| > They've got much better things to think about then what city they need to position themselves in to possibly increase their chances of success, like their product and the well being of their team. And now we get to the primary reason why I'm willing to spend extra to live here. I mean, I haven't lived in Missouri in so long that I don't really know the state of things there. But I do know that being a nerd in rural California towns? Socially speaking, it's a matter of 'passing' - It's no fun. This is the cultural centre for my people. This facebook bubble will blow over within the year; It comes, it goes, and from what I've seen, this merry-go-round is about out of juice. Come visit us after that and see what it's like when investors aren't throwing silly money after dumb ideas; after most of the suits go back to selling amway, and after the brogrammers decide to go back to school for their MBAs, it will once again be just us nerds. Anyhow, really? I'd not worry about it too much. One of the primary advantages small companies have is that we can hire remote workers. And having remote workers gives you a staggeringly large pool to choose from (if you are good at picking people, you can get really good people for not all that much money.) it really is the best of both worlds; you get the 'low expected salary' of the midwest with the giant pool of applicants of the coastal population centres. For me personally? living here is worth the added costs. Hell, I never really felt like an American until I moved here. Elsewhere in the country, I've always been 'the other' - and for me? I'm willing to pay rather a lot extra for that. That is true of a lot of technical people. I /do/ suggest visiting- maybe even while this bubble is still ongoing. It can be a lot of fun. But yeah, unless you are going for funding (and unless you are the sort of person that can only communicate face-to face) it's probably not a make-or break kind of thing. All I wanted to point out was that on average, salaries are not as much higher here as you think. Salaries and expectations are both much higher, and that can even out in the end. (Of course, small companies rely on finding the inefficiencies. The people that are good but underpaid. Small businesses have massive advantages over large companies when it comes to evaluating people and making trade-offs. On top of that, evaluating people is really difficult. Extremely difficult in the interview context, so lots of mistakes are made.) |