>but just about every startup I encounter is hiring and a common complaint is that it's very difficult to find "good" engineers. My impression is that standard

>but just about every startup I encounter is hiring and a common complaint is that it's very difficult to find "good" engineers. My impression is that standards are higher here. I've worked in the central valley, and most of the jobs I had there? I was... like a little god. My arrogance was justified at every turn. Here? generally I have to put in at least some effort to just make mediocre, and I simply am not made of the stuff required to be the best. From that point of view, the salary difference might be justified just on skill. (I mean, there are very good people living in the flyover. The density is just dramatically lower. I'm arguing here that the average engineer in the silicon valley is much better than the average engineer elsewhere. There /are/ outliers, and often looking for those outliers can be quite productive.)