Exactly this... to your first point, second tier cities in terms of software development jobs (Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta, etc) have a lot to offer. There's enough contract work that you can always find something within a couple weeks, and pay is generally competitive to salaried positions. There's also quite a bit of FT work, but more of that will be with more stable tech.
YMMV, but the quality of life, at least for me in Phoenix feels significantly better. I may not be making a quarter million or more a year as I might in SV, but I also don't have nearly the level of stress in my life.
Re:The gig worker’s lament
by 0xADEADBEE on Saturday December 29, 2018 @01:37AM
(#18782299)
An interesting point - I hadn't at all considered the trend of slowly growing an engineering team. I'd bet you're on the money with this.
Conventional employers/clients (e.g. your friendly diesel manufacturer) spend money on developers when they have a problem they want solved, they love expensive freelancers: if they could they would fly in a squad of experts, get a solution for a single lump sum payment and then hand it over for maintenance to that underpaid slob they keep in the basement.
Overfunded startups as well absurdly profitable SV success stories are a very different story. Building a talent pool is a core investment for them. In many cases they would rather have one good hire than two good ones and two bad because their immediate needs are already met and low performing hires are avoided not so much because of another head on the payroll, but because talent dilution is impossible to undo. They are not interested in adding quantity, but building quality teams is just the way they spend their money. Offers will be either high or nonexistent, and freelancers not welcome.