&gt;&gt;If anything, we&#x27;ve seen recent evidence that SV salaries are &quot;deflated&quot; compared to other industries and areas of the country, due to collusion, frequent targeted hiring of very young, often naive grad, inflated time at work, etc.<p>Conversely, they&#x27;re also being propped up by the massive amount of VC money at play there, which is driving an arms race for programming talent not seen elsewhere around the country. I&#x27;m not saying you&#x27;re wrong about your point about collusion, but there are multiple factors at play there.