When I started programming in 2005, the SV and startup culture was counter cultural. They were the little guys standing up to the giants, trying to make a positive difference. No one thought Google or Yahoo as evil back then, Microsoft was the big bad evil empire -- the scourge of the planet. It was pre-web 2.0 and most software was still bundled and sold, not sent over a web server riddled with ads. Making a website back then was simple, just write some HTML and you were done. To be a programmer back then you had to know about hardware and systems programming. You mostly had three languages to choose from: C, C++, and Java. If you said you were a programmer back then people would be impressed and interested, not disgusted. Flash forward to 2015 and SV/SF is the new wall street. MBAs and Ivy league grads, flush with the idea of becoming a startup millionaire, flock to the area to join unicorns. They have social skills, they are attractive, they have been bred all their life to become the upper echelon of society. Gone are the nerds, the people who were picked on their whole life. The highly skilled, technical weirdos aren't needed anymore. With the advent of web frameworks, programming has become largely plug and play. Anyone can do it because making a website is simple. CRUD apps are king, and people who made one overnight call themselves engineers. So get used to the new vapid culture people. It's tech bros and all the fun things they bring with them (misogyny, classism) from here on out.
And if you want to go back to the old ways, join me in the resistance. We need to actively fight the centralization of the internet. We need to fight closed source software. We need to make the web a place for the people, not for companies and IPOs.
This is hilarious coming from a MSFT employee
We need to remove the financial incentives that have made tech the new gold rush.
Please leave then. Would love for housing to get cheaper so pack your bags I'll even drive you to an airport. This new valley == wall street is stupid. If you spent one week at wall street you would come running back asking for forgiveness.
Bay Area native, family has been here since 1850s, and I left two years ago. Happy? Please troll somewhere else.
WTF is this new thing of leave? Don't like country, leave. Don't like food - leave, don't like job - leave, don't like Bay area- leave. OP has started a good discussion, stop trolling
It goes in cycles. More money == more MBA Bros, Trust fund chicks. When the next crash happens they'll all disappear and go back to NY or LA or whatever
Agreed. But will that crash ever happen? I'm starting to think it might not unless we actively work towards it. I know this is a hard-sell to a forum full of people who make their livelihoods from what I am actively denigrating. But there ARE ways to make things better, more open, and less conceited.
Eh.. will be very hard since they will twist you intentions. Like how open source and Linux used to be super counter culture and all about the Stalman mentality. That's a name you don't hear much. Or how with Bitcoin you got all these margin traders and ripple and... Sigh
Good observation though I disagree. I like influx of Ivy league and MBA graduates. They have done an impossible job at Google - make online AD profitable business and make it really big to the point traditional business model is replaced. Hardly any engineers thought that could make more than a billion per year. I don’t respect today’s Google engineers as much as the initial ones in pre 2009. Google was famous for hiring from elite schools only with flying GPA or PhDs. I am amazed at their vision back then and superior engineering. I can imagine they initially had to debate and struggle regarding how to make the new idea reality. Gmail, Map, Google earth, picasa, Google drive, superior infra and tools, having one source repository and fast build... I actually think engineers from top schools are great value than today’s leetcode genius. There is a reason these people got into the top schools. When given motivation, these people can make the impossible a reality. I think Google, Facebook and Netflix proved that. Amazon is a different animal. Bezos is a genius just like Gates was. I think Larry Page had a right mindset with bigger picture in mind by delegating CEO to Eric. I give credit to Harvard, Stanford and Princeton for that and more. This is what distinguishes US from the rest of the world as well. Whether these schools taught shit or not, they are the people who proved they can do well than competition. I will take that over nerds knowing numerous unimportant technical details. Smart and motivated (aka money) people can do remarkable things. We have engineers from all over the world but the gap between US and the rest in software is huge though India or Russia may have more software engineers than US if you include the people who immigrated. They have many medium level engineers who can delve into details but they don’t have technical leaders, managers or business people who have vision with big picture in mind. Solving small engineering problem is something any countries can do but creating a new business model and make it work are not something many countries can do.
Leetcode genius here. Wasn't the google interview process now pretty similar then? If anything the questions got much harder due to more competition. Get real pls
The questions might have been the same, but at the time leet code, cracking the coding interview, and the hundreds of online resources that teach you exactly how to solve those problems didn't exist yet. People solving those problems were actually smart enough to figure them out by themselves, rather than being average programmers that simply know most solution by heart due to them going through hundreds of online exercises.
As an ivy league MBA-type (although maybe not that attractive), I think you're missing something key. Building a product doesn't mean you can build a business. Both are valuable skills and neither alone are sufficient. The dot com boom and bust of the early 2000s is a great example of that on both sides. Technologies change, hot industries change, and skills change. Just keep learning and help build the culture you want to be a part of if you see things going bad. Oh and I started programming back in 1996 but my interests took me down the business route rather than the technical route.
Huh? It's about running code. MBAs can't write code and btw schools are shutting down MBA programs. Don't look at the rear view mirror.
You sound like someone who has a hard time getting pussy.
I do fine, you bitch. Edit: oops autocorrect.
Lol
Start working on interesting project lazy ass. Who said programming and work is simple now? Work on challenging projects and u will realize how worthless u have become.
Did you even read what I posted? If you want to talk about it then let's grab coffee in building 99.
Some of the most preposterous and out of touch people are indeed concentrated in tech right now, and what is tech exactly, does tech has anything to do with novel technology at this moment, or you just need to write some JavaScript to qualify yourself as tech?
Tech Industry
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The job market is absolutely brutal right now
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Cute girl on the floor
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Crossed a line with my boss
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I am starting to think Chinese interviewers currently fail non-Chinese candidates on purpose.
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What level of financial freedom are you?
Nerds are doing AI stuff now.