In my first round of interviews at the end of college, one was with this consulting firm in Dallas. It was small, but successful. It felt like they respected th

In my first round of interviews at the end of college, one was with this consulting firm in Dallas. It was small, but successful. It felt like they respected their engineers, the office and everything was impressive, and by the end of the day I felt like they liked me and were going to give me an offer. Only one problem: I didn’t want to live and work in Dallas. I wanted to be in Austin. That corporate sheen, so prevalent in the city’s culture, embodied by this shiny company, just wasn’t me. I’d been suppressing that thought all day because it seemed like such a good opportunity, but I knew deep down I wouldn’t be happy. End of the day, final interview with the CEO, in his office. I took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be in Dallas.” He smiled, thanked me for being honest, and said “We have a sister-company upstairs. They have an Austin office. Want me to take you up there and introduce you?” That ended up being my first software job.