I honestly don't understand or know anyone who would move to the US now. I have a few friends who were considering it but it's a very firm no at this point, and they all had offers from the big firms in Silicone Valley. Sure, your compensation in UK or Germany won't reach the stratospheric levels of US programmers, but as a competent engineer you can easily reach very comfortable levels of living, buy a house, brand new car, afford to have a couple kids and save some money for fun. And you won't have to deal with the insanity of American healthcare, immigration or politics.
I grew up thinking that my dream would be to move to US one day - nowadays there probably isn't an offer that would make me move there.
I grew up thinking that my dream would be to move to US one day - nowadays there probably isn't an offer that would make me move there.