What's going on there, or how is that possible, a happy developer taking 1000 euro per month. Is he working at home, or doesn't he have to support his family? What is the average earning of college graduates in Portugal?
I'm Portuguese. In average, a Computer Engineering graduate (Msc) from the top university in Portugal with 0 experience, earns about 1000 euro, before taxes, per month.
How does that compare to cost of living? What income percentile does 1000EUR/mo put you into?
Staying in Portugal or another place with a low cost of living and earning money in a place with high wages is a great position to be in - you can take advantage of arbitrage across the two markets and end up with far more disposable income than someone local to that market (who has to pay local rents, prices, etc).
Due to austerity measures, the cost of living is increasing quite a lot. Taxes are increasing on basic goods such as electricity.
There are actually a lot of people in a lot of trouble in the country, as they cannot pay their bills anymore.
According to [1] (Portuguese data website, you might want to use Google translate), the average monthly salary for a qualified professional was 699€ in 2009. For high management, it was around 2.158€. The national monthly average was 867€. So when it comes to salaries straight out of college, I would say that 1000€/month is probably in the top 70%.
I got the chance to be an exchange student in Finland last semester, and I could see that over there, computer engineers are a lot more valued than here.
Due to the austerity measures, the cost of living in scandinavian countries is not much greater than the cost of living in Portugal (we are losing regalies such as 50% discount on public transportation for students).
That's outrageous. It's a (very) low salary for Rio de Janeiro and I always thought things were way better in Portugal. I wish things improve for you guys.
Unfortunately people in my generation are not seeing a brief end to this.
Emigration has increased by about 40% last year. And this is in a country where the public universities are the best ones, so the state ends up investing in people's education, but it cannot keep them in the country.
Also, low salaries in computer engineering are not the only thing wrong in the profession. I have heard countless stories of people working in consulting companies, having to do unpaid overtime work.
Internships are also usually unpaid (and this is on every area, not just Comp. Eng.).
I am a senior student at the aforementioned top university, and I don't think I know anyone that isn't thinking about leaving the country (even if for a while, not permanently). The university's vice-president gave an interview for a national newspaper: he referred to this problem as "our brains are leaving the country" (and he meant not only students, but researchers as well).
