I have been a quant developer in London for the past 5 years. When I look my salary and bounus it is about 50% compared to new grads in US. Why US has such a high pay and do you think it is worth the move? I am a British Citizen, does that mean I have to have a h1b visa as well?
I moved to the USA myself from London. Based on my experience it is totally worth moving to the USA if you see your long term future as a software engineer. Pay aside, the choice and types of projects you can work on are more interesting too in my personal opinion with more opportunities to work on a wider range of technologies.<p>Yes you will need to get a visa. There are many visa options available to you. H1B is just one of them and the most popular one for getting a visa via work sponsorship.<p>Looking back at my time in London to be paid well you need to avoid being a permanent employee and work as a contractor, but not all software engineer roles are in demand as a contractor so choose something that there is :-) A good contract in the city will make you a lot of money :-)<p>Of course with Covid, I am not sure how things will change so you may want to wait for a post covid era before deciding to move.<p>Of course this my personal opinion from my experience of making the move and my knowledge of London work life is based on my experience from when I lived there. Hope you will find my comments helpful.<p>On a side note, you may want to explore remote opportunities with companies outside the UK as so many have moved to that model.