My family lived in Pittsburgh before I was born for a few years. One of the great wisdoms my father passed down to me as NEVER MOVE TO PITTSBURGH.
Back on topic though….lots of relatively young techies/engineers suddenly making relatively good money likely fueled the fire in SD. All of a sudden they felt rich and successful without actually having earned the incomes they got. I think that continues to this day. When I grew up, engineers were distinctly middle to lower middle class unless they owned the business or were in technical sales. When I graduated college in the mid-80’s engineers earned starting salaries of 30 to 40K and hoped they might someday reach 75K. Now we have a lot of engineers starting salaries in 70K range and many making low six figures after a couple years that think they are movers and shakers. I’d agree with the sweaty guy at the gym.
