6 ms·

> engineering-and-data-obsessed monoculture Gee, a company who's business is data is obsessed with engineering and data? Color me shocked. Snark aside, techno

by ng12 8y ago

> engineering-and-data-obsessed monoculture Gee, a company who's business is data is obsessed with engineering and data? Color me shocked. Snark aside, technology is hard. If you've worked in consulting for any amount of time you've probably realized that outside of a few pockets (SF, NYC, Austin, etc) most of the world is really, really bad at technology. Many of the biggest, most important institutions in the world really have no idea what they're doing. The biggest problem in my mind is that technical know-how is not distributed evenly. I don't know why that is, but I don't think diversity has very much to do with it.

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
I disagree heavily. Many people worldwide are incredibly good at working with the technology in their environments. In fact, I would say most Silicon Valley engineers do not actually understand the environments they develop products for. Probably one of the best historical examples was when Facebook had to force employees to use low end Android phones so their developers could figure out how badly the experience sucked. Silicon Valley tells us to connect everything to the cloud while 10 meg Internet and wireless devices that costs us far more to stream than to store locally are common. Security is another good example: Silicon Valley engineers are often worried about side channel attacks, arcane sandbox escapes, discussion about how to jump an airgapped PC using a speaker or something. Meanwhile, it's 2018, and Google just realized Chrome extensions are full of malware and is finally taking baby steps towards fixing that. We've had an ironclad solution over here in Chicago for years: We disable all Chrome extensions. The technologies developed and the solutions created in Silicon Valley are rarely good solutions for the rest of the world. Silicon Valley is very good at fixing very first world problems, like the constant attempts to make travel data easier to find in your email box or your assistant, while failing to recognize that most people can't afford to travel often enough for a feature like that to matter.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
  I'd have to agree. From what I've seen, the SV reality distortion bubble makes it difficult for its occupants to understand the practical reality of people outside of it. There's that old expression, that when all you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail? SV seems to be almost entirely populated by hammers.
- sudosteph 8y ago
  You're right. The rest of the world has plenty of smart people, including developers and engineers. SV and some other metros have advantages in funding sources that let them brain-drain other areas through better salaries and stock, but it's not that people in other place just don't what they're doing. RHEL does just fine with talent operating out of Chicago and Raleigh NC. If companies are willing to pay solid salaries, and give growth opportunities to people outside of SV (this was actually the biggest downside I noticed while working at a very large sattelite office of a SV-based tech company in NC), then they will find sufficient talent in most any large enough / educated enough US metro.
  - nervousvarun 8y ago
    If you pay them, they will come.
- ferdberfel 8y ago
  "In fact, I would say most Silicon Valley engineers do not actually understand the environments they develop products for." Isn't that the point of her book ?
jacquesm 8y ago
> If you've worked in consulting for any amount of time you've probably realized that outside of a few pockets (SF, NYC, Austin, etc) most of the world is really, really bad at technology. You mean outside of Tokyo, Calgary, Tampere (points if you can locate it on a map without names), Geneva, the Ruhr area, Milan, Shenzen and a thousand other places? The 'world' is a lot larger than the USA and there are many places where people are really good at technology. They may not be able to address a large unified market and they may not have access to enormous amounts of dumb money to chase the latest social media fads but that doesn't mean you need to ignore their existence, unless it was your idea to underscore the point of the article.
- chrisco255 8y ago
  I mean, even in other countries, there tends to be one or two cities that are major tech hubs and the rest of the country is not. I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing or just a normal thing. There are many industries or specialties that are concentrated in certain areas (or have been historically), like autos in Detroit (although that's changing), finance in NY, movies & fashion in LA, etc.
  - stupidcar 8y ago
    I'm curious why you don't count Detroit as a "tech hub"? Or NY? Or LA? Does you definition of technology not extend beyond software development? There are myriad industries, like car manufacturing, energy, finance, filmmaking, aerospace, health, etc. that involve huge amounts of technology, and whose leading players are based nowhere near Silicon Valley. But instead of going out and working in these industries to build something revolutionary, tens of thousands of world class programmers cluster in Silicon Valley, all talking to each other about how amazing and disruptive they are, while wasting their prime years blowing through VC money in startups chasing the latest ecommerce/chatbot/messaging/AI/blockchain fad, or as a cog in some tech giant's machine to turn customer data into advertising dollars.
  - xaranke 8y ago
    LA is not a fashion capital: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_capital https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_capital.
tomc1985 8y ago
That has nothing to do with placement and everything to do with intent and motivation. A generation ago the landscape was technology lifers and scientists -- now it's everybody and their mother trying to make a buck. The bar for competence is too high for the majority of people entering the field these days.
commandlinefan 8y ago
> technology is hard And moreover: it's _deceptively_ hard - it looks easier than it actually is. Every time, every case.
starpilot 8y ago
Tech is hard, but also unwanted. I don't think what distinguishes people in tech is proficiency in certain tools. It is a drive to optimize their lives that people outside of tech do not have. I think most of them are happier. Not "ignorance is bliss," just contentment with the present.
mcguire 8y ago
"“...If you have a hierarchy where engineers are at the very top and the people who are interfacing with the outside world are a couple rungs below that, you really miss something when those people don’t have an equal voice at the table.”" Technology is hard. Customer support is hard. Making money without collecting a massive amount of data about everyone is apparently very hard. Many things are hard.

by ng12 8y ago

ocdtrekkie 8y ago

I disagree heavily. Many people worldwide are incredibly good at working with the technology in their environments. In fact, I would say most Silicon Valley engineers do not actually understand the environments they develop products for. Probably one of the best historical examples was when Facebook had to force employees to use low end Android phones so their developers could figure out how badly the experience sucked. Silicon Valley tells us to connect everything to the cloud while 10 meg Internet and wireless devices that costs us far more to stream than to store locally are common. Security is another good example: Silicon Valley engineers are often worried about side channel attacks, arcane sandbox escapes, discussion about how to jump an airgapped PC using a speaker or something. Meanwhile, it's 2018, and Google just realized Chrome extensions are full of malware and is finally taking baby steps towards fixing that. We've had an ironclad solution over here in Chicago for years: We disable all Chrome extensions. The technologies developed and the solutions created in Silicon Valley are rarely good solutions for the rest of the world. Silicon Valley is very good at fixing very first world problems, like the constant attempts to make travel data easier to find in your email box or your assistant, while failing to recognize that most people can't afford to travel often enough for a feature like that to matter.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
I'd have to agree. From what I've seen, the SV reality distortion bubble makes it difficult for its occupants to understand the practical reality of people outside of it. There's that old expression, that when all you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail? SV seems to be almost entirely populated by hammers.
sudosteph 8y ago
You're right. The rest of the world has plenty of smart people, including developers and engineers. SV and some other metros have advantages in funding sources that let them brain-drain other areas through better salaries and stock, but it's not that people in other place just don't what they're doing. RHEL does just fine with talent operating out of Chicago and Raleigh NC. If companies are willing to pay solid salaries, and give growth opportunities to people outside of SV (this was actually the biggest downside I noticed while working at a very large sattelite office of a SV-based tech company in NC), then they will find sufficient talent in most any large enough / educated enough US metro.
- nervousvarun 8y ago
  If you pay them, they will come.
ferdberfel 8y ago
"In fact, I would say most Silicon Valley engineers do not actually understand the environments they develop products for." Isn't that the point of her book ?

jacquesm 8y ago

> If you've worked in consulting for any amount of time you've probably realized that outside of a few pockets (SF, NYC, Austin, etc) most of the world is really, really bad at technology. You mean outside of Tokyo, Calgary, Tampere (points if you can locate it on a map without names), Geneva, the Ruhr area, Milan, Shenzen and a thousand other places? The 'world' is a lot larger than the USA and there are many places where people are really good at technology. They may not be able to address a large unified market and they may not have access to enormous amounts of dumb money to chase the latest social media fads but that doesn't mean you need to ignore their existence, unless it was your idea to underscore the point of the article.

chrisco255 8y ago
I mean, even in other countries, there tends to be one or two cities that are major tech hubs and the rest of the country is not. I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing or just a normal thing. There are many industries or specialties that are concentrated in certain areas (or have been historically), like autos in Detroit (although that's changing), finance in NY, movies & fashion in LA, etc.
- stupidcar 8y ago
  I'm curious why you don't count Detroit as a "tech hub"? Or NY? Or LA? Does you definition of technology not extend beyond software development? There are myriad industries, like car manufacturing, energy, finance, filmmaking, aerospace, health, etc. that involve huge amounts of technology, and whose leading players are based nowhere near Silicon Valley. But instead of going out and working in these industries to build something revolutionary, tens of thousands of world class programmers cluster in Silicon Valley, all talking to each other about how amazing and disruptive they are, while wasting their prime years blowing through VC money in startups chasing the latest ecommerce/chatbot/messaging/AI/blockchain fad, or as a cog in some tech giant's machine to turn customer data into advertising dollars.
- xaranke 8y ago
  LA is not a fashion capital: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_capital https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_capital.

tomc1985 8y ago

That has nothing to do with placement and everything to do with intent and motivation. A generation ago the landscape was technology lifers and scientists -- now it's everybody and their mother trying to make a buck. The bar for competence is too high for the majority of people entering the field these days.

commandlinefan 8y ago

> technology is hard And moreover: it's _deceptively_ hard - it looks easier than it actually is. Every time, every case.

starpilot 8y ago

Tech is hard, but also unwanted. I don't think what distinguishes people in tech is proficiency in certain tools. It is a drive to optimize their lives that people outside of tech do not have. I think most of them are happier. Not "ignorance is bliss," just contentment with the present.

mcguire 8y ago

"“...If you have a hierarchy where engineers are at the very top and the people who are interfacing with the outside world are a couple rungs below that, you really miss something when those people don’t have an equal voice at the table.”" Technology is hard. Customer support is hard. Making money without collecting a massive amount of data about everyone is apparently very hard. Many things are hard.