Madison has a lower cost of living, but my experience there (working and looking for work), admittedly dated by half a decade, is that the variety and quality of engineering work pales in comparison to that available in bigger hubs. It's mostly very mundane work for one of the many insurers there, maybe Epic, etc. It's also generally very poorly compensated relatively.
That’s a slightly ancillary point to mine. Regardless, a lot has changed in the last two years even (and we’ve had to raise salaries to compensate). It has a ways to go but I’d like to think we’re proof of the potential that is there today. (We didn’t even exist 5 years ago anyways!)
Also I’d like to think what we’re working on isn’t mundane!
Not necessarily: the greater portion of talent there are still there because they lack the desire or ability to work at interesting startups, funded or not. Compensation and opportunity abundance both will have to significantly change that.
My experience hiring here right now is that we have more interesting, qualified candidates than we can possibly hire. If we were struggling to fill open positions with great talent I wouldn't be here. Compensation has gone up across the board to remain competitive, which is a good thing. This has changed dramatically in the last few years, especially as remote work has changed the hiring landscape.
It's a great time to be an engineer anywhere, including Madison.
