[rkangel]

I live and work in Cambridge UK, and it seems to be the other way around here. Cambridge's history is more of hardware based startups (particularly wireless related ones), so the demand mix is probably quite different. I have always done very well with my electronics/software mixed skill set, and it was a surprise to hear (in a previous HN discussion) that that wasn't as valuable elsewhere.

[aardvark179]

It’s not a simple embedded vs. front end divide. I think Cambridge has generally funded and valued companies that are see as solving, ‘hard problems,’ and, rightly or wrongly that viewpoint favours backend stuff and hardware.

I’m not sure this is a problem though. Many large companies are not hiring in the valley because the high level of compensation is making it uneconomical.