Richard me lad, you would love it here in the Colonies.
We software engineers sit about playing video games, surfing
adult entertainment sites, sipping margaritas, smoking dope,
and corresponding on Usenet.  Verily, that is all we do.  We
do it for many hours, but as you see there are rewards.  Oh,
and we pull down six- and seven-figure salaries for all this
goldbricking: Management are our terrified and abject slaves
because we can sling three- and four-letter acronyms faster
than they can.

   There is, however, one tiny drawback to your prospective
immigration.  If you actually start *working* and producing
usable software, you will cause an unprecedented boom in the
industry's productivity.  Economic experts will look for the
cause of this upsurge, and will eventually finger you as the
person responsible -- and then our secret will be revealed,
we'll be shown up for a lot of lazy lallygaggers, and our
super-sized SUVs will be confiscated.  To prevent this, I'm
afraid we'll need to have you killed if you show even the
slightest inclination toward initiative.

   Please don't misunderstand me: I am not impugning your
bravery, and I'm sure you would face Death resolutely.  You
descendants of woad-wearing, haggis-eating, warm-beer-drinking
supermen are intrepid beyond the feeble and febrile imaginings
of us degenerate expatriates.  The drawback I refer to is not
that you will die, but that you will die horribly: We will
need to make an example of you to deter other over-achievers
from importing a work ethic to these shores.  And I ask you,
as slob to savant: Do you *really* think you can withstand
torture by repeated screenings of "Survivor?"

   I thought not.  You're well off where you are, Limey;
make the best of it.

First, you'd need to find someone who will sponsor your H1B visa.

As for working conditions, I telecommute for a company based in NJ (I live
in NC). I work from about 6am (by choice) throughout the day, but always
during core business hours (10am-4pm). I'm normally asked to do work over
the weekends, but not major tasks normally. The company I work for is a
startup, so there's always the need for working like that.

Deadlines are always yesterday. Features always exceed the available hours
to implement them and are greater than the resources available on the
platform (I work in the MIDP and target mobiles). Yet, we meet our goals
and have a robust product. But, it's not easy and we put in alot of hours
to accomplish these goals.

Generally, you get 10 public holidays plus a graduated number of personal
vacation days based on service time, same as in the UK. However, the comp
time for working extra hours depends on your employer. If you're a salaried
employee, the company is under no obligation to pay you extra or compensate
you for the extra hours. If you're an hourly employee, though, the company
*has* to pay you for all hours worked, and (unless I'm mistaken) is
required to pay you time and a half for anything over 40 hours.

This would depend on the company. When I was at IBM, I knew of several
managers who watched the clock. Mine didn't, thankfully. At my last job, we
had a CTO who was great about working: you had to be in for core business
hours, but when you came in and left only had to work out to 40 hours
weekly (he also had the policy that if you worked over 40 hours a week,
then it was *management* who was screwing up and *they* should fix it;
sadly, he didn't last with the company long and the death march came back
soon after he was released). My current job, I work from home and take
phone calls all day long from the PM and CEO, so I'm always available. The
other engineers work at the office and come in from 9-5.

Pick your destination wisely. Where I live (central NC) it's either too hot
to do anything (from late May until early October) and then things get
boring. Though, I take the lads out biking on the weekends and my wife and
I give them water bottles and shove them out back during the week <g>.

Those are my experiences, at least. YMMV. ;)

Let's see: 10 days vacation to start, if you're lucky (many companies
only give you one week [5 days] the first year). Expect to work an
absolute minimum of 40 hours a week, anywhere up to 60 or more. Don't
expect to get ANY time off in lieu and forget about overtime as well.
Depending on whether your boss is from the "old school", you might be
expected in at 8:30am, rain, shine, snow or hail. Don't even DREAM of
leaving before 5 and you'll likely be sticking around until quite a
bit later.
A company car is a fantasy and you'll probably have to pay for your
own parking (in whole or in part). When you're on the road you'll
still be expected to keep up with everything back at the office so
you'll probably be putting in at least 12 hour days. Heck, it's not
like you know anyone at the destination!
Flexibility has gone by the wayside as IT has shed some 200,000 full-
time positions in North America over the past three years. Managers
have their staff by the short and curlies and they know it! People
are expected to do the work of three with the threat of dismissal
constantly hanging over them. Given the dismal job market, nobody
wants to be searching for a new one these days.
Bottom line? Stay where you are. The weather might be crap but the
bennies more than make up for it. Hell, go to the Med for a couple
of weeks if you need some sunshine and warmth; everyone else does!

As a non Yank (I'm Dutch)

I'm a senior software engineer at the East Coast (Boston). There are
differences between the working environments here and in the
Netherlands/Europe (these all are very general. It depends a lot for which
company you work). The other posts already said a lot. I'd like to add this:

First try to find an H1B sponsor. This is going to be very hard nowadays.
The quotum of allowed H1Bs has been lowered considerably. In this
down-turned market, many companies don't want to bother with the H1B
bullshit (it's a LOT of paper work, you - or the sponsor-company - spend a
lot of money on lawyers, etc...). But suppose you can get sponsoring:

1. You have a lot less vacation-days here and somewhat less holidays. I went
down from 28 vacation days to 15 (15 days/3 weeks is very common in the
software industry) and lost a couple of holidays. And 28 was even to be
considered quite a low number in Holland. Many people had about 40 of them
(25-30 days plus 4 hours per week)....... But then again, they are pretty
flexible here if you need some personal time to arrange things.
2. Salaries are still (somewhat) better than in the Netherlands (compared to
the standard of living).
3. Work environment: It depends a LOT on your employer. Just look for one
that you like. Talk to people that work there. And realize that an employee
does not have as many legal protections as in Europe.

If you just want to move because of the wheather: Don't do it.
If you want to move to an area where there is exceptional education for your
kids or if you see a particular opportunity somewhere in the US, then do it.
It can be very worth your while :-)

And if you move, think about your partner. You may be able to work on your
H1B visa, but your partner may not and must stay at home all the time... in
a different environment... this can be devestating for a relationship.

-- Anton.