1. Spiders are not insects. In fact, from my experience, a lot of proper insecticides don't do squat to spiders. The toxicity pathways are simply different between insects and spiders, I guess.
2. I actually like ants, unless you're talking about the really nasty ones like army ants or red fire ants. I don't mind them in my house, stealing my food; I just don't want to accidentally kill them. Some people raise them in formicariums (like aquariums, but for ants). I used to have a formicarium when I was in Canada, but have been having trouble trying to start a Carebara affinis or Carebara diversa colony in Hong Kong. Ants, like a lot of other apocrita, are actually quite "hygiene-conscient", almost to the point of OCD. Ants are also pollinators and scavengers that clean up the ground by carrying whatever they can eat into their nests. I have never heard about ants being vectors of human-affecting diseases.
Spiders don't stand a chance against orange oil concentrate. It handily kills them right along with every other crawly thing. I won't spray the ones that stay up high, but if you've ever seen a Wolf spider in your house, you'd spray them, too. They can get rather large. If only I could convince my wife to move someplace civil like Vermont or just slightly east of Seattle, like Issaquah or Snohomish. Texas has too many critters. Where I live, the coons will attempt to gain entry into your trash cans, the possums will be under your cars and hiss at you, the snakes are ever present. Just down the street from us, a family killed two water moccasins in their back garden a couple of weeks ago. They also have seen several copperheads. Both are venomous.
I forgot to advocate for the spiders, again, except the really nasty ones. E.g. during damp seasons, I catch and deploy jumping spiders into my daughter’s room as a method of biological control against book lice.
In my opinion, if you have any kind of spider infestation on your property, then you have something else to worry about. Spiders need food to thrive, which usually means insects or other arthropods, which in turn means you have an infestation of other arthropods.
So why are you having a bug infestation in the first place? Are you leaving food crumbs all over the place? Do you have damp places where fungi and moss will grow? Insects and all kinds of critters really like those conditions. If you fix those, your insect and (consequently) spider infestation will most likely be gone.
In the case of mosquitoes, we are the food, so you can’t fix that, but you can clear out bodies of still water, which will decimate the number of mosquito larvae.
Killing them (with insecticides) only fixes the symptoms, not the root of the problem.
I have lived in or just outside of Chicago my entire life, and the worst critter I've encountered are centipedes, which I handle incredibly poorly. I honestly don't think I would manage well with encountering snakes or wolf spiders with any frequency.
I live less than 1000' from the water's edge, so mosquitoes are ever present for about 9 months of the year. I've tried citronella candles when out BBQing, watching my children play in the lawn, etc. I don't like dousing myself in chemicals, so I don't spray myself with deet, etc. They are a nuisance for which there is little to be done other than avoidance.
If you can stand the smell, neem oil is very effective. I use low concentrations in a spray bottle, and spray my windows, they generally don't come in..
If you are applying at startups it may just come down to money, and the fact that startups are a ton of 20 somethings trying to get that sweet IPO / acquisition release.
How does your Linkedin profile look, in terms of libraries? Many recruiters / managers look at libs / tech FIRST, which is kinda backwards. Do you have the latest tensorflow or [insert cool new thing] on the resume?
If your resume is really what you posted - any outside recruiter can help you getting interviews. They may give you lackluster opportunities at first, but that's part of the process (think of it like dating, but for jobs).
9 minutes of commercials per 1/2 hour? Ice road truckers level content? The bar was really low here. I wouldn't give Netflix too much credit, although IMHO they are doing the best out of their competitors (AMZ, Hulu, etc..).
If you are looking for warmer I would suggest Carrollton, GA, Montgomery, AL or Chattanooga, TN. AL has the second lowest property taxes in the USA and while not 2015 Detroit cheap it does have 2018 Detroit cheap housing prices.
I've heard good things about Chattanooga due to their municipal gigabit, have been meaning to check it out.
I was really surprised by how nice AL was too last time I drove through it. All that said, if I go back south, it will be hard to not pick NC. Asheville doesn't have much industry for tech, but it's exactly the kind of culture (hippies, artists, bluegrass, great food) and weather I've been missing. Cost of living is high by NC standards, but not for remote workers. Definitely more appealing than Vermont for most folks who don't need to be near Boston or NYC.
