"Senior" software engineer salary in NZ is maybe $120k NZD (about $70k USD), median house in Auckland or Wellington (which is where you need to be to earn even that much) is about a million NZD. Cost of living is very high.
Maybe f*cked is hyperbole but if you don't already own property it is quite difficult to sustain a reasonable standard of living (let alone "get ahead") as a wage earner.
I love NZ but it didn't make economic sense to stay.
A million NZD plus however much you spend on fixing it up so it doesn't make you sick or kill you in an earthquake. And after that you're stuck working in a country which outside of a few very niche areas is a complete dead end where tech's concerned. I miss my family, but couldn't bear the thought of continuing my career there.
Maybe f*cked is hyperbole but if you don't already own property it is quite difficult to sustain a reasonable standard of living (let alone "get ahead") as a wage earner.
I love NZ but it didn't make economic sense to stay.