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I am incredibly jealous of you guys living in a place where you just bump into random people at coffeeshops that happen to work on incredibly interesting things
by RealityVoid 3y ago
I am incredibly jealous of you guys living in a place where you just bump into random people at coffeeshops that happen to work on incredibly interesting things.
The density of talent must be amazing.
- boznz 3y agoAnd I am so happy I live in a place where this doesn't happen.
- epistasis 3y agoInteresting, but I can't understand why that makes you happy. What benefit does it bring you?
- bogota 3y agoSome people like talking about things not related to their job when they aren’t working. The culture out in SV is very much still “work is life”.
- khokhol 3y agoThe benefit of being a part of the actual human world, where real people live. Where not essentially everyone is obsessed with their careers and/or comparative wealth. That sort of thing.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- tptacek 3y agoIt can be alienating to move through the world in spaces where your work is everywhere you go. It's a thing I appreciated moving from San Francisco back to the midwest. Every once in awhile, I bump into someone with a Github sticker or whatever, and it's a happy surprise, but for the most part the world I inhabit has nothing to do with my work. Everyone has different things to talk about.
- biftek 3y agoI love not having to think or talk about work when I go outside. If some one asks what I do they'll say "that's neat, must be nice to work from home!" and that's the end of the conversation, we can talk about hobbies or something else instead.
- iancmceachern 3y agoPlease elaborate
- imajoredinecon 3y agoThe Bay Area is pretty special that way
- tekla 3y agoThese people are everywhere. Most are not stupid enough to yell about it in public.
- margalabargala 3y agoWhy is it stupid to talk about non-confidential aspects of your job in public?
- sneak 3y agoThe Apple Car R&D project is (or, I suppose, was) absolutely confidential. I am sure Apple has reprimanded or fired people for less.
- margalabargala 3y agoFired people for less than what? What part of it is confidential? Its existence? Obviously not. The fact that it uses SLAM? Not confidential, of course it does. That a person was transferred from that to the Vision Pro? Probably also on their linkedin page. Nothing that OP described this person as saying sounds "stupid" or confidential. Sure, maybe they also said something that was confidential in addition to what was described. Maybe they also insulted your mother. We don't know.
- mercutio2 3y agoApple employees most certainly cannot talk publicly about unreleased products. Including loudly discussing their roles in restaurants.
- margalabargala 3y agoIs that an official, Apple-specific policy written down somewhere? That doesn't seem right, and doesn't match other similar companies. I've known people at Facebook and Microsoft who were working on upcoming not-yet-released products and were free to talk about the products and their roles on them. These people, much like the person we're discussing, worked on upcoming projects which had already been publicly announced. Of course publicly discussing a confidential project that no one knows about could get someone fired, but that's not the scenario we're talking about.
- brailsafe 3y agoI'd argue this is true of a lot of cities where you're likely to bump into anyone, depending on how narrow your scope is of what one considers interesting. Also true of probably most universities if they're doing anything right. The problem with some particularly uptight places is that people aren't always open to chatting (or maybe under strict NDA), and you want to find a place on that nice area of the venn diagram where you actually do bump into and communicate with new and stimulating people.
- bluGill 3y agoEverybody is interesting if you get talking to them. You just think the guy who collects your trash is uninteresting and never talk to him (or do you?). Sure not everyone has the same background, and so they are interesting in different ways, but they are all interesting.
- passion__desire 3y agoInterests must align. People must know common jargon which convey high density information faster. I would like to have positive ROI on the conversations that I have.
- matwood 3y ago> I would like to have positive ROI on the conversations that I have. You must be fun at parties.
- operatingthetan 3y agoI usually cringe when people make this quip but it might be the first time I've seen it used effectively.
- brailsafe 3y ago> I would like to have positive ROI on the conversations that I have. Seems pretty hollow and transactional to me. > Interests must align. That's part of the dice roll. Sometimes interests do align, sometimes they don't, but someone looking for ROI is easily spotted and ran away from. Chemistry and common ground are a matter of luck.
- iancmceachern 3y agoIt is amazing, and happens exactly this way. I'm a "regular person", engineer, and since moving here over 10nyrars I've met a lot of famous tech people, witnessed lot of amazing things, all mostly by happenstance just because there is so much of it, so many people like me, here.
- op00to 3y agoInteresting things happen in many places, not just Silicon Valley. You simply need to keep your ears open and listen.
- ARandomerDude 3y agoYou have to step over the poop and the needles to get into the coffee shop though, and while you're inside your car is being burglarized.
- sjwhevvvvvsj 3y agoSouth Bay is just like a giant company town, it’s actually pretty boring - 60% of people work at the same handful of giant companies, the other 30% work at a startup, and the last 10% serve the first group fair trade coffee. The weather and climate are amazing, but socially its suffocating when everybody you meet is a variation on a tired theme.
- selimthegrim 3y agoPeople who work for startups can’t afford coffee?
- sjwhevvvvvsj 3y agoThey have to make their own, and it’s not fair trade.
- johndhi 3y agoThis was funny and I meant to update it but instead down voted it and now can't find how to undo that. Sorry!
- Tijdreiziger 3y agoYou can click the ‘undown’ button next to the username and timestamp of the comment.
- fragmede 3y agothere's a undown button to the right of the username if the timer hasn't expired
- spacecadet 3y agohaha this, its great to try it, but like NYC, dont stay too long...
- sjwhevvvvvsj 3y agoYeah, its *super interesting* at first, but once the novelty fades you aren’t left with much. That said, nowhere on earth had better driving directions on apps since people will notice the bugs on the drive into work and fix them. ;-)
- cqqxo4zV46cp 3y agoDifferent strokes I guess. How long have you been…working? The vast vast vast majority of people want a little more variety in lives as opposed to more more more of the stuff they spend 40+ hours a week doing as it is. The exceptions to this rule are almost always unhealthy workaholics / people that’ll learn about the benefits of work / life balance the hard way. It doesn’t make them some higher tier of world-class engineer like some (often including themselves) expect.