[mpmpmpmp]

The "Better job prospects for devs" thing is always funny for me to see as a midwesterner. I know everybody has a different definition for "Better," but even in a flyover state, someone with marketable skills can have a new job tomorrow if they want pretty much in any city here. I guess the flare of working at a big name means a lot more to people than it should?

[fjsolwmv]

It's not "flare", it's a huge paycheck.

[PKop]

With huge cost of living to go along with it

[jogjayr]

You can save a lot more money, in absolute dollar terms. 20% of 200k is more than 40% of 80k.

People talk about "cost-of-living" like it's some non-negotiable tax that you have to pay to the world. It's true you can't get the same lifestyle at the same price as a low CoL area - no humongous 5 bedroom house with a massive backyard. But it doesn't mean your life has to necessarily suck.

[softawre]

You can get the 5 bedroom house 15 minutes away from a decent city, 15 minutes away from work, in most states, and not miss out on much from the SV "lifestyle".

I think the only thing I miss out on by not working in SV is working with true world-class talent.

[jogjayr]

Who said anything about the SV lifestyle? I was only talking about the high salaries in SV and the financial opportunities resulting from them.

What I meant was you can't have the same lifestyle in SV as you would in a low CoL area - no humongous house etc. You'd have to adapt and especially downsize on living space. But if you're OK doing that the financial rewards are large.

[jimbofisher1]

Financial rewards? Like $2 Million for a house that costs 200k in the rest of the country? What savings!

SV is fine if you never want to buy a home, start a family, live without roomates etc..

[knicholes]

Sometimes these huge companies have offices in some not-so-huge areas with excellent cost of living. (e.g. Lehi, UT)

[UperSpaceGuru]

Interesting that you mention Lehi. I’m going exploring this summer to see if I can open a satellite office there for customer service, sales & maybe some engineering too. At a 2 hour flight, it’s a pretty awesome place. I’ve hung out with a YC startup there and there’s good energy & drive with a reasonable cost of living.

However, I know things look good on paper and don’t always pan out that way once you’re actually there.

One of the things about SV is that I don’t fee quite so out of place and weird for wanting to work all the time.

[knicholes]

The surrounding areas have houses for much less. Lehi used to be a big farm town, and now there's a huge dichotomy between the old and the new. Traffic is getting worse (Utah standards of "worse", of course). A 20 minute commute, however, provides much more affordable housing.

[dnautics]

If cost of living scales linearly with salary the only situation where you prefer to be in cheapotown is if you're spending more than you earn.