I always feel in SG, most high salary positions in IT are for managers. But I always focus on hands-on roles. In this space, I was told there are also high salary positions (comparable to Wall St) for hands-on developers, but i feel they are like beautiful girls — hard to get.

Most hands on roles are 30% (or 20%?) lower than  NY. The higher salary positions are rather selective. These Hiring manager generally prefers local candidates, unless …. I guess unless they really need some special expertise unavailable in Singapore (such as low latency?). They aren't “hungry” yet. No appetite for “big guns”.

One (fairly senior) recruiter told me my specialty in low latency, real time pricing … is a specialized skill not really required in Singapore. I guess she means most Singapore jobs don't call for such specialized skill.