[jaaron]

Not sure how long ago you were here, but there's an increasing number of tech opportunities here and nearby. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, Hulu and more are all in or next door to Santa Monica. Over at Riot Games, we've got at least a hundred open engineering positions ranging from entry level to senior leaders. There are dozens of startups.

No, it's not the bay area and it never will be. But I'm fairly certain any reasonably skilled engineer is not going to have trouble finding work on the westside of LA. Compensation is competitive too, since we have to lure folks down from the bay but our cost of living is not nearly as expensive.