<story><title>Ask HN: Is Bay Area in a tipping point for tech talent?</title><text>Some younger companies like Coinbase[2] and Stripe[1] are sharing numbers that they are not hiring much in the Bay Area anymore.&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that many positions that require the candidate to (eventually) relocate to the Bay Area are not getting a lot of traction. A fried of mine refused to interview for position like that despite being very junior! She decided the cost of living is not worth it.&lt;p&gt;What all of this means for the Bay Area talent pool and job market? Talent in the Bay Area are fetching astonishing pay ($600k for L6)[3] which I believe contributed to the out of the ordinary housing market in the Bay Area when you compare it to other cities in CA like San Diego and Los Angeles. I know many older talent have grown roots in the area. They have kids and friends which means they can&amp;#x27;t easily move. What if with this new wave of remote work acceptance, Bay Area pay won&amp;#x27;t match the expenses? Companies can hire everywhere in the U.S. for arguably the same talent quality. Some companies are even expanding to Mexico City[4] and other countries which might put even more pressure on Bay Area salaries.&lt;p&gt;Are we at an end of decades of continues growth and competition in the Bay Area? Will there be big pay adjustments?&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;brian_armstrong&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1481129589761998857&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;brian_armstrong&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;14811295897619988...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;patrickc&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1480647701221896195&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;patrickc&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1480647701221896195&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;levels.fyi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;levels.fyi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[4] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.lyft.com&amp;#x2F;careers#openings?location=mexico%2520city%252C%2520mexico&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.lyft.com&amp;#x2F;careers#openings?location=mexico%2520ci...&lt;/a&gt;</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>xyzzy_plugh</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s funny that no one wants to admit that Covid-19 was the forcing function for shifting to remote wholesale. I have many peers who have been fighting for internal accessibility of working remotely, most of whom gave up and jumped ship. I even know a few people who left Stripe in 2019 due to their inflexible remote work policies.&lt;p&gt;So to now come out and say &amp;quot;look at all the remote hiring we&amp;#x27;re doing&amp;quot; sure leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, because you have no choice!&lt;p&gt;The talent has realized they have all the cards and bargaining power in terms of remote work right now. Anyone who is fighting to return to the office is missing the point. We should all be striving to unlock permanent mobility within our professions.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>_fat_santa</author><text>&amp;gt; permanent mobility within our professions.&lt;p&gt;This is one of the most understated things about remote work. I hate when the arguments for the benefits of remote work all seem to end with &amp;quot;well you don&amp;#x27;t have to sit in traffic&amp;quot;. It&amp;#x27;s way way more than that.&lt;p&gt;* I just moved across the country. I didn&amp;#x27;t hate where I lived but it was meh, moved to Colorado where I&amp;#x27;m now going skiing every weekend and a general 180 for my lifestyle.&lt;p&gt;* I&amp;#x27;m planning far more trips. If my office is now my laptop so who says I can&amp;#x27;t do it from anywhere. I just came back from a few weeks in Hawaii and planning another trip to the Keys in a month or so. I work my regular hours in all of these places.&lt;p&gt;How I look at work has completely and diametrically shifted in the last 2 years, and it&amp;#x27;s made me a much more active and healthier person. It&amp;#x27;s honestly hard to believe how one change in my career (going remote) has been in service of all of this.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Is Bay Area in a tipping point for tech talent?</title><text>Some younger companies like Coinbase[2] and Stripe[1] are sharing numbers that they are not hiring much in the Bay Area anymore.&lt;p&gt;I am assuming that many positions that require the candidate to (eventually) relocate to the Bay Area are not getting a lot of traction. A fried of mine refused to interview for position like that despite being very junior! She decided the cost of living is not worth it.&lt;p&gt;What all of this means for the Bay Area talent pool and job market? Talent in the Bay Area are fetching astonishing pay ($600k for L6)[3] which I believe contributed to the out of the ordinary housing market in the Bay Area when you compare it to other cities in CA like San Diego and Los Angeles. I know many older talent have grown roots in the area. They have kids and friends which means they can&amp;#x27;t easily move. What if with this new wave of remote work acceptance, Bay Area pay won&amp;#x27;t match the expenses? Companies can hire everywhere in the U.S. for arguably the same talent quality. Some companies are even expanding to Mexico City[4] and other countries which might put even more pressure on Bay Area salaries.&lt;p&gt;Are we at an end of decades of continues growth and competition in the Bay Area? Will there be big pay adjustments?&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;brian_armstrong&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1481129589761998857&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;brian_armstrong&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;14811295897619988...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;patrickc&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1480647701221896195&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;patrickc&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1480647701221896195&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;levels.fyi&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;levels.fyi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[4] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.lyft.com&amp;#x2F;careers#openings?location=mexico%2520city%252C%2520mexico&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.lyft.com&amp;#x2F;careers#openings?location=mexico%2520ci...&lt;/a&gt;</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>xyzzy_plugh</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s funny that no one wants to admit that Covid-19 was the forcing function for shifting to remote wholesale. I have many peers who have been fighting for internal accessibility of working remotely, most of whom gave up and jumped ship. I even know a few people who left Stripe in 2019 due to their inflexible remote work policies.&lt;p&gt;So to now come out and say &amp;quot;look at all the remote hiring we&amp;#x27;re doing&amp;quot; sure leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, because you have no choice!&lt;p&gt;The talent has realized they have all the cards and bargaining power in terms of remote work right now. Anyone who is fighting to return to the office is missing the point. We should all be striving to unlock permanent mobility within our professions.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>no_butterscotch</author><text>On the other hand, the company I work for that IPO&amp;#x27;d the year before COVID is now hiring a ton of remote...in Mexico City, the Philippines, and in Poland.&lt;p&gt;So I&amp;#x27;d correct your phrasing: &amp;quot;The talent &lt;i&gt;in the US&lt;/i&gt; have all the cards and bargaining power&amp;quot;. So the &amp;quot;smart&amp;quot; thing companies are doing is find talent outside the US.&lt;p&gt;And also before anyone mentions lower quality devs (for which I have an eye roll and a &amp;quot;get over yourself&amp;quot;), I&amp;#x27;ve worked with enough of these devs by now to tell you there&amp;#x27;s next to no difference in quality.</text></comment>