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In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

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81–90 of 183 posts

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#81

I am very pro-body modification. And it’s affordable to the masses now and safer with non invasive medtech. One day...I hope in my lifetime..we will be able to have implants to download our thoughts, memories and feelings..dare I say..consciousness..or soul..into a chip. Looking at the physical body as a vessel and getting used to the idea that it is merely necessary hardware to our mind is important. I don’t want to…

Count me in! I don't want to squander my resources on anyone but myself.

As I often say, give me death or give me immortality!

I am hopeful some crypto billionaires will share the same mindset, and pour resources into anti aging research at the cellular level.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#82

I'm 57 years old and work about 8 months/year in Silicon Valley (the rest in Tel Aviv) I dye my beard (my head is shaved) and I've had work done on my face. I'm careful to stay in shape, and not be overweight. It makes a big difference in how I'm perceived.

Is your username accurate or have you moved on from Fortran?

We do CUDA/C++ mostly

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#83

I'm pretty convinced that the most important thing you can do for your career after achieving basic technical competence is to be more attractive, both physically and socially. The reality is that you're going to have an easier time making connections and getting access to opportunities if you're well-mannered, sociable, and attractive.

It follows that in any group of people equally advanced in their career, the worst dressed most socially awkward person likely has the highest skill. After all they need to balance the deficit with something to get equally far.

https://brilliant.org/wiki/berksons-paradox/

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#85
I'm older than the person mentioned at the top of this article, and I've made no efforts to hide it.

I've been in the tech industry for about 27 years now, and silicon valley for the last 11. In silicon valley, I've worked at multiple startups, as well as two 'FAANG' companies.

My comp has always been very good, and I've not detected even one little hint of 'ageism' at work. In fact, my career and current work environment has never been better.

> “In Silicon Valley, it’s commonly believed that if you’re over the age of 35, you’re seen as over the hill,” said Fan, who touts himself as an expert in penile enhancement and Botox injections. “People here value the young for their passion and their ability to look at things in new ways."

These sentences cause my jaw to drop for several different reasons. Penile injections? Really?

I will say that keeping myself mentally 'fresh' in perspective and outlook takes real work, but that's just part of necessary continuing education.

In my career, I've generally targeted a 45 (on average) work week. A lot more is fine, from time to time. And I will say that I've seen quite a few of my co-workers who seemed to enjoy working way more hours than that. Some of them young, some of them older than me.

What matters at work is results.

What also matters to web sites is clicks and emotionally driven attention.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#87
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One theory is that good looking software engineers aren't software engineers for very long. Why would you get paid shit wages when you can be a VP of telling people what to do? Call it the "jock-ification" of the tech world. It was bad enough when they were in high school, now they've infiltrated the tech world.

> "Call it the "jock-ification" of the tech world. It was bad enough when they were in high school, now they've infiltrated the tech world." The "jock/nerd dichotomy" is a dumb harmful stereotype used by lazy hollywood and television writers. Many of the smartest people I've ever known were also the most athletic. There is NO inverse relationship between physical fitness and intelligence. If anything, there is a posi…

Rofl I love that you got downvoted. Because everything you said is spot on. People who regularly exercise are indeed smarter, sharper, and (wait for it)... more healthy.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was obvious to the ancient Greeks, we're still getting there today. The Hollywood stereotype perpetuates the split, which definitely exists today, but also the advantages of economic specialization kind of limits you to one or the other these days.

It exists only insofar as naive children internalize and ape what they see on TV. There is no reason whatsoever that a bright child shouldn't enjoy sports, except the Disney channel tells him he must choose between reading books or exercise, when there is plenty of time in the day for both. And insofar as it discourages smart kids from exercising, it's a clearly harmful stereotype which you should refrain from reinfo…

Hollywood is a reflection on culture, not the other way around. They just make what people want to see (it's a business, after all).

Anything else is mindless conspiracy theories. There is no secret cabal pushing culture to the masses.

It's so bizarre to observe normal humans and businesses (and how organizations completely fail at any meaningful scale), and then to turn around and assume there is a hyper-intelligent, hyper-powerful secret society running things.

Instead of blaming Satan, now we have boogeymen from conspiracy theories to fulfill his role.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd guess this is a bit of a West coast thing. I've known quite a few health obsessed engineers here. I myself was very fit and usually tan, at least in summer, until I found myself a lot more other serious life responsibilities.

Children? Thats the case with me at least ... not much time for sport anymore.

Lol, yup plus a few other things.

Some people manage to do it all but I have no idea how.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#90
post #79
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and it is easier to workout for a half hour everyday and buy a nice pair of clothes, than spend hours coding and pouring through tech docs, which also works into the signaling of 'I work smarter, not harder'. OTOH, the actual engineers see through all the external signaling, which I've also discovered :) :P Or rather, the external signaling can work in the opposite direction with engineers. At any rate, the big…

> OTOH, the actual engineers see through all the external signaling, which I've also discovered :) :P Or rather, the external signaling can work in the opposite direction with engineers. I think it's important to disambiguate the two. People often believe themselves to be the former, when they have frequently fallen into the trap of the latter. Adopting counter-cultural signaling is not the same as being above signal…

Yes, each social group has their own brand of social signaling, some defined by the social signaling of another group, even mutually so. Career minded ladder climbers try to disambiguate themselves from the worker bees, and visa versa.
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