HN user
so many super smart and talented developers in DC
As one of those developers working in DC I can tell without a doubt that the majority of us do it because we get paid a large amount of money.
I make more here than I ever could in Silicon Valley. Plus the cost of living is around half. Last I checked a one bedroom in SF was around $4k per month. I pay just over $2.5k here in DC (with a parking spot!).
While that may be true to a certain extent I'd be willing to bet a sizable amount of money that the majority of founders that YC funds are in fact white, male, hailing from a wealthy family, graduated from a prestigious college, and are under 30 years old.
And while you or other YC partners may defend that fact with the fallacy that it's just a numbers game, as in those are the majority of applicants, I can't help but remind you that age discrimination and class warfare is rampant in the valley.
here
Where is here? Op's handle? Cybercoders? That's incredible if true. You could essentially recruit for a few years and then retire.
You're wrong though, at least in my case. My pay doesn't change at all and I move quite often.
$87.5k salary + equity as a designer/dev type. It's the same pay no matter where I live and is higher paying than my pervious location-dependent job.