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If you need incentive to come to NYC, you aren't going to make it.

I think there are plenty of incentives for hackers to come to NYC but it's mainly from the finance sector. Wall St firms wining and dining their hire prospects is common practice. Matt's recommendation is to show that the startup community can entice hackers in its own way. Startups might not be able to pay the salary + bonus that finance firms can throw at you, but perhaps they can gain influence in other ways.

Salary isn't everything, the I-bank guys can be miserable. I know a guy who just backed out of his offer from JP Morgan for less money at a smaller firm that did something entirely. It is less money and the same hours, but the project is more fun. Milage may vary but I know that for me +/- 10k is about what I call equal offers.

I was just in a position picking between two offers. One paid about $8k more than the other in salary, but the lower offer sounded more fun. I took the lower offer. Promptly after my start date they told me about a bonus I'd be getting that I didn't know about that comes to about 10k, so I ended up coming out ahead, but even if that hadn't happened I'd be OK with my decision.

It's not incentive, it's awareness.

Sorry. If you've never heard of NYC, you're not going to make it :)

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