&gt; If you&#x27;re a unicorn-grade developer (God-tier school, significant time solving Major Problems), maybe.<p>I&#x27;m not from a God-tier school, but I&#x27;ve been on teams solving non-trivial problems.  And I was flown across the country before I had experience like that.<p>&gt; My job search experience has been that it&#x27;s pretty much &quot;perfect match or gtfo&quot;.<p>I&#x27;ve seen a lot of that, too.  Maybe their own nth degree persnicketiness is why they have problems filling positions and are willing to fly people in from far away.  I was once flown halfway across the country by a medium-small webdev company just north of the golden gate bridge.