Well, it sounds like you have good reasons for using your techniques. I think it was a good discussion, in that it showed techniques that work for one situation

Well, it sounds like you have good reasons for using your techniques. I think it was a good discussion, in that it showed techniques that work for one situation may be wholly inappropriate for another. An obvious hypothesis is that if you want to employ programmers other than in the bay area, you're screwed. For the record, I've also hired folks in Boston, Boulder and Washington, DC with similar experiences. I'll admit, though, that the average quality in SF was the best.