I moved to SF 5 years ago from Canada. I worked at a small startup that got acquired and now at a pre-IPO company of about 1500. I had worked in a small city

I moved to SF 5 years ago from Canada. I worked at a small startup that got acquired and now at a pre-IPO company of about 1500. I had worked in a small city in Canada previously. I moved in my mid-30's which is later than a lot of people but I had always wanted to move and work here when I was younger but didn't due to low self-esteem and thinking I wasn't good enough as a software engineer to "make it here". It's the biggest regret of my career that I didn't move here when I was young. I ended up finally moving because I realized I was in a "now or never" situation as I could see the window closing due to being married and my wife wanting to pursue her career options. I really like the ambition here as it fits me. I strive to the best I can and I find a lot more of that here than back home. Maybe I've been lucky but I've generally worked with kind people so far. I haven't seen anything that would be featured on an episode of "Silicon Valley". Maybe it's because I moved here later and have a better eye for avoiding that type of stuff, I don't know. I've had a chance to work on a couple great projects and all-in-all, it's been a great experience for me so far. I'll probably be here another 5 years or so before moving back to Canada.