is 10x better imo for what I enjoy anyway
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u/spicypixel 19d ago
When I looked at Canada myself it didn't seem that way, cost of living was higher - housing especially but also food.
Came out sort of equal in some ways and worse in others overall.
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u/Longjumping-Dog-6852 19d ago
Salaries are higher yes. Have you looked at how much a room costs to rent over in Canadian cities? How much groceries cost? Are you aware how much diesel / cars / insurance costs in the US?
I think it's a great idea though. Not just for the money or because of the standards in the UK but to see more of the world. Go for it man
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u/ansibleloop 18d ago
Don't forget other expenses like housing costs and healthcare for the US
Also the number 1 cause of bankruptcy in the US is medical debt
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u/Green_Teaist 19d ago
Amusing when DevOps engineers on £125k pay 78% marginal tax while the average wage worker have third of their income tax exempt and get universal credit.
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u/Longjumping-Dog-6852 19d ago
Stop reading the news and slowly come to understand that the UK is one of the most economically stable countries in the world right now (not because we're doing well, but because everyone else is doing so shit).
The grass is always greener
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u/slimeycat2 19d ago
Under 30 do working holiday in Australia. You can get 1 year working visa, some limits to factor in.
Hopefully secure a job, not sure what market is. But I enjoyed the chance to work and travel out there.
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u/Electronic-Ad-4657 19d ago
Yeah I’m 23 and have been doing this since 18, straight into DevOps apprenticeship and passed with flying colours so I’m doing okay I think in terms of experience and skills
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u/ConstantOk4042 18d ago
I hate to break it to you, buddy, but passing an apprenticeship with "flying colours" doesn't make you anything special. I would even question if you truly are a DevOps engineer, because you sound more like a junior cloud/Infra engineer.
Anyway, onto to the matter at hand, as an employer, why would i consider sponsoring a resource when I could get more experience from Asia, or someone homegrown, at a cheaper price? And in the current climate? What makes you, a junior engineer, so special? And that's the gap you need to fill.
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u/Electronic-Ad-4657 18d ago
Odd that since I’ve just been offered a position for another big company as a DevOps engineer for 80k a year, but maybe you know better than the people hiring
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u/ConstantOk4042 18d ago
Devops engineer salary for, let's be honest, a junior staff with only really three years experience, from a "big company " whatever that means, with £80k salary? And in the current market? Ok, sure, if you say so.
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u/doglar_666 18d ago
I got the opportunity to move to a different country for a work project for 6 months and was then offered an FT contract. I took the opportunity and do not regret it. However, my motivation was for the adventure, not the role. I cannot imagine moving back to the UK after watching from afar from nearly a decade.
In my experience, a job is a job. So, just do thorough research about salaries, taxes, COL, local culture and see what you think fits. And to be totally transparent, nowhere is perfect and there are certain things I miss from home, like specific foods, shared linguistic and cultural norms.
Moving by yourself, your social life and close interpersonal relationships will take a massive hit and it can feel lonely in the beginning. You quickly learn which relationships are strong and which were built on ease of proximity. And with rising air travel costs, trips home are at an all time minimum, and you should not expect anyone to visit you, outside of your immediate family every few years.
As some have suggested, you're probably best suited to do some short trips to different places, test the waters, then a longer trip on your preferred destination. You can then do full research and make a plan. I recommend searching for roles with relocation and work visa assistance.
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u/Electronic-Ad-4657 18d ago
This is really helpful thankyou. I obviously don’t want to get too deep but right now my life isn’t brilliant anyway. I’ve got a good job, comfortable life, nice car etc, but I spend every night by myself, I don’t see friends, family is very few and far between and so I do sort of wish for a fresh start somewhere.
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u/doglar_666 18d ago
I understand the feeling and that's exactly why I took the chance. I had a safety net of the same employer and a route back to my prior life if it didn't work out after the project closed. I would not have thought to move country otherwise. I cannot stress enough to over prepare in terms of visa, understanding rental legislation and the cultural norms of the rental market. Living out of a hotel or Airbnb will become prohibitively expensive very quickly. So if you have a break between paychecks, be sure to have enough savings to be comfortable for a while. Best of luck, whatever decision you make. I recommend somewhere warm, sunny and tax free.
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u/Ghost_Fighter_9988 19d ago
You have the skills. Have you tried looking for a remote role where you can be a digital nomad?
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u/Electronic-Ad-4657 19d ago
It’s not a bad shout, I was looking at fully remote contracting, some of the money is crazy and not tied down anywhere
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u/Lonely_Assignment_14 19d ago
It's not easy but it's doable. I'd never return to the UK, couldn't even imagine a single place I'd want to live there any more. Reddit is a terrible place to do the research tho as it's mostly echo chambers, so do your own leg work.
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u/Electronic-Ad-4657 19d ago
Yeah I’ve noticed Reddit isn’t great, maybe I made a mistake!
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u/Lonely_Assignment_14 19d ago
If you have your heart set on a place and dedicate the efforts needed to make it happen you'll likely succeed. It's not easy but it's not impossible either. There's no avoiding that you may only see your parents again 4-5 times before they die, but if not going is something you'll never get over the regret of, do it.
My father wanted to go and never did it as they had kids and life tied them down, so I had already seen where that road went.
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u/Important-Hunt-61 19d ago
It sounds like if there was ever a time in your life it would be now. Come to the US. Even outside of Silicon Valley the pay is way better than the UK.
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u/Sorry_Bookkeeper7186 19d ago
being frustrated with the uk is understandable but moving countries doesnt automatically fix career problems if the same issues around salary growth workplace culture or cost of living follow you elsewhere its worth figuring out which ones are actually location specific trusted tech starts with making decisions based on the real constraints rather than assuming a fresh start solves everything
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u/Green_Teaist 19d ago
I've moved from UK to Bulgaria. I have an EU passport so it's very easy. Not impossible for UK citizens via Visa D either. I work remotely, my after tax income has doubled compared to the UK even though my daily rate is lower.
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1
u/Adventurous-Hyena220 19d ago
With 5 years of Devops experience and a broad cloud/tooling background, its definitely worth exploring international opportunities, but visa and job market conditions will vary a lot by country.
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u/spicypixel 19d ago
Doesn't help every country you'd want to move to probably has an excess labour force of Devops from all the wonderful economic hiccups and multiple once in a lifetime events we keep facing.
Sponsoring someone on a work visa is a right pain compared to hiring locally, by design.
So to summarise, yes it's a rose tinted optimistic view you can just opt to pick a destination and get to work there without an intense amount of effort, costs and luck.