Why isn't there enough designers in Silicon Valley?

There is a huge roadblock to hiring design talent in the Bay Area and anywhere else in the US because of lack of work visas.If it weren't so hard to hire international designers, you'd have an enormous pool of talent.Everyone wants to come here, but it's too expensive.

Three forces are at play.

1. Over the past few years, an increase of venture capital has resulted in a larger pool of companies who need designersSilicon Valley has developed higher expectations for designers.
2. The number of designers hasn't kept up with demand.

One additional thing to note here is that fewer people entered the profession from 2001-2005 and now again from 2008-2010, so there is simply a gap in people who would otherwise be mid-level, mid-career designers aka the people who would actually be doing a lot of the design work right now.

Thanks to Moore's Law, technology continues to improve but our desire for improvements has diminished.The top of the line model with the most memory and the most gigahertz of CPU power is what we have less hunger for.We are now choosing based on design.We don't want to know how fast the device is, but how it makes us feel.

It's not that there's a shortage of great designers, only a short supply of designers who are willing to move to SF and SV and pay $3000 a month in rent alone.It's not about your salary, it's about what you keep.Some designers don't want to work in a startup culture that encourages an unbalanced work/life balance.It may be difficult for those in the culture of Silicon Valley to understand.It is not a talent mismatch, it is a lifestyle and culture mismatch.