[derefr]

I'm a senior engineer. I don't want to move to the Bay (not even in the US, and I love where I live), but I really wish I could make the money I can make there.

I'm somewhat pondering an Evil Scheme where I start a one-to-one "subcontracting" firm, where a plain-bad programmer who would never otherwise make it in a startup environment can hire someone [me] to do all their work for them—and maybe even guide them through their interviews with a concealed earpiece. Basically, the company would have "actually" hired me, and the person in the startup's office would just be serving as a human proxy for my skills.

Of course, that's effectively just a hack to get around the idiotic policies companies have against hiring remote workers for local salaries; and one that would cost quite a bit of salary (the proxy would still have to get paid, after all.) But I bet it would still turn out better than a non-Bay-Area wage.

[morgante]

Or just find a company that pays remote engineers SV salaries. They exist.