My experience is way different. Technical individual contributors in San Francisco are expected to be way younger and expected to be way more stylish than the

My experience is way different. Technical individual contributors in San Francisco are expected to be way younger and expected to be way more stylish than the expectations in silicon valley proper. At least that is the impression I get at nearly every interview I go to up north. My experience is that if I interview up north, I get rejected on cultural fit grounds. If I interview south of San Carlos, if I get rejected, it is because I did not do well enough on the technical portion of the interview. Just my experience, your mileage may vary.