West coast climate and culture is the same as East coast Australia so that part is straightforward. Easy to make friends and a good life in that aspect.
For work-life balance I will acknowledge the biggest boom times are over. It was ridiculous at one point and the best move of my life. Nowadays though all big tech are starting to adopt some form of stack ranking and demands and pressure are going up while benefits are falling so it's not nearly as good as it once was.
Big tech is still ~5x take home pay though. I see a stint of working in the USA as necessary given Australian house prices. Do it for as long as you can stand, don't live up to the lifestyle of the wages. The net result is a big win for your life. As in if you work here for a year and get hit with layoffs? You'll still have 5x in savings for that year as you would have had in Australia.
warning you might end up with an american partner and get stuck there, ask me how i know :). But yeah, the comp difference is crazy, if we ever move back to aus we will have set ourselves up for a very nice life with our US earned savings.
Plus, far more interesting companies to choose from.
West coast climate and culture is the same as East coast Australia so that part is straightforward. Easy to make friends and a good life in that aspect.
For work-life balance I will acknowledge the biggest boom times are over. It was ridiculous at one point and the best move of my life. Nowadays though all big tech are starting to adopt some form of stack ranking and demands and pressure are going up while benefits are falling so it's not nearly as good as it once was.
Big tech is still ~5x take home pay though. I see a stint of working in the USA as necessary given Australian house prices. Do it for as long as you can stand, don't live up to the lifestyle of the wages. The net result is a big win for your life. As in if you work here for a year and get hit with layoffs? You'll still have 5x in savings for that year as you would have had in Australia.
warning you might end up with an american partner and get stuck there, ask me how i know :). But yeah, the comp difference is crazy, if we ever move back to aus we will have set ourselves up for a very nice life with our US earned savings.
Plus, far more interesting companies to choose from.