UK's hardware talent is being wasted

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Pay, careers & “wasted” engineering talent

  • Many UK engineers report low pay and slow progression, especially in hardware, aerospace, auto, defence, museums and culture. Typical starting offers around £25–32k; £100k+ roles seen as rare outside finance and a few big tech firms.
  • High‑ability hardware/MechE grads often pivot into software, finance, consulting, or leave the country. Several describe “withering away” at legacy industrial firms in unappealing locations (Derby, Gaydon, etc.).
  • Software isn’t immune: most UK SWE roles seem to top out at ~£60–90k, with £100k+ mainly in FAANG‑style tech or high finance, and still scarce versus US norms.

VC, capital & startups

  • Strong disagreement on whether “VC is dead” in the UK: one side notes UK is 3rd globally in tech VC, the other says much of that capital backs companies whose real teams are abroad (e.g. Poland, India).
  • UK and EU investors are widely portrayed as cautious, valuation‑sensitive, and biased to SaaS/fintech and “safe”, linear‑growth businesses. Hardware is seen as especially unfundable.
  • Several argue lack of local big exits and tax/option treatment (RSUs heavily taxed) makes joining or founding UK startups less attractive than US equivalents.

Manufacturing, location & hardware difficulty

  • Repeated point: serious hardware work tends to follow manufacturing to lower‑cost countries (China, India, Eastern Europe). UK keeps some design (ARM‑like) but little volume production.
  • Some contend engineering must be close to factories for cost, quality and iteration; others note simulation and remote work mitigate this but don’t remove the need for on‑site bring‑up and validation.
  • Hardware startups face slower iteration, certification, physical logistics and higher capital needs than software, making them structurally harder everywhere, not just in the UK.

Housing, planning & geography

  • UK planning restrictions and NIMBYism are blamed for high housing and space costs, especially in London, Cambridge, Bristol. Lab and industrial space is seen as prohibitively expensive for small firms.
  • Several argue that planning reform (by‑right development, denser cities) would do more for UK innovation than any targeted tech policy.

Culture, politics & tax

  • Multiple commenters see UK (and wider Europe) as risk‑averse, status‑ and credential‑driven, with a “crabs in a bucket” attitude toward ambition.
  • Others blame high marginal tax rates, complex regulation, and a large welfare/health state for depressing entrepreneurial risk‑taking; counter‑voices say social safety nets should in theory enable more risk.
  • Broader debates emerge about “late‑stage capitalism”, offshoring, wealth concentration, and whether Europe’s stagnation is primarily cultural, political, or structural.

Comparisons with other countries

  • Similar complaints surface about France, Germany, Canada, Australia, and parts of the US: strong technical education, but best engineers pulled into finance, big tech, or emigration.
  • Japan is cited by some as offering better quality of life on comparable or lower nominal salaries; China is repeatedly mentioned as the only place where hardware talent is fully utilised, though others note underemployment there too.
  • Emigrating to the US is seen as financially attractive but practically hard (visas, job security, healthcare, family ties), limiting brain drain from the UK.