Are we though? If we were to establish criteria by which to judge tiers how would anywhere else in the world compare to the Bay? My intuition is that the Bay is probably more productive and gets paid far more for it. The bay certainly drives just about about every tech trend worth a note. Innovation as well how much tech came out out of that region.
Disclaimer: I would love to move there one day just to be in that world.
There is nothing special about the bay area that isn't geography. The density of workers means you meet a ton of talentless people who shuffle along with the crowd and are rewarded for it because it's unnoticed. I'm paid more to be remote than I was in the bay area and my money goes a lot further. I'm also exponentially more productive not being in a sardine can office. Your intuition is shaped by your inexperience of the reality of the situation. The grass isn't greener in my old backyard than it is in my new pasture but I have a lot more of it now.
Yes, largely. Though, frankly the grass IS greener on the other side in my case. I am in the middle of nowhere in Canada and my window into the tech world at large is github and YC.
> 30 year bay area veteran here
Do you believe you would have the same opportunities today if you did not spend time in the Bay (didn't get experience, network, insider knowledge)?
The amount to which I was steeped in tech due to being able to do things like dumpster dive for computer hardware in the 80s definitely affected my career path, but _that is not a thing anymore_. And you are already interested, so having a seed of 'what's that?' isn't so necessary.
I've been out of the bay for 5 years, and worked there for almost 20. The opportunities I had were about a time and place, and _today_ that place is far more online than physically based.
If you can make it to the bay, it is a wonderful place, full of tech and culture and people from all over, but it is not the only place with all that. It's also hella expensive.
I think the Bay's time as _the_ place to be is over, but it's still _a_ place to be.
Good luck!
I've not worked there and once dreamed of it as you did. On a few business trips, sat in on tech meetups. It is indeed glorious to sit in a large room full of nerds on any given evening. If you're still young and single, you should ride the ride for a few years.
At the same time, it seems like a terrible place to actually live your life, relative to other possibilities in the US.