From talking to the founders of some of the biggest local startups, most seem to prefer recruiting in the DC region though it remains a challenge to find the right people. I've heard from a few people that hires in DC are much more "loyal" than they are in the valley and there is much less turnover.

One of the main advantages DC has is there is a huge supply of engineers and developers working for major defense and government contractors just waiting to be poached by a hot new startup.

Careful of the golden handcuffs though.

Like it or not, many of the government contractors are in pretty stable multi-year contracts and are making north of 100-150k. Unless they have their finances in excellent condition, many of them can't afford to join a startup part time.

Though almost everyone is looking for side projects and something interesting to do in their spare time, so recruiting someone for 10-20 hrs/week is relatively easy.

This might be changing... The Secretary of Defense announced a few months ago that he wants to cut contractors by 10 percent a year for 3 years: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/08/th...

Even if that does happen, all it means is that you can hire the bottom 30 percent

You assume the government (and contractors) are good at spotting talent and understanding its value.

3 morons can look more productive than 1 talented techie to someone that doesn't understand what any of them are doing

I just moved out of the DC area, but it is probably one of the fastest growing areas for startups in the country.

There is a whole bunch of technical talent there working for the government and military, but a lot are getting bored with the work. However, I didn't know the community was this organized, and it's good to see them trying to collectively make their names heard.

we'll have you back :-)