> 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.
Yes, he's wrong. I do quite well working remotely and every offer I've received for which I'd have to work in a $%^&ing open office (because open office good, cubicle bad plus mandatory daily Jar Jar meeting at no additional cost(1)) would have entailed a 25-50% pay cut.
My advice is to refuse in every way you can to be the generic fungible engineer most management wishes you to be, and to instead specialize in emerging technologies. When such technologies are in demand, your compensation will skyrocket.
Whenever I see "If X isn't working for you then you're doing it wrong" I remind the person who said it that they really ought to consider that there are no silver bullets/holy grails. If daily standups work for you, great (see, I'm acknowledging that it works for some people), but please keep your process religion to yourself, mmkay?
But this is a pretty clear indication that things are broken. I understand that there are variations in how things are done, but if you're doing "standups", the whole point is: keep it short and sweet. Otherwise, call it a "morning meeting" and run it as long as you want.
I'm sure there are exceptions, and one of the big gotchas with all of this is that employers do all in their power to figure out what's a "reasonable" increase and not pay huge raises.
If you're paid at a certain level, and there exists a job that will pay you 50% more, there are basically 2 possibilities:
1) You know that job exists, and there are others like it, and you don't want it because it requires you to come into an office / work in an industry you don't like / do something less fun.
2) You're currently underpaid and haven't been able to line up competitive pay to force 2 company's to bid you up to market rates. Maybe it's a personal thing, maybe it's that the magical 50% raise is a one-off anomaly by un-educated employer, or something else.
In either case, the employer wants to figure out what you're currently paid, and they should be able to get what they want without giving more than 10 or 20% more. The only real way to get around this is to refuse to give current comp and be viciously underpaid, or to get 2 companies to give offers and start bidding it up.
In short, yes, you may be able to keep your salary as you move around. There are probably jobs out there in expensive areas that pay more than you make right now, but I'm guessing you don't want them.
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!).