[sp_]

This is exactly why I moved from Germany to the US. I was tired of being on the end of the salary bell curve at international conferences. Higher salary and lower taxes mean that my disposable post-tax income is now 3.5 times what it was in Germany. And I am not even in the Bay Area yet!

From my point of view, the situation for software developers is particularly bleak though. You don't have to move to the United States to do much better. Going to Switzerland or Luxembourg is pretty good too.

[bstx]

My starting salary in the bay area right out of college is higher than what I would have conceivably made my entire career in Germany. I understand that small companies that do business locally operate with different economics, but what's the excuse for multinational corporations?

My decision to work in the US wasn't based in any way on expected compensation but rather on the excitingness of the job. Still, it's nice to be treated well as an employee.