Tech Leader Personality Trend
I have read extensively about some of the GOATs in tech. SteveJ, BillG, MarkZ, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, etc and I see certain traits. SteveJ(Apple): Got introduces to tech stuff as a kid. At 13 yrs of age, he took up an internship at HP assembling frequency counters (who tf does that at 13) BillG(MSFT): Good home, write first software at 13, got into trouble for exploiting bugs in schools computer system and later on a job finding bugs in a company’s software. All this shit before he was 17. MarkZ(FCBK): Mf had a private tutor in programming as kid and created computer games as a kid. Dad taught him programming in the 1990s. Larry Page(BigG): Dad PHD in CS and CS prof. Mum also a college CS instructor. Exposed to computers and programming at a very young age, being the first kid in his elementary school to turn in homework from a word processor. Seygey Brin(BigG): Dad a math prof. Mum a researcher at NASA. Mf graduated college at age 19 in CS. What I have noticed is these guys had the path pretty much set for them from a young age. Either they were incredibly awkward as kids or had very smart parents who introduced them to smart stuff at an insanely young age. What other trends do you see in tech leaders/founders? Please share your opinions. PS: I know there are exceptions to this. But these guys founded some of the biggest companies in the world.
Will be forcing my kids to code from dawn to dusk from age 3. Don’t worry - I’ll let them pick their gender. I’m not a racist.
Read Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. All these individuals had some circumstance of ability + timing + privilege
There's a reason for that. Young adults are more aggressive and ambitious than older folks. Couple that with years of training when you're young and you'll have a very skilled and ambitious person when they they become adults. Some of them will end up building largest businesses. That of course requires you to be grown in a rich and functional family so you're secure enough to not worry about mundane things like school drama or middle school grades.
Is this survivorship bias? We don't hear about all the young adult that had exposure at a young age but didn't have the resources to succeed when they tried?
Jack Ma will buy Netflix
I've thought this for a while as well. Alibaba is funding a lot of movies in Hollywood. I think once Alibaba's cloud becomes decent, he will shop around for a streaming service and Netflix will be prime target.
I thought this was about tech leads on teams after reading the post title.
They can be included too if they have a trending trait.
Tall, white, male, rich
How come Elon Musk is not on the list?
Here are curious exceptions to the rule - Jack Ma: founder and chairman of Alibaba, English major, discovered the existence of Internet at age 30 Reid Hoffman: co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn, grew up on a farm, studied philosophy Andrew Mason: founder and CEO of Groupon, delivered bagels, music and public policy
Although not a founder - Bill Ready, PYPL COO (Prev. BrainTree & Venmo): Farm boy from KY and didn't own or use a computer until in college. Unlike many arrogant a-holes in the industry, very strategic, insightful and calm.