Brexit was such a major self-own. They thought they were gatekeeping “low-skilled” workers (which is stupid, because they need them). But also the UK is currently losing “high-skilled” workers to places like the US where the pay is better. Previously, “high-skilled” workers from the EU would in turn relocate to UK for higher pay. But now that they’ve replaced free movement with a lengthy visa process, a lot will just relocate to other EU countries that still have free movement, or the US where they can make far more. They really swapped ease of access with trying to compete for visa applicants with countries like US/AU/NZ, which are infinitely more appealing.
@malwaretech This is a really good example of "You know, the things one votes on are important, usually, so one may wish to learn what one is in fact voting on."
@malwaretech Worked for a company that specced in GIS and Data Science & ML. We had myself from the US employees from Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Lithuania, China and Poland. About 50% of the staff was not Brit. some of the smartest people I've ever worked with. Slowly but surely they took the exit back to continental Europe and got replaced by Brits that WERE smart, but not the cream of the crop. The company lost its competitive edge and is struggling to stay afloat now.
@malwaretech I work on computer science and I can tell you, many people I know including myself have accepted a job on Ireland vs the UK just because of this.
@malwaretech it's pretty nuts how many Brits are showing up in Aus right now in the tech industry. We're not perfect by any means but it's a much better alternative than the UK. So it's not just people looking to move to England, it's people looking to get out too.
@malwaretech highly skilled are mostly going to Ireland, which wasn’t part of Brexit..don’t see allot of Brit’s around here, NYC, with all others coming in, lower amounts of Visas, plus Economicly iis cheaper, allot of It & training centers
@malwaretech
From a commerce aspect it's quite damning as well, from what I've heard it's been a headache for both UK consumers and sellers. Speaking as a EU citizen .uk and the £ in my mind has become as unfavoured as US imports and shopping around just after brexit there were stores that had like 120 EUR or something limits on orders to the UK due to some shipping/VAT issue I don't quite remember.
In the end though this doesn't look like a hole they'll easily dig themselves out from, whether it be domestically or internationally.
@malwaretech Yup. They fucked us all over, especially our young people who now can’t work easily around Europe, learn new languages, skills and meet new and different people. We’ve made ourselves a tiny and very less relevant little island off the coast of Europe. Crazy.
@malwaretech Not just salary and ease of movement. Scientific funding is a massive driver for a lot of research-focused individuals... and the UK got a great deal under EU science/tech grant schemes... so people followed that funding.
Of course, UK Gov promised to match such funding, but that hasn't materialised. And now the UK has only just sheepishly rejoined Horizon... but it'll take some time for people to figure out how the new arrangement will work (along with what the potential impact might be for UK bids and their probability of success now as compared to previously).
@malwaretech I'd like somebody to kidnap pro-Brexit John Cleese and force him to live in his Brexit dreamland of the current UK. From funny to cranky old asshole in a couple of decades.
@malwaretech I’ll be getting my Dutch citizenship soon, and renouncing my British one as part of it. There is absolutely no way I would want to give up visa-free access to the EU in exchange for being able to live and work in the UK.
@malwaretech I worked at an org with a research division in London and I was jealous of how much time they spent on holiday, but then I learned how much less they get paid, and in London no less.
It was shockingly low and I always think back on that because I'm making upward of 100+% more than that now just a scant 3 years later.
I feel like they're probably still being taken advantage of. It's not fair IMO.
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