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It would be interesting if someone analyzed the “California communication style” and its effects on the startup industry. As someone that grew up on the East Co
by keiferski 2y ago
It would be interesting if someone analyzed the “California communication style” and its effects on the startup industry. As someone that grew up on the East Coast, I often notice how the communication style on the West Coast is much less confrontational and more “everything is awesome”, which I think leads to the sort of fake enthusiasm the author grew tired of projecting.
Of course, there’s no lack of hype and BS in NYC/DC/Boston, but there seems to be a much more developed culture of criticism and analysis than in California. And so the default attitude on the East Coast is a bit more cynically pragmatic, which is both good for the above reasons, but also less imaginative and more restricted - which is why SV has more “dreamers” that do crazy things.
Hope I’m not firing off too many East Coast vs. West Coast battle shots here :)
- tayo42 2y agoEveryone in silicon valley is a transplant.
- keiferski 2y agoSure but there is still a particular communication style that prevails, and people adopt it, or try to adopt, to fit in. It’s less about the accent or vocabulary and more about the tone. A lot of this was parodied pretty effectively by the Silicon Valley TV show.
- tayo42 2y agoI don't think that's location based. More likely industry. Even in California once you leave SaaS /software /internet startups the corporate culture is different. My wife doesn't have pronoun police at her California office job. Me working in web software, I had a guy from the Midwest scold me about pronouns.
- keiferski 2y agoI guess what would be interesting (and what my original comment was about) is how / if the California communication style got started in SV and then traveled around everywhere else via the tech industry. I think it likely started as an aspect of a particular location and then became an industry thing later.
- GJim 2y ago> I often notice how the communication style on the West Coast is much less confrontational and more “everything is awesome”, which I think leads to the sort of fake enthusiasm the author grew tired of projecting. I raise you British cynicism and the sarcastic piss taking that pervades our every day conversation. Frankly we are truly a world and culture away from California.
- mmarian 2y agoI'm afraid it's pervasive here as well. Just talk to people about AI :)