Many jobs in those days were paid for to a high degree in stock options. Since valuations were so inflated everyone in the game was mega-rich on paper. When th

Many jobs in those days were paid for to a high degree in stock options. Since valuations were so inflated everyone in the game was mega-rich on paper. When the bubble burst, this created a bifurcation. Those who's options vested in the months pre-crash did become wealthy and didn't need to work ever again. Those that just missed that window even by just a month not only did not become multimillionaire, they even had lost years in normal capital buildup as the non-option wages had ofc not been that high. This left a profound imprint on a generation. It was so abundantly clear that there was no relation between work and wealth. Two devs that had sat side by side working on the same code for years, one now had a Lambo in the drive on his mansion in the hills and spent the rest of his days playing ceo/cto/cio in ventures in which he bought a chair just for fun. The other looking for a job that paid money to buy rent and food for the month. The only difference between them that the former was hired one month earlier by the dotcom. These devs were seldom born into money. Their parents had taught them that working hard paid. Those words rang very hollow in this new age of casino capitalism.