4 ms·

It's interesting to me that my friends and I who grew up in SV and lived through the .com boom as adolescents and had parents who worked during the .com and PC/

It's interesting to me that my friends and I who grew up in SV and lived through the .com boom as adolescents and had parents who worked during the .com and PC/networking/semiconductor booms are largely skeptical and at times even dismissive of the latest incarnation of SV culture. Perhaps it's hubris ("the old version --my version-- was better"), perhaps it's cynicism (seeing family/friends be burned in the last booms), or perhaps it's a feeling of betrayal ("I grew up wanting to be part of a culture that has morphed -- in my opinion for the worse"). Maybe it's something else. Though my sample size is small, I find this contrast interesting. Perhaps it's just a numbers thing where newcomers predominantly buy into the current myth and want to live the current version of startup life, whereas the old timers have not self selected in that manner and this represent a wider spectrum.

dasil003 11y ago
I graduated from high school in 1996 and was way into web development from the very first days. I didn't end up coming out for the dotcom days, but I definitely have fond memories of those times. There was a sense of camaraderie of early PC and internet users where the motivations seemed to me to be slightly more noble. Not that the VCs or tech giants of the time weren't greedy—of course they were—but there wasn't the same kind of Hollywood feel where all the ambitious people were flooding out here gold-rush style. If you went on Usenet / IRC back in the 80s/90s, there was this palpable sense that the internet would change the world. You could almost draw a direct line back to the counter-culture movement of the 60s, and those ideas which led to a lot of early software and networking work which we still benefit from today. The vast majority of people involved with computers back then were just drawn to them by their nature. The problem today is that other sectors of the economy are really suffering, and software has become so easy that the bar to get started is so low, add the veneer of social media glorifying the whole thing and it lends itself to a circus atmosphere. Many people today choose tech as an arbitrary career path. I don't begrudge anyone their chosen path, but it has certainly led to a different vibe than what it used to be. At the end of the day though, I have to admit to myself that it is probably simple nostalgia. Every generation thinks the old days were better as they age.
- ryanmarsh 11y ago
  > Every generation thinks the old days were better as they age. The old days were better. We were naive, we cared, this was Going To Be Big. I dropped out of HS the same year to start web dev as well. I never felt gross or used or like anything was fake. It was exciting, maybe irrationally exuberant but it was real. I don't recognize the valley now. It's just a slot machine with young peoples dreams painted on the side.
- sosuke 11y ago
  Don't put it all in nostalgia. The Internet you're talking about simply doesn't exist anymore and can't be compared directly to the one we use today.
- hkmurakami 11y ago
  > Many people today choose tech as an arbitrary career path. Very true. At even the most elite of schools, CS degree -> engineering career has joined Econ degree -> banking and High GPA -> Consulting as a top choice high flying career choice for bright students who aren't sure of what they want to do for their careers. I started college in 2003, when as college applicants we were going through the deepest troughs of the dotcom crash. The number of entering CS students was about 20. The dean called them "the true believers" (I was studying EE). I believe that this number is now well north of 100. >Every generation thinks the old days were better as they age. I am constantly questioning my own opinion of this latest trend, as I'm keenly aware of my own such biases.
- icedchai 11y ago
  I hear you. I remember the days of the internet, before the mass invasion... gopher, usenet, free domain names, telnet BBSes and MUDs, etc. The old days were better.

dasil003 11y ago

I graduated from high school in 1996 and was way into web development from the very first days. I didn't end up coming out for the dotcom days, but I definitely have fond memories of those times. There was a sense of camaraderie of early PC and internet users where the motivations seemed to me to be slightly more noble. Not that the VCs or tech giants of the time weren't greedy—of course they were—but there wasn't the same kind of Hollywood feel where all the ambitious people were flooding out here gold-rush style. If you went on Usenet / IRC back in the 80s/90s, there was this palpable sense that the internet would change the world. You could almost draw a direct line back to the counter-culture movement of the 60s, and those ideas which led to a lot of early software and networking work which we still benefit from today. The vast majority of people involved with computers back then were just drawn to them by their nature. The problem today is that other sectors of the economy are really suffering, and software has become so easy that the bar to get started is so low, add the veneer of social media glorifying the whole thing and it lends itself to a circus atmosphere. Many people today choose tech as an arbitrary career path. I don't begrudge anyone their chosen path, but it has certainly led to a different vibe than what it used to be. At the end of the day though, I have to admit to myself that it is probably simple nostalgia. Every generation thinks the old days were better as they age.

ryanmarsh 11y ago
> Every generation thinks the old days were better as they age. The old days were better. We were naive, we cared, this was Going To Be Big. I dropped out of HS the same year to start web dev as well. I never felt gross or used or like anything was fake. It was exciting, maybe irrationally exuberant but it was real. I don't recognize the valley now. It's just a slot machine with young peoples dreams painted on the side.
sosuke 11y ago
Don't put it all in nostalgia. The Internet you're talking about simply doesn't exist anymore and can't be compared directly to the one we use today.
hkmurakami 11y ago
> Many people today choose tech as an arbitrary career path. Very true. At even the most elite of schools, CS degree -> engineering career has joined Econ degree -> banking and High GPA -> Consulting as a top choice high flying career choice for bright students who aren't sure of what they want to do for their careers. I started college in 2003, when as college applicants we were going through the deepest troughs of the dotcom crash. The number of entering CS students was about 20. The dean called them "the true believers" (I was studying EE). I believe that this number is now well north of 100. >Every generation thinks the old days were better as they age. I am constantly questioning my own opinion of this latest trend, as I'm keenly aware of my own such biases.
icedchai 11y ago
I hear you. I remember the days of the internet, before the mass invasion... gopher, usenet, free domain names, telnet BBSes and MUDs, etc. The old days were better.