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My main takeaway from reading that book was that working in tech in the late 70s was not that different from now days Just different technology/hardware/timesc

My main takeaway from reading that book was that working in tech in the late 70s was not that different from now days Just different technology/hardware/timescale Same workplace problems, personality types, company politics, etc... Did not expect to find it so relatable in 2024

throwawayohio 2y ago
Curious -- To me it just seemed pretty standard (for any industry). Did you think the tech work environment today was somehow more enlightened than previous generations general working environments?
jbullock35 2y ago
There's at least one huge respect in which tech is different, at least in the USA: worker compensation. In the book, Tracy Kidder writes repeatedly about how Data General (the company at the heart of the book) is proud of its austerity. It doesn't pay well. It's proud of having an ugly, austere, warehouse-like building. It puts its critical engineers in the windowless basement of this building. Kidder is describing a world that's very far from the FAANG of today, at least were compensation is concerned.
- withinboredom 2y ago
  I worked for a guy that converted half the office into a store with windows so shoppers could "watch us work" ... things haven't changed much, for non-FAANG.
- silvestrov 2y ago
  Is a windowless basement that much worse than the open officies of Facebook? I'd rather have a small room with silence than work in a well lit factory with tons of noise like this: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2015/12/01/19/facebook-office-wp.jpg https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/imag... There isn't any dividers or other stuff that blocks noise.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Offices were pretty much for managers. The standard was (high-walled) cubicles. Although a lot of the people involved here were in hardware so a lot of their work was in open labs.
  - jbullock35 2y ago
    I worked there a few years ago. It was almost always easy to reserve a room if you wanted more quiet or more privacy.
adamc 2y ago
People are mostly the same. It's just the cultural context that shifts, and mostly that changes slowly, even when tech changes rapidly.

throwawayohio 2y ago

Curious -- To me it just seemed pretty standard (for any industry). Did you think the tech work environment today was somehow more enlightened than previous generations general working environments?

jbullock35 2y ago

There's at least one huge respect in which tech is different, at least in the USA: worker compensation. In the book, Tracy Kidder writes repeatedly about how Data General (the company at the heart of the book) is proud of its austerity. It doesn't pay well. It's proud of having an ugly, austere, warehouse-like building. It puts its critical engineers in the windowless basement of this building. Kidder is describing a world that's very far from the FAANG of today, at least were compensation is concerned.

withinboredom 2y ago
I worked for a guy that converted half the office into a store with windows so shoppers could "watch us work" ... things haven't changed much, for non-FAANG.
silvestrov 2y ago
Is a windowless basement that much worse than the open officies of Facebook? I'd rather have a small room with silence than work in a well lit factory with tons of noise like this: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2015/12/01/19/facebook-office-wp.jpg https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/imag... There isn't any dividers or other stuff that blocks noise.
- ghaff 2y ago
  Offices were pretty much for managers. The standard was (high-walled) cubicles. Although a lot of the people involved here were in hardware so a lot of their work was in open labs.
- jbullock35 2y ago
  I worked there a few years ago. It was almost always easy to reserve a room if you wanted more quiet or more privacy.

adamc 2y ago

People are mostly the same. It's just the cultural context that shifts, and mostly that changes slowly, even when tech changes rapidly.