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Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

steveblank.com

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Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#41

Post by tinkerdol »

bmwe30is wrote: post #30

>Some are rooted, embedded in their communities; and some are trapped — because housing is unaffordable where the better paying jobs are. And the jobs that are high paying are not the jobs they built their lives on. There's some texture and nuance to this statement. I remember on NPR, they interviewed a lady whom mentioned similar sentiments; her and her husband had built a family, worked in the blue-collar industry…

>Mobility and a willingness to learn new skills seems to prevail. It's what other generations have done, millions of immigrants (my parents included).

For an individual this might be a solution (even for me! I've moved around lots too)

But for a whole society it's not. Especially when we seem to be hearing similar stories across thousands of towns and cities. Is everyone supposed to move to the bay area, NYC, Boston, Seatle? What is the housing going to look like? Does the rest of the country just empty itself?

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#42

Post by sidlls »

maxxxxx wrote: post #4

He should rename this to "Working outside the millionaire bubble". Plenty of people in tech feel the squeeze too. What it comes down to is that a lot of people with money have lost touch with the rest.

Plenty of people in tech, especially in the Bay Area, have never known anything but a quite comfortable middle class (or better) life. They're very much disconnected ("in a bubble") from what it's like to live a lower-class (which has an upper income much higher than the poverty level) life in this country.

The disconnect between high-paid techies and the lower-class is in many respects far greater than between the billionaire and the millionaire.

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#43

Post by darod »

I wonder how long it will take for this thought to fade from Steve's mind once he returns to SV. It's easy for people come to these realizations after getting outside of their comfort zone but just as easily return to the status quo. I think one of the biggest myths about tech in general is that it's here to help people. It's really not. It's job is to remove barriers to make workflows more efficient, typically to the detriment of people, as they generally are that barrier. Once a company gets a robot/computer to do what a person does it's next logical step is to layoff those workers. You don't have to go to your summer home to see people are having hard times. You just have to walk down Market Street.

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#44

Post by maxxxxx »

vostok wrote: post #18
maxxxxx wrote: post #4

He should rename this to "Working outside the millionaire bubble". Plenty of people in tech feel the squeeze too. What it comes down to is that a lot of people with money have lost touch with the rest.

> He should rename this to "Working outside the millionaire bubble". Calling it a tech bubble or even a millionaire bubble is bordering on offensive. Sure I'm probably in a tech bubble and I'm probably in a millionaire bubble, but I'm not in Steve Blank's billionaire bubble. Compared to Steve Blank, I'm hurting financially. > What it comes down to is that a lot of people with money have lost touch with the rest. Have…

"Sure I'm probably in a tech bubble and I'm probably in a millionaire bubble, but I'm not in Steve Blank's billionaire bubble. Compared to Steve Blank, I'm hurting financially."

That's exactly my point. He is trying to bond with all tech people but most of us make OK money but we are far from his position in life.

Reminds me a little of polticians talking "folksy" while they probably never ever interact with working class.

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#45

Post by maxxxxx »

d3ad1ysp0rk wrote: post #29
maxxxxx wrote: post #4

He should rename this to "Working outside the millionaire bubble". Plenty of people in tech feel the squeeze too. What it comes down to is that a lot of people with money have lost touch with the rest.

People in tech rarely feel the squeeze to the degree that those in service / manufacturing industries do.

We get paid ok but most of us barely have one home. There is no common bond between the regular tech guy and a successful VC. Different worlds.

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#46

Post by ghaff »

tomrod wrote: post #3

Second sentence starts with: > We have a summer home ... Is this common for people living inside the tech bubble?

Nothing to do with the tech bubble except insofar as there are a lot of good salaries there these days. It probably depends on the area but in my experience on the east coast it's fairly unremarkable for a family to have a ski condo or beach house.

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#47

Post by AndrewKemendo »

R_haterade wrote: post #36
bmwe30is wrote: post #30

>Some are rooted, embedded in their communities; and some are trapped — because housing is unaffordable where the better paying jobs are. And the jobs that are high paying are not the jobs they built their lives on. There's some texture and nuance to this statement. I remember on NPR, they interviewed a lady whom mentioned similar sentiments; her and her husband had built a family, worked in the blue-collar industry…

>That last part bothers me a lot. It seems a lot of people just don't want to move. Anecdotally I've moved nearly 6 times in the last 8 years. My parents have done the same. How do we build any kind of community with so little permanence? If we can't bond with our neighbors, we become these empty, atomized husks floating from one economic opportunity to another. Put another way, how can a village raise a child if the…

Isn't that what Facebook and the like are for? I'm being serious here.

Since 2002 I have moved 5 times for work: Colorado, Texas, Guam, Maryland and now I'm in Virginia. My family is spread around Texas.

I mostly keep up with the people I made friends with through the years and my family on FB, Twitter etc...phone and then rarely on email.

The idea of a "local" community you have your whole life is antiquated - if it ever really made sense. Humans were traditionally nomadic - albeit in the same group. With the historically recent invention of agriculture, that stopped and we started staying put. I think remote work and technology means we can probably stay put more, but there is also a return to the nomadic work need, as employers seem to like to have workers on premises.

Bottom line, your village will change over time.

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#48

Post by ianai »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #14
whipoodle wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels extremely cynical to me. How can you not open your eyes? Every time I visit SF I see people who are so obviously going through hard times. It's not only the people living a pastoral fantasy sipping phosphates at the soda jerk who are worth thinking about.

Edit: I see that I didn't understand your comment actually, I agree. Privation is a rural/urban problem. I'm not sure you read my entire comment. As I said toward the bottom, income inequality is a serious concern to me. I'm from a rural community and the individual struggles I see there are very upsetting. But most people I talk to in tech are not in a bubble. They are aware of how hard it must be for people and wan…

I don't think it's the two sides that are the problem. They're symptoms of multiple problems. The voting system itself created a duopoly. One side of that duopoly has moved to extremes over the last 30+ years and dragged the other side with it. We need a way out of the two party situation.

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#49

Post by tomjen3 »

R_haterade wrote: post #36
bmwe30is wrote: post #30

>Some are rooted, embedded in their communities; and some are trapped — because housing is unaffordable where the better paying jobs are. And the jobs that are high paying are not the jobs they built their lives on. There's some texture and nuance to this statement. I remember on NPR, they interviewed a lady whom mentioned similar sentiments; her and her husband had built a family, worked in the blue-collar industry…

>That last part bothers me a lot. It seems a lot of people just don't want to move. Anecdotally I've moved nearly 6 times in the last 8 years. My parents have done the same. How do we build any kind of community with so little permanence? If we can't bond with our neighbors, we become these empty, atomized husks floating from one economic opportunity to another. Put another way, how can a village raise a child if the…

That would be a valid complaint if grand parent was arguing that we should move every six weeks, but here the argument might be that we should move every dozen years or so -- which should be plenty of time to figure out if your neighbours are worth keeping around as permenant friends or were just aquentences of accident.

Re: Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble

#50

Post by friedman23 »

bmwe30is wrote: post #30

>Some are rooted, embedded in their communities; and some are trapped — because housing is unaffordable where the better paying jobs are. And the jobs that are high paying are not the jobs they built their lives on. There's some texture and nuance to this statement. I remember on NPR, they interviewed a lady whom mentioned similar sentiments; her and her husband had built a family, worked in the blue-collar industry…

> That just isn't the case anymore.

It's never been the case. People have always moved to find work and today fewer people are moving than ever.

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