...Intense competition with little real reward other than being able to tell people that you work in SV. While you may make 150,000, you can barely afford one room in a shared house. But, you DO work in SV so, there's that. If one wants to work in tech, there are a ton of places one can do so. I know that SV holds this position of tech nirvana in the minds of nerds (said affectionately, not as a pejorative)... but some folks really do enjoy having tangible real rewards for their hard work.