Fast forward to today. I've worked at startups, big tech, and generally have lived that tech life. I see my friends back in Ohio taking vacations, buying homes, and generally having a nice life. And I see myself here, paying more and more rent each year, working in the high stress of startups and in the tech scene as my own passion for the actual tech slowly wanes. Sure, I make a lot of money and I have a fancy job but money and prestige, I've learned, isn't everything. If you're pissing all that money away with no end in sight, except to become fabulously wealthy in some kind of exit that likely won't ever happen, you start to question your original motives.
At this point I have decided to stay another five years here, mostly so I can say I had a "10 year career" in the bay area. I will then take that experience, most likely back to the midwest, and try to leverage it into a better job than I'd be able to get by spending 10 years back in the midwest. Hopefully, this strategy will be successful for me. I think by then I'll have a shot at becoming director or VP-level, and coupled with my experience out here I will stand out in the midwest. I'll also have a far better experience-lead "technical education" out here than I would have ever had in Ohio, and that at least stands for something.