The pay is actually shockingly all over the place, in my opinion. The reason for this is that income tax is virtually non existent, so thats 30% less that they need to pay you compared to the US.
Then when you factor in the CPF, which is a mandatory contribution to a retirement fund that employers make for their employees, that's another 10% pay cut or so off the typical market rate.
Then there is a local talent pool for ~enterprise technology~ (c++ and java, mysql) that are quite underpaid.
Mobile dev jobs pay well but there isn't much equity to go around.
The only people making real money here are the bankers, lawyers, and doctors. Tech is still a side show in my opinion. Think New York in the 80s.
Still you will be just fine if you live like "us locals", avoiding the obvious scams that are reproducing Western life here, like Marina Bay Sands, Sentosa, LV, buying a Mercedes :)
The smog is a pretty big problem 1 month out of the year! It's wise to wear a mask and stay indoors, in my opinion.
I've researched the problem- it's a political one that probably won't be solved. Indonesians have the right land and climate for growing palm, which is used in palm oil soap from Dove, which Westerners buy mindlessly.
The farmers burn their land in a type of old school crop rotation, and a bunch of Singaporean and Indonesian companies pay them for their crop. So there is pretty strong demand and multiple levels.
I think it's a nuissance but not the end of the world. It's probably not even as serious as say, nuclear problems in Japan, smog in LA, seasonal depression in Boston and Seattle. It's just that it's quirky and in the news.
When I moved here, I realized how many things were relentlessly sensationalized in the American news by Americans so that they would feel better about living in America with all of its interestingly American problems :)