a Silicon Valley startup last February and got a 40% increase in salary - I make an amount that I would consider to be on par with what I would be making for other companies in the Bay Area. The other benefit is that my equity package is very generous because it was tailored around keeping talent that was local to the Bay Area.

COVID hit fully a month after I started my job, so we closed all of our offices in the Bay Area, and there has been no talk about resuming any of the leases.

Maybe I found a loophole in the system, but nobody has cared at all about how much I make in relation to where I live.

I think that remote work will make it harder for unproductive employees to keep their jobs. But if you provide significant value to your company, nothing else will really matter all that much.