[automoton1]

"That environment is only easily attained in the exact places that have ridiculous real estate markets."

There are places in middle America with open positions for many people that have relatively inexpensive living costs in comparison to places like SV, Seattle, New York, and so on.

[stevenwoo]

I did a cursory search on craigslist and last months hiring post and most of what I could find had very specific prerequisite experience, some had low 3-5 maximum years experience, and the selection of jobs was pretty low barring the West/East Coast, Austin would be in the running but I moved from there. You mentioned New York as too similar, but there are a lot of interesting companies there.