There is no shortage of engineers to begin with. I have interviewed enough in my life to be certain about it. Curiously, it's not even about the alleged higher

There is no shortage of engineers to begin with. I have interviewed enough in my life to be certain about it. Curiously, it's not even about the alleged higher compensation required by senior engineers. I never asked for too much and was either rejected or given more than I had expected. The world is crazy and leetcoding is the only game in town. Just live with it. America is _very_ different from the EU. Ideally you want to be here until you get about 35 yo. And move back after that age. Compensation packages in CA are certifiably insane. Many of them don't require anything special in actual day-by-day work. Passing the interviews is the hardest part by far. But when you get older and decide to start a family your compensation won't buy you much, from houses to decent schools. And those 44% stolen by the government become 33% with a wife and a child. And provide you with some really nice things not easily bought for money in the US. I have heard people saying that programmers won't be necessary in such numbers for 20 years. I have personally thought that Bay Area compensation is unreal for a decade. With your DL/CV expertise you are perfectly positioned for the next 20. In summary, treat CA as a gold rush. You come here to strike rich or die trying. There's no middle ground here.