4 ms·

Here's a probably-apocryphal story about San Francisco. The cultural tolerance and open-mindedness the city was know for happened because at some point in histo

Here's a probably-apocryphal story about San Francisco. The cultural tolerance and open-mindedness the city was know for happened because at some point in history the need for dockworkers was way, way stronger than any superficial differences that employers might otherwise discriminate over if the labor pool was larger. At a time when discrimination was the open and explicit norm, that lack of exclusion grew out into the societal attitudes across the city. Tech was once a place where we lived with weirdos ranging from unconventional appearance all the way to downright unpleasant to work with. There was a lot of work to get done, and goddamn we were going to figure out how to get it done with the people we had. Fast forward to the 2010's. We hire for conformity across the board, some places even acknowledge the strictness of that part of their selection criteria and call it "culture fit." It's a very dictionary-definition-but-not-political-alignment conservative time. The outliers have all gotta go.

Daishiman 7y ago
We realized that lone hackers aren't actually the tremendous geniuses who can accomplish dark magic on their own. The profession has changed. We no longer build low-level constructs that are leaps and bounds ahead of prior versions, but incrementally take existing building blocks to find solutions for problems that are ever more social in nature. Having worked with several lone-wolf hackers, I am glad we are no longer afraid of pointing out shitty behavior.
- forgottenpass 7y ago
  I tried to write that post about contemporary standards with wide enough room to avoid singling out one archetype and proceeding to disparage them by contemporary standards. But you found it; as it turns out everyone on the spectrum from "unconventional appearance all the way to downright unpleasant to work with" is a cartoon-cutout "lone wolf". Ya got me.
  - Daishiman 7y ago
    The only ones who are being singled out in recent times are those who are downright unpleasant to work with. I still see all the same quirky characters getting well-paying jobs.

Daishiman 7y ago

We realized that lone hackers aren't actually the tremendous geniuses who can accomplish dark magic on their own. The profession has changed. We no longer build low-level constructs that are leaps and bounds ahead of prior versions, but incrementally take existing building blocks to find solutions for problems that are ever more social in nature. Having worked with several lone-wolf hackers, I am glad we are no longer afraid of pointing out shitty behavior.

forgottenpass 7y ago
I tried to write that post about contemporary standards with wide enough room to avoid singling out one archetype and proceeding to disparage them by contemporary standards. But you found it; as it turns out everyone on the spectrum from "unconventional appearance all the way to downright unpleasant to work with" is a cartoon-cutout "lone wolf". Ya got me.
- Daishiman 7y ago
  The only ones who are being singled out in recent times are those who are downright unpleasant to work with. I still see all the same quirky characters getting well-paying jobs.