Pros
Compensation is very good and gets better if you also add the facts of relaxed working hours of 9 to 5 for most of the year. Yes, you do get to stay late but like anything you have good days and you have then bad days. Being able to get home by 7 after putting in a 13 hour day (of which 4 hours are just for the journey to/from NYC downtown) is really a blessing IMHO!
Cons
Getting to work on writing systems from scratch is next to none. Most of the time, the resources are directed to upgrade the existing code bases built by former others. Upgrading the technologies is normally a tough sell. Management needs to be a bit more independent and also brave enough to take a direction of their own as well and not just do what they are told by London people.
