It depends who you think the average bay area engineer is. If you've bought into the view that it's a 23 year old single white man who lives with 4 indistingui

It depends who you think the average bay area engineer is. If you've bought into the view that it's a 23 year old single white man who lives with 4 indistinguishable roommates in a small house in San Francisco, believes he's God's gift to engineering, and wants to job-hop his way to CTO and millionaire status by 27, you're probably right. After all, he's a 10x A-player, everyone is killing it, and the last time there was a bust he was in second grade. Security's for losers! The reality is that most people who make a living writing software in the bay area are middle-aged, married or partnered, have children and a fat mortgage, and aren't really a part of "silicon valley". They live quietly, don't go to meetups or write blogs, and they're mediocre to decent contributors at work and they know it. A large minority, perhaps even a majority, are not white; they are Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, and from almost every other national or ethnic background you could name. Many are women, despite the oft-repeated myth of sexist hiring practices. In a nutshell, they're ordinary people with ordinary concerns nothing like the HN echo chamber's perceptions of the world. And you can bet your ass they'd like a little security.