Hey OP, hope you read this! I am from the Tri-Cities, so I can relate. At my very first job in high school I worked with a Flash developer from Yakima who had been homeless and living in a drug-addled abandoned building with no floor - so there's definitely hope.
If you're interested in moving an hour and a half south, they have &yet, which is a strong agency but was just starting when I moved. I went through damn near every decent web company in the area before finally moving out to Portland because of how unhappy I was there and how uninspired I was by the quality of the work being put out by the area.
Eastern Washington - Spokane possibly excluded - is a barren wasteland for honest web/tech work outside of freelancing and working out at Hanford, and I'm not sure Yakima has anything worth investing time in either. The cost of living in the TC can be pretty cheap if you're able to find a gig there, but public transit sucks. If you want to apply to some dev jobs in Portland (which would probably be more difficult than finding some in the TC) and get an interview or two out here, you're welcome to stay with us. I have some friends your age that are also into audio production and we have jam sessions with our gear sometimes at our place. Would love to have you if you get any leads.
I am in touch with a few developers still living in the Tri-Cities, too, if you'd like me to reach out to them as well.
If you're interested in moving an hour and a half south, they have &yet, which is a strong agency but was just starting when I moved. I went through damn near every decent web company in the area before finally moving out to Portland because of how unhappy I was there and how uninspired I was by the quality of the work being put out by the area.
Eastern Washington - Spokane possibly excluded - is a barren wasteland for honest web/tech work outside of freelancing and working out at Hanford, and I'm not sure Yakima has anything worth investing time in either. The cost of living in the TC can be pretty cheap if you're able to find a gig there, but public transit sucks. If you want to apply to some dev jobs in Portland (which would probably be more difficult than finding some in the TC) and get an interview or two out here, you're welcome to stay with us. I have some friends your age that are also into audio production and we have jam sessions with our gear sometimes at our place. Would love to have you if you get any leads.
I am in touch with a few developers still living in the Tri-Cities, too, if you'd like me to reach out to them as well.