It depends. The big X tech companies, and hot unicorns in the bay area pay crazy salaries for engineers.

3k a month doesn't seem too bad when you are making 200k+, which is close to ~triple what you'd make in some rando mid sized city.

Working for the average SF startup though? Yeah, you'd be better off somewhere else.

Whenever I look at cost of living comparison it doesn't seem advantageous to me to be in SV unless you get lucky on equity ( how do you even measure that? ).

$150k in Dallas is something like $265k in San Francisco. And I would think in SF your housing would be pitiful compared to the midwest at $3k/month mortgage.

Engineers at my company can make upwards of $300k in Dallas and that gives a standard of living thats comparable to making $1m in the valley which is probably pretty rare.

What company in Dallas pays over $300k for engineers?

What sort of company pays engineers $300k in Dallas?

Oil and gas, and finance, to name two I’m familiar with.

Are that many SF tech workers making over 200 grand a year?

I hope so. If they aren’t then they would be better off finding work in some other part of the country.

Pretty sure that not too many. Some do, but again, most are capped at about 180k (that if with 7+ years of experience) For some stock options make a difference, but again, that is if you're lucky

The ones at the big tech companies and hot unicorns are.

The ones at your rando tech startup are not.

And yet, the housing market still makes buying prohibitive in that same region.

I can't speak for LA, but from the people I've spoken with Seattle and -maybe- Austin have the strongest ratio of tech work vs. cost of living.

Seattle is pretty nice, especially if you can ignore the random junkies and homeless tent and RV encampments around town.

Oh no, the last time I visited Seattle was in 2010. Has it gone to shit since then?

Seattle's so full, it's budding into Portland.

I might be jaded but this sort've depends on your point of view. I grew up in San Diego, would weekend with friends in LA, and I've got family across the country. Most large cities that don't have overly deadly weather seem to have a visible homeless population.

Nowadays LA is much worse than SF in terms of homeless people.

What nonsense. Sure, the valley can teach you some new JavaScript frameworks and how to best invade your users privacy to sell ads, but real programming happens everywhere. There’s plenty of ways to launch your career without working for Zuckerberg or Bezos.

I ask for one (1) example, that does not include any software hubs that mimic the valley (this includes Austin, New York, Boston, and Seattle, but is not limited to), that has an equal, or close to equal, impact on your career in comparison to the Bay Area.

The only thing the valley has going for it is the saturation of talent and people who hire talent. The bad, is that without it it's got nothing to really show for itself (save a few niche items). The good, is the lack of any other notable qualities is overshadowed by the overcompensation of the only ones it has.

The topic was tech careers. I don't believe Citadel does any algo/prop work that could fall under the umbrella of tech. Off-topic: I'm from the East and #FreeMadix

You’re just in denial now, you’ve clearly had plenty of the Valley’s koolaid. It’s hilarious that you don’t think the worlds largest market maker isn’t doing “algo/prop work that could fall under the umbrella of tech.” Don’t be afraid to leave your bubble.

What a twist of fate. I find myself holding your exact same thoughts, but yet I try to mimic the community and "fit in."

All I'm saying is that Citadel is no Rennaisance. It's not LTCM or Medallion. Maybe it's like Boston, but sure it ain't as beneficial as the valley. If there were spoiler tags, I would tell you what I really think, but I don't want to be a Pats fan at a Steelers game.

I mean, Citadel is far more secretive than any of the companies in the valley. Just because you don't see the innovation doesn't mean it isn't happening. Citadel pays salaries on par with the valley and is widely respected in the hft space -- it's a very good place to start a tech career.

Then the next question is, how are you supposed to start your career if you don't know about it? I half kid, but it's neat to hear. I haven't been a part of the buyside for a while, so it's more than likely Citadel's gotten some internal clout in the quant scene since them.

I never said SF was the only way to launch a career and tend to agree with you. Still, there is no denying the power of having a big name on your resume when looking for the next job.

I don’t know about you, but when I review resumes I look at what they’ve done, not what brand names I recognize. Frankly, when I see a name from the Valley such as Facebook, I assume it’s a script kiddie web developer who’s primary experience revolves around NodeJS.

Eh, I don't think it is required. Probably better to work on being likable so people think you're more than just a skillset in the interview.