> What junior engineer is going to turn down an offer from Google because the Mountain View area is a wildly expensive dump?
Well in my view that actually is a choice.
They are making a choice between commuting lots and living somewhere they don’t want to in exchange for career advancement / to work for Google.
That’s not to say that they might not be happier with alternative decisions. Or maybe they decide to suck it up for a while and move where they want later down the line? But these are all choices.
Perhaps 95% of people truly don't get that choice, but your hypothetical junior engineer certainly does, at least given the current market for developers. Unless you consider "taking the highest paying job above anything else" to be an irrepressible force.
95% of people don't get that choice.
What junior engineer is going to turn down an offer from Google because the Mountain View area is a wildly expensive dump?