What are you talking about? Defense jobs, at least on the east coast, have 1) regular working hours (no unpaid overtime), 2) generally very high pay, depending on exactly what you're doing, because not that many people can acquire and hang onto a clearance. Also, 3) lots of vacation, including all the Federal holidays, and never any trouble actually using that vacation unlike so many other companies. All the stuff I read about "established tech companies" like Google and Apple is pretty horrific by comparison (like Apple's new "panopticon" HQ). I think Silicon Valley people have some pretty severe myopia when it comes to jobs outside the valley.