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This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

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Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#151

Post by Fricken »

kordless wrote: post #135
whatever_dude wrote: post #103

Great 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…

> It's good to put things into perspective. A bunch of made up bullshit, no matter how entertaining, is NOT putting things into perspective. Oh, the irony.

Silicon Valley was once just hills and vegetation, and then some people arrived and started making shit up. Silicon Valley is made up Bullshit. We just made it up.

How do we get perspective on all this billshit people made up?

With more made up bullshit, of course.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#152

Post by whatever_dude »

the_rosentotter wrote: post #132
whatever_dude wrote: post #103

Great 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…

Coming soon: The TechCrunch Gumption Awards™ 2017. In seriousness though, it seems like Carmack hasn't been kicking ass like he used to, though it is probably just a lack of visibility. Didn't he start on rocketry too at some point?

I think it's lack of visibility combined with the fact that there's not much more to innovate by sheer force of will in the game graphics world anymore. The industry has matured, so now it's all about scaling a team and being within budget and whatnot rather than two guys bringing their vision to the world in 2 months. When you see a history of success in independent games recently, it's invariably because of a fresh idea rather than some unseen technological innovation.

He's still doing a lot in bringing Oculus' software to maturity, and to helping the industry in general. He had some role - both technical and logistical - in bringing Minecraft VR released just recently.

I think he retired from rocket science.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#153

Post by kodablah »

meestaahjoshee wrote: post #142
Cshelton wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My anecdote as a Dallas resident: Your description is correct. I visit Austin often. I personally want separation between what Austin offers and where I live. Dallas is boring and clean, an important aspect when comparing to living in inner-Austin. Granted many do not live in Dallas city proper and the northern suburbanization that has been occurring for many years in Dallas has/is occurring in Austin and were you blindfolded and dropped onto a northern tollway loop outside of either city you would not be able to distinguish the two.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#154

Post by whatever_dude »

kordless wrote: post #135
whatever_dude wrote: post #103

Great 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…

> It's good to put things into perspective. A bunch of made up bullshit, no matter how entertaining, is NOT putting things into perspective. Oh, the irony.

I disagree. When one can find parallels to their own life in a tale (even if fictional), it can start a more comprehensive look at the overall system of values one employs, or how one uses their time.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#155

Post by duzoajcgk »

mseebach wrote: post #66
duzoajcgk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, discretionary income and salary are not the same thing. If you are a developer in the valley paying to live in Palo Alto, driving a BMW, etc. you too could choose to have a lot more discretionary income.

Yes, rents are part of the price of the ticket to work in SV, and as such does not constitute discretionary income. The extra cash you spend to drive a BMW instead of a five year old Nissan definitely most certainly does.

There is a huge difference in rent between the different parts of SV. You have to pay rent, but it doesn't have to be Palo Alto rent.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#156

Post by throwaway2016a »

usaar333 wrote: post #150
throwaway2016a wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

My wife and I made a decision not to move to SV because we figured the boost in salary wouldn't justify the higher cost of living (I'm in the greater Boston area). But based on this statement I'm not sure I made the right call. My wife and I make barely more than half that even though I'm senior and she has a master's degree in engineering.

But per your point of reference, daycare here "only" costs $18k a year.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#157

Post by intopieces »

Kalium wrote: post #26
intopieces wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My reaction exactly. I read through the entire article (inexplicably) and I can't tell what it's trying to "say." What am I supposed to feel after reading this exposition?

I think it's supposed to be a satirical think-piece? The author is linked to The Bold Italic, the king of local pretension. Something something something unexamined privilege, I rather suspect. It'd be funnier if the author wasn't trying to make some kind of political point muddled by half-baked humor.

>unexamined privilege

Silicon Valley is famous for its navel-gazing. There's even a hit television show devoted to it. The privilege is well and rightfully examined. That's why, I think, this satire falls flat -- it doesn't say anything that isn't painfully obvious to anyone who has even a casual familiarity with the local culture, and even worse, it doesn't say the painfully obvious in any new way.

It doesn't 'bite' like the onion does, where it comes too close to reality for comfort. It's not zany and off-beat like a Mad Magazine bit. It's just... not that good.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#158

Post by spitfire »

laxatives wrote: post #127
Gatsky wrote: post #72

American Psycho with smart phones and a family.

For awhile I've been thinking the previous generation's American Psycho finance robot is this analagous to generation's startup/VC ecosystem. Everyone's delusional and eccentric, some more than others.

The kids who used to go to wall street go to San Francisco now.

Silicon Valley didn't win, they were colonized.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#159

Post by pfarnsworth »

twblalock wrote: post #37
pfarnsworth wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And let me put it this way: Every working couple except for one that I know with a kid has hired a nanny for at least some portion of the time, including myself.

A nanny is not a part-time worker. That is a babysitter. A nanny lives with the family.

By portion of the time, I meant a full-time nanny working for many months or years, and eventually sending the child to daycare or school.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#160

Post by bm1362 »

kodablah wrote: post #153
meestaahjoshee wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My anecdote as a Dallas resident: Your description is correct. I visit Austin often. I personally want separation between what Austin offers and where I live. Dallas is boring and clean, an important aspect when comparing to living in inner-Austin. Granted many do not live in Dallas city proper and the northern suburbanization that has been occurring for many years in Dallas has/is occurring in Austin and were you bl…

From Austin, living in NYC, and I feel like Austin is boring and clean now.
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