This is trying to be funny, but it's not that funny. For a bunch of different reasons. Unless you're an insider telling an inside joke, tech isn't funny, because there's too much to explain, and explanations kill jokes. For the same reason that Wallace Stegner said you can't right novels about Mormons (no one would get them), you can't really write satire about tech. So the author falls back on jokes about Roombahs. Ha! Also, tech workers are not so powerful that they deserve satire. A better attempt at making SV amusing is the book Chaos Monkeys. And a very good example of how to skewer an industry is American Psycho (book, not movie).
This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
141–150 of 182 posts
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I assume he's in Menlo Park now at Oculus. I wonder if he still feels the same way.
He still lives in Dallas. Which by the way is a far better option than Austin if you were to move to Texas.
Could you explain why? I was always told Austin is the fun, SXSW college town and Dallas is a nice big city but boring.
Coming from my friends who are from Dallas and went to Univerity of Texas.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#143I'm not sure how much of this is satire and how much is just jabs at the way things are. It reads a lot like "Cracking the Coding Career" or "The Lean Startup": a piece written for the older (35+) generation trying to understand this modern field that generates so much money. For instance, when you're working for a startup having kids is not an attractive option. Startup hours are nothing like a 9 to 5 and insanely r…
>> Why would you not use small apps that make small things convenient?
I think what it's getting at is the attitude of 'I'm willing to spend $20 on this simple thing I could do myself for free because my time is worth $x per hour so those 10 mins would really be a waste of $40. I think the point is, chill. Your time may be valuable but you don't need to earning every second you are awake.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#144Well written. I like the tone. I think it's a particular case of a global concern : what the purpose of life and how to live it well ? Even if i'm very different and put my efforts in other domains than "looking smart for other people". I'm asking myself similar questions: doubt about past choices, job, city, and so on.
At the point you get to 'self-actualization', you realize that it's best done by helping others get to that point. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a pyramid scheme.
>> "Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a pyramid scheme."
I don't think I've ever done a '+1' style comment on HN before but couldn't resist. I really love that idea.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#145For the last decade since I moved here, my life in silicon valley was more like: wake up without an alarm, brew a cup of dragon well tea, walk my dog, hit my gym for slow and steady progress, check email for crises, deal with anything other people care about, maybe go to the office. Have some lunch, write code until I'm tired, then maybe make an effort to socialize. As far as coal mining goes, these are sweet digs.
Great! I'm really glad to hear you've found a lifestyle that works well for you. Is it possible your experience isn't representative?
well it's representative of my experience, so that is why I shared it ;) The hidden node here is that I took my first programming job in 1996 when I was 16 and I've been continuously programming since (also, I first learned on an atari 800 basic cartridge). I'm also 35, fit, disciplined and high energy. So for these factors, it's probably representative.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Likely not, but this portrayal in the article isn't close either. It only applies to 'hot startup' folks, which are a subset of startups, which are a tiny subset of employees here.
But, looking in from the outside, it's the subset which everyone not already in it appears to desire on some level to join.
debatable
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given that is half of the salary of many people in the peninsula and above the Portuguese minimum wage, it looks expensive to me. I mean, that only medium level and upper classes can afford it.
To use your numbers, a person would have to make less than $11,000 a year for that salary to be half their income. I doubt there are many people reading this discussion in that income bracket. There are many things in life that aren't feasible if you are at the poverty line: Apple laptops, electric vehicles, extended vacations, etc. I would argue that the only difference here is that many people are deeply uncomforta…
I am living abroad, and I will let countrymen/women correct me, but in Portugal you can hardly aspire to earn more than 1500 euros before taxes, in the best companies.
Most of them pay less than that.
So a university degree will land you around 1000 euros, a bit more if you are doing lots of overtime.
Renting a flat will always be above 300 euros, or 500 in the biggest cities.
So unless one if living with a significant other, and reserve one salary for such expenses, they aren't possible at all.
In Spain the salary level on average is around 25% more than on Portugal, but given the actual situation the real numbers on the bank account aren't that much different.
And I am writing about people with degrees, let alone those that only learned their profession hands on the job.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't really know about brunch, although I guess there's something about waiting the better part of an hour to eat that makes it attractive to hipsters because I sure have seen them do it a lot. But my guess is that Burning Man is rather passé, and has been roughly since people who hadn't been there started hearing about it in large numbers.
Burning Man is your equivalent of Glastonbury. Used to be cool years ago, but now its just for posh kids to say they have been.
You know this because you've been?
What does "cool" mean to you?
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#149Great read, not just for people from Silicon Valley. It's good to put things into perspective. It also reminds me of an article [1] about John Carmack and his choice of Dallas. To quote, > “A lot of people, especially from California, say, ‘Texas? Why the hell are you in Texas?’ But I am generally happy to wave the flag and say, ‘No, I am not here under duress.’ I actually like it here. And we appreciate the sense of…
"southern hospitality" is great if you're straight and white. as a counterpoint, Dallas is the only place I've lived where people have shouted homophobic slurs at me on the street in daylight.
I'm openly trans, I didn't pass until a few months after I went full-time (and even now I pass only 90% of the time; I've been clocked by other queer people), and I've lived in Dallas all my life. I've never had anyone shout anything homophobic or transphobic at me on the street.
Mind you, I live and work in the suburbs, so I'm not on the street very often, but I used to work downtown and the only harassment I got was from panhandlers. They got really angry whenever I'd say I don't carry cash, and a few got up in my face while I was eating in a restaurant and demanded my food, but they never said anything about my orientation or my gender. Hell, I still go partying in Deep Ellum on occasion, and nobody's ever said anything to me there.
On the other hand, when I visited NYC last year, some guy shouted "FAGGOT!" in my ear as I was crossing the street into Times Square.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's with the current cultural obsession with spending every single moment with ones children? How can this possibly be healthy for the children (never mind the parents)?
We send our daughter to daycare [1] and I spend every minute I can outside of work bonding with her. There is some truth to it, they only stay babies so long and parents should enjoy it. Spending time with them is one of the magical things that makes it worth it. Without that, what's the point? [1] No nanny for us... I'm a CTO in a duel-income house and I can't afford that no idea how this character would.
Per your footnote, in SV professional households, combined salaries north of $300k/year are not uncommon. A nanny costing $40k to $50k is not trivial, but it's manageable.
In fact, a nanny is generally cheaper than sending two children to daycare. (point of reference: the closest daycare to me charges $30k/year)