Xia Rong,

This is another blog..

Your info about salary level for a non-lead role in Singapore merrill trading system is reasonably consistent with what I hear.

It appears salary negotiation in big banks is really based on 1) past salary, and to some extent 2) other people's salary in the same team. Actually, i know in some GS teams, 2 people at the same level can have 90 vs 110 base salaries, so (2) can be far less important than people say.

My best route is therefore
* try to get as high a salary as I can in US
* use it to leverage my first job in SG, but (taking your advice) try to find a job i can stay for at least 1.5 year. I feel this would be a role below architect, below team lead, and definitely not a manager.
* when i have to change job again, first see if i can get a comparable job in SG
* otherwise, consider US again, but then age, family, H1, starting salary …

In both Wall Street and Singapore (financial), developers tend to stay for 2-3 years. In GS, i saw some leaving within 2 years.

Will talk about team lead experience later … but thanks for suggesting that direction. For the past month, i'm starting to pay attention to architecture and design. If i am asked to lead a design team i hope to draw on some (in-depth) experience rather than books.