Spurning big cities, tech workers opting for Salem

Scott Wolf, a process technician, repairs a station at Garmin’s offices near McNary Field. Garmin has added more than 100 workers since 2013, General Manager Steve VanArsdale said. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter)

The math was easy for Brian Sheridan.

In spring 2014 in Alaska, the database engineer knew what was coming: a stubbornly cold winter, relatively high cost-of-living, and a slip for the state’s oil-dependent economy.

Salem, where he and his family had visited before, became…