It isn't cheap, though. You burn something on the order of 80k a hire to hire in-office, probably more if you're specifically looking in SF or NYC.

Those roles are going to get squeezed pretty fast as the market heats up.

Sure, but the productivity gains are probably worth to such companies. Also the costs probably go down per person the more people you put in the same office

okay I know hiring is expensive, but 80k? are you buying these candidates first class flights with caviar?

even at $300+ per hour of engineer time, I can interview 10 candidates with several engineers, and even fly promising ones out, for less than that, while using ATS systems like Taleo.

I think they are referring to the annual salary differential to hire a similar skill-set for someone working remotely -vs- someone regularly coming in to the office in SF/NYC.

It cuts your candidate pool by a factor of five or ten, and adds about 30k a year of comp demands (a number which will grow as engs get less desperate in a warming market).