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It still feels like this approach runs on anecdote, and on equivocation between "techies" and "billionaire tech CEOs". People with enormous power and wealth ar
by Bartweiss 9y ago
It still feels like this approach runs on anecdote, and on equivocation between "techies" and "billionaire tech CEOs".
People with enormous power and wealth are frequently terrible across all industries. I'm still fairly convinced Kalanick has more in common with Weinstein and Miki Agrawal than your average trenches-level programmer, simply because power corrupts. (If tech has a singular problem, it's that startup culture means some people are in power for their whole careers.)
And at the trenches level: yeah, brilliant assholes are a thing in software. And classical music, and physics, and law, and... They're all specialized fields with noninterchangeable work, power-law payouts, and room to minimize human interaction in daily work.
I don't disagree with you that this happens in the field, and I definitely appreciate hearing from people in the field who might agree with this article. But it still feels like there's a pattern of comparing Silicon Valley to Wallstreet, while ignoring the myriad other fields with similar dynamics. That, not the existence of assholes, is the part that feels agenda-driven to me.
- mcguire 9y agoA few points: 1. The median household income in the US is something like 1/3 to 1/2 of what I understand the starting salaries are in SV. For most outside the tech bubble, economically, there is little visible difference between "techies" and "billionaire CEOs". 2. Much of Kalanick's behavior is mirrored by lesser techies, albeit on a smaller scale. 3. Anyone have any hard numbers on the size of the "techies and billionaire CEOs" class versus the total professional classical musicians and physicists in the world? Certainly, the former seems to have more actual impact. 4. Do you really want to live on the pointy end of lawyer and wall street banker jokes? ("What's the difference between a lawyer and a catfish?" "One is a bottom feeding scum-sucker; the other is a fish.")
- tj-teej 9y agoWhat and a kid who just graduated from college with 80K of debt and is writing test automation for Google is a scum-sucker? Give me a break...
- newlyretired 9y agoIf you're discussing the reality of the problem instead of the perception of it, the median household income would need to be adjusted for cost of living. I'd need nearly double a nice salary just to afford the same lifestyle in SV, one of many reasons I'm not going to move there.