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Comment by simsla | Hacker News Reader

Point still stands. UK software engineer median wages are above UK national median wages.

Yes, but 100k USD is a very high (though not impossibly high) wage for a software engineer in London. In the US it's an unremarkable salary in major tech hubs.

not by much. software salaries in the uk are not that great. 75k is top top bracket for uk.

75k USD is high end of the Senior Developer bracket in NZ too. It's depressing seeing levels.fyi. Though it's still double the national average, and it's equivalent to the median household income.

It's not that hard for Aussies or Kiwis to get a work visa in the US. Easiest path is probably to work for a US company locally and then do an intra-company transfer.

I know a few who did that, worked 3 years and went back with a healthy savings.

H1B is tied to the employer though right? And it's a lottery system, so no guarantee?

The one time I went to the US I nearly had a panic attack, so I can't really imagine living there or dragging my family there, but then you look at the money and it sure looks worth dragging yourself through hell for.

I was talking about intra-company transfers, which are different from H1B. E.g., you get a job at Google and Google wants to transfer you to the US. That's a different visa, it's much less competitive and there's no lottery.

> The one time I went to the US I nearly had a panic attack

I guess if you have psychological issues that make travel difficult or feel like "dragging yourself through hell", as you put it, then maybe just stay at home.

Another option is to work remote. You'll get paid less for being in an Asian time-zone, but you might still earn more than a local company would pay you.

A third option, which is the one I'm currently pursuing (from east Asia), is taking your skills directly to the market as an entrepreneur.

As a UK based developer myself, all I can say is that remote work for US companies is possible and can be a massive win/win for both parties. You can be an absolute bargain from a US perspective, yet still be earning well above the domestic rate. Works best when the US employer is ET; the time difference between the West Coast and the UK is hard to bridge effectively.

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