I work at the east coast office for a large tech company as a software engineer. I was recently offered a gig with them in the Bay Area where I'd be working within a brand new machine learning research group as an engineer. Such a job sounds amazing from a tech and career development perspective, but I'm weighing the pros/cons and finding it increasingly difficult to justify a move. My current team is also new, and I enjoy working with my teammates/manager. Furthermore, this is my first time on the East Coast and I'm enjoying the social atmosphere, have a lower COL than the Bay, and don't need to purchase expensive things like a car. The only compelling reason I can find to move is that on the new team, I'll be working directly with PhDs whom I can hopefully ask for strong letters of recommendation when I apply to graduate school (most likely a Master's Degree) in the near future.My questions to HN -- (1) Is one more strong PhD letter of recommendation (I already have one) and experience working with researchers that much more valuable to graduate schools to justify the downsides of moving? (2) What else do people take into account when they jump ship to a new team?