I wonder how much the answer to <i>&quot;where do you want to work&quot;</i> correlates with the answer to <i>&quot;where do you think salaries are the highest&quot;</i> or <i>&quot;where are your lifetime savings (taking promotions and cost of living into account) the highest&quot;</i>... My guess would be - <i>a lot</i>!<p>Furthermore, I would dare suggest that correlation implies causation... <i>the other way around</i>! I.e. if the companies outside of London started offering higher salaries or better career opportunities, more people would work for such companies. The same solution applies to the alleged shortage of software engineers that (some) companies experience.