Senior Game Developer in Warsaw Offer - Questions

Hi,

I've received a job offer in Poland with a net salary of 8800 PLN per month. They will also cover my relocation to Poland as well from the US.

Is this salary good for a Senior position as a single foreigner in Warsaw?

I will also be traveling annually to the US and Asia to visit family, would I be able live well doing that while saving saving 20% and living in city center?

How are the costs of electronics and media compared to US or Europe?

Thank you!

(remade thread as I am not a Java Developer).

YES !
people live here on much less and...they live.
what is your lifestyle and style? brand new clothes for 300 bucks, restaurants for 50 bucks and french imported wine from xix century ? if yes, then even 8 K wont be enough.

I live on 3 K PLN/ month and I;m totally fine. however, I managed all of this to work as a freelancer and be free, not 8am/5pm slave....

basically if you want to live in Warsaw in rented apartment, you will need around 4-4,5 K PLN.
if in the room - make that less of 1000 PLN, so it would be around 3 K PLN.

electronics the same, media cheaper

Thanks for the reply! Luckily my lifestyle isn't that elaborate hah. I'll probably be expected to work 10-12 hours a day as that's unfortunately standard in the industry. So rent is expected to be 4-4,5K PLN or is that the expected salary per month to rent an apt in city center?

god damn, total costs would be around 4-4,5 K.
you should find apartment of not-US standard for around 2-2,5 K but OK in strict center of the city with bills.
and as you work in IT, I suppose that you heard about thing called "google". so sometimes its good to use it with various variables to get some results

you are still welcomed though to ask questions here :)

That's giving me a better understanding of expectations with living expenses. Yep, and most of the results led me here hah. A lot of cost of living comparisons have been inaccurate between our cities, so it's good to get answers from people with direct experience and residency in Poland. There hasn't been a lot of Americans with questions relocating, but this is very helpful!

The reason that there have been so few inquiries from Americans is that living and working in Poland doesn't usually make much sense for Americans.

I'm American, and lived in Poland for twelve years, but I did not have to worry about earning or saving money, as I already had enough tucked away.

Basically, it's going to cost you about 1500 PLN all inclusive (rent, condo fees, and utilities except phone, TV and internet) for a small modest studio apartment in an OK neighborhood to 3500 PLN or more for a spacious and luxurious one or two bedroom apartment in a desirable central neighborhood. At your pay-level, you should be thinking about a decent, but not luxurious, one-bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood, and that will set you back about 2200 to 2700 PLN all inclusive.

Being in the city center is not a A. Having easy access by trams or subway to your place of work and the city center should be your main criterion. Cheaper apartments are often far from tram lines, and this is a major inconvenience. Cheaper apartments tend to be either substandard, run down or in undesirable neighborhoods, especially in regards to transportation. Two other factors are also important: windows and the kitchen. Poorly installed windows can substantially increase your heating bill, so be sure to have the apartment checked out by and experienced OLDER native Pole who knows what's going on. Also, a kitchen that is difficult or unpleasant will cost you a lot as you will eventually be tempted to eat more meals outside the apartment, which is costly.

The main problems that Americans will encounter in Poland are the low wages (you'd be making a half to a third of what you would make in the States, or about $40,000 before taxes, $28,000 after taxes, give or take), the rather high cost of living relative to wages, and the very poor savings potential.

At best, you will be able to put away about $1000 dollars a month after paying basic living expenses (apartment, food, household supplies, transportation ticket, and very modest entertainment and recreation), but not including occasional purchases like clothes, travel or electronic equipment. Maybe a bit more than $1000 if you are monkishly frugal and just ADORE cabbage and potatoes, but more likely quite a bit less, especially if you frequently eat outside your apartment, drink, smoke, party, travel, date or have other costly habits. As a senior professional, it's going to be hard for you to adapt to a student-like lifestyle, so you are going to dip into those savings to subsidize a more comfortable lifestyle for yourself.

In comparison, the amount you would easily be able to SAVE in the States would exceed what you EARN after taxes in Poland.

A car would be out of the question without severely reducing your savings, probably to the point where annual trips to the States and Taiwan would be out of the question. Even so, you are going to spend the lion's share of whatever you might save up on those trips, and perhaps all of it. Which means you would be left with little, and perhaps nothing at all, in your bank account at the end of the year.

To be quite blunt, Poland is not the place for you if you 1) want to save a significant amount of money and 2) want to spend it traveling to expensive countries outside of Poland. As you list these as primary goals, concentrate on finding work in the States, where wages are much higher, and savings potential is much, much higher.

That is an incredibly extensive breakdown for Americans Dominic, thank you for your fantastic reply. This will definitely require more thought about the offer and where my priorities lie in status bumps or monetary concerns.

It's not bad, but it's not superb, not even particularly good really. You will live quite well but you won't be eating in the best restaurants twice a week every week and buying bottles of spirits in the VIP rooms of the top clubs.


A two-room flat in the city centre including all expenses is going to be 2,200 to 3,800zl per month, depending on how big, how new and how nice you want it. Flights to US and Asia depend on where and when you're going but can be anything from 1,700zl to 3,000zl. If you budget 12,000zl a year for trips, your disposable monthly income (i.e. net salary less 20% savings less 1,000zl saving for trips less 2,700zl rent&bills less 100zl cell-phone less 100zl tram/bus pass) is going to be about 3,000zl, which is less than stellar.

I suspected the buying power and cost of living adjustments was a bit inaccurate, but that's surprising. Are newer studio flats around the same as well? I've found some online that look decent and start at 1500zl, but I've very little knowledge when it comes to housing in Poland. Thanks Harry for that insight.

Advertised rents in Poland are not equivalent to advertised rents in the US, and take some experience to interpret. The advertised price of an apartment does not include condo fees and utilities, which add up to anywhere between 500 and 1000 PLN or more. Those "decent" studios in newer buildings that you were looking at would probably cost well in excess of 2000 PLN all inclusive, and more if they are in newer, more comfortable buildings.

1500 PLN all inclusive would get you a very basic, no frills studio apartment, if that, in Warsaw. Probably substandard or with major problems that could end up costing you a considerable amount of money in the end, like a unserviceable kitchen which means that you will be eating costly meals outside the home, or far from convenient public transport that means you will lose a considerable amount of time on commuting, which also translates into eating costly convenience foods because you won't have time to cook a proper meal at home. Or bad windows that can dramatically increase your heating bill.

If you are looking for "decent" by American standards, count on spending between 2000 and 2500 PLN for a studio, all inclusive, and between 2500 and 3000 PLN for a one-bedroom apartment, all inclusive, and possibly more.

If you don't cook homemade meals from scratch at home, you will find that eating out or eating convenience foods in Poland is particularly costly relative to prevailing wages. Like I said above, the cost of living relative to wages is quite a bit higher in Poland than in the US. This is particularly true for Warsaw. The double whammy of low wages and high cost of living relative to wages work together to make savings potential very low in Poland compared to richer countries like the US, which is why it Poland is so unappealing to Americans who want to earn and save money.

Also, when looking at cost of living comparisons on the internet, remember that they compare the cost of living for an native-born American in the States with a native-born Pole living in Poland. But you are not a native-born Pole, and living in Poland as a foreigner, who doesn't speak the local language and customs and doesn't have the extensive network of friends and family that Poles especially rely on, is going to cost you.