For starters, it is outrageously expensive to rent office space in Silicon Valley and the living expenses are astronomically high. Considering that the need to physically go to the office is not a necessity for the development of a tech platform, monies that should go toward more dev instead go to landlords.
Next, the best talent in Silicon Valley often goes to the behemoths: Microsoft and Google. With unlimited budgets these tech companies can pay 3x for a top-tier developer. The remainder of the talent pool in Silicon Valley is often pulled from one VC backed company to another, inflating the price of the talent.
With Upwork, for the first time ever, companies can access developer talent that is just as good if not better than that in the Bay area, but for a fraction of the price. Many of these developers exist beyond the US borders, and through Upwork you can safely retain them. Romania, Poland, and the Ukraine house some of the world’s best developers that charge 1/10th the price of similarly talented devs in the US.
