I'm a "millennial" software developer. For me, it's mostly a matter of who's willing to hire me, and the working conditions.

I've never had a problem getting a job. I had multiple offers right out of college. But in this economy, I really don't feel like rolling the dice.

For software engineering, the unemployment rate is good, but the hiring processes are fubar. I'm not willing to quit today and bet on passing an arbitrary gauntlet before I end up on the street.

engineers, who could help cure cancer or fix healthcare.gov

I'd love to help cure cancer or fix healthcare.gov. I currently work with power engineering software because that's who hired me, and the working conditions are acceptable.

without Nvidia’s graphics processing unit, your BuzzFeed GIF is not going to make anyone laugh.

That hits the nail on the head for me. In my area, the #1 company I’d like to work for is Qualcomm. I don’t want to work for some web2.0 sexting app. But if, after applying to the “world-changing” companies first, that’s who makes me an offer, well, I’d accept it.

I mentioned working conditions. Case in point: I met a software company in the health industry recently. They use Java, Flex, and Delphi. The field sounds interesting and meaningful. But those languages? #1 No, #2 Hell No, and #3 Kill Me Now.

I also work in application-level development, and I like low-level stuff. But a huge percentage of these valley millennials are web developers. I think there are far more web dev positions out there for flippant web2.0 sexting than for Nvidia, Cisco, and even healthcare.gov.

I probably don’t represent the average. I don’t live in the valley, and I don’t care about 'prestige.' But, that’s how I feel.