Midwest Developer
Being a midwest developer:<p>- Cost of living. Its the cheapest place in the US to live.<p>- Gender ratio. This is something new grads should absolutely consider. The gender ratio even on midwest tech teams feels nation-leading, with many of the companies I&#x27;ve talked to (including my own) near 50-50. But even beyond tech; its far more equitable here. This is a theme I see all the time with west-coast tech; they talk about making change, implement tons of policies to try to it happen, but here, its already happened. We just don&#x27;t talk about it. This is important for new grads even beyond their job; finding a partner here is so much easier &amp; more fun.<p>- Pay &amp; Job Security. Some companies are &quot;old&quot; and still stuck in their ways and won&#x27;t match more high-tech salaries. You&#x27;ll find that anywhere. Other companies have more progressive leadership, despite being a traditionally old business, and pay aggressively well. You&#x27;ll also find that anywhere. You have to spend some time researching who is who, but: these companies have tons of money, desire to modernize, and the best part: very little sense of what being a &quot;good engineer&quot; means. Read into that what you will, but: you literally won&#x27;t ever have a problem finding a job. I&#x27;ve gotten offers after literally just casually talking with someone for fifteen minutes in a company&#x27;s engineering leadership at a tech meetup.<p>- Remote. Many west coast companies are now paying west coast salaries regardless of work location. Local companies are pushing for more work-from-home or hybrid.<p>- Novelty. Tech still feels nascent in many of these cities. Maybe not MSP&#x2F;Chicago, but more of the second tier midwestern cities. The communities are small, three-person startups are still everywhere, and there&#x27;s a startling amount of &quot;old money&quot; looking to invest. Most awesomely, there&#x27;s much less bullshit; in general, you hear what some of these companies are working on and think &quot;shit, that will sell&quot;.<p>- Weather. You get used to it. But you know what we don&#x27;t get? Wildfires, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Tornadoes are common, but they generally don&#x27;t strike major cities. I&#x27;d take the midwest environment over west coast any day; warm weather every day is fine, but imagine buying a house in an area that&#x27;s years overdue for an earthquake that will level your city.