> The people living in LCOL areas don't hustle. They aren't the type to do 100 hours of leetcode.
> not every problem that needs to be solved at a FANG needs a top 1% best-of-breed, (for example
I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not. The wording in the first sentence is that of someone being sarcastic, mocking the people who would actually use such language and/or expect such things. But the second quote sounds like you're being serious.
The difference between people living in high COL areas and low COL isn't how much they hustle. Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL areas, including one I was praising just recently for being a role model for others.
As a side note, if you're doing 100 hours of work a week, you're almost certainly doing a bad job at all of it. With the exception of a small subset of people, it's been shown that work quality decreases drastically when working long hours (for all the work being done, not just the work past the normal hours). Expecting your workers to put in those hours means you're aiming for sub-optimal, low quality work.
Next sentence following the first quote: "That doesn't make them bad engineers." You stated "Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL areas". I think we agree here.
The broader point with the first quote: People living in LCOL areas don't pull out all the bells-and-whistles to signal how absolutely amazing of an employee they'd be. Why? Because it doesn't matter in LCOL areas. If you went to a town in the middle of nowhere, and held everyone to the Leetcode hard bar, a smaller proportion would pass than in Silicon Valley. However, the hiring bar is lower in these areas as well -- therefore, one doesn't need to practice leetcode to secure employment in LCOL areas.
Re side note: I didn't say people do 100 hours of leetcode in a specific timeframe (one week was mentioned, but the GP comment didn't suggested that). Typically, interviewees Leetcode in preparation for FANGs. This preparation is done typically over a period of months.
> not every problem that needs to be solved at a FANG needs a top 1% best-of-breed, (for example
I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not. The wording in the first sentence is that of someone being sarcastic, mocking the people who would actually use such language and/or expect such things. But the second quote sounds like you're being serious.
The difference between people living in high COL areas and low COL isn't how much they hustle. Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL areas, including one I was praising just recently for being a role model for others.
As a side note, if you're doing 100 hours of work a week, you're almost certainly doing a bad job at all of it. With the exception of a small subset of people, it's been shown that work quality decreases drastically when working long hours (for all the work being done, not just the work past the normal hours). Expecting your workers to put in those hours means you're aiming for sub-optimal, low quality work.