Since the comments thus far are quite inflammatory -- which I find odd, considering this is a subject almost all of us most have thought about -- I'll throw in

Since the comments thus far are quite inflammatory -- which I find odd, considering this is a subject almost all of us most have thought about -- I'll throw in my $0.02. I am an ex-finance guy (who has programmed computers forever) who recently quit "the business" and moved to SF to work at a startup. This gives me some perspective. I can say a few things for sure. First, there are more tech-related opportunities here. You just can't deny it -- once you're in it, you see it. Everybody everywhere is talking about tech... all the time. It's like going to the bar outside Goldman. Everyone's talking about the stock/bond/FX/whatever market or the topic du jour. Similarly, getting a true finance job outside the greater NY area would be extremely difficult. The main reason for this is because in places like California, you mostly find either a.) satellite offices of big firms, which are no good for a young person, or b.) hedge funds on the beach with two guys and a dog (no room for a young person). So I can say for NY, the point rings true. In terms of tech in SF, being in the hub seems to matter -- if you're making some kind of career move. I can tell you for certain I've been getting more job hits (from tech firms) living out here. When I lived in NY, the only one who'd interview me was Google -- first at the NY office, then in Mountain View, for a position in San Bruno. It was very difficult to make the horizontal shift directly from Wall Street to tech -- for geographic and cultural reasons. But the real "blame" I'd like to place is on automatic screening mechanisms. All too often I've been screened out of candidacy at smaller companies because it's just too much effort to fly out a candidate for an interview, put them up at a hotel with a car, all so you can (maybe) hire them and have to pay relocation. Not many companies are willing to do that... it's just life. That said, people who are driven and committed will (I believe) have A+ careers (in a much more liberal sense of the term than used here) regardless of where they live. But, if a particular goal has your attention -- go where the fish are biting. There's nothing about that that doesn't make sense to me. PS - on the flip-side, I once worked for a big bank headquartered in L.A. I elected not to move there for exactly these reasons -- I don't want to be an actor, so I stayed in NY. But when I wanted to horizontal into true-pure-tech, I did make a point to get myself to SF, whatever it took.