Yeah, exactly this. I read my first contract ever really closely, saw it had a bunch of potentially onerous terms, then signed it anyway because I had no negotiating leverage and it effectively quadrupled my income.

What I've heard from a lot of WA devs is "yeah, if it looks like it's going to be a problem, I'll just move to California." It's nice that option exists, but it's kind of silly that "defensive relocation" is something people even have to consider.