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Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

nytimes.com

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Re: Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

#21

Post by patrick451 »

goldenchrome wrote: post #16

I still don’t know what “bro culture” is. At one time I thought it meant fraternity bros, as in the WASPy “my dad is a lawyer, let’s get blackout drunk” kind of bro. But in the last few years I’ve seen it associated with Silicon Valley, a place filled with engineers who worked themselves to the bone for huge paydays. To me the two groups are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Jocks vs nerds. The only thing I see in c…

It's a continuous stream of baseless, chiding articles like this that have tanked the NYT's credibility. If you really think tech firms have a Bro Culture, you've either never met a Bro or have no idea what tech culture is like.

Re: Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

#22

Post by iroh2727 »

goldenchrome wrote: post #16

I still don’t know what “bro culture” is. At one time I thought it meant fraternity bros, as in the WASPy “my dad is a lawyer, let’s get blackout drunk” kind of bro. But in the last few years I’ve seen it associated with Silicon Valley, a place filled with engineers who worked themselves to the bone for huge paydays. To me the two groups are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Jocks vs nerds. The only thing I see in c…

Not sure by what strange logic you interpreted this as an attack on “men”.

They’re using “bro” in a similar sense to how it was used to describe Martin Shkreli as a “pharma bro”. Specifically, it’s unrelated to “hard work” and precisely related to the kinds of narratives that these people spin. We’re seeing a shift in narratives away from a focus on qualitative innovation, speaking of products and engineering intricacies, and towards a focus on money and “competition”.

Martin shkreli, for example, was not interested in chemistry and biology and actually improving health. He was interested in getting rich off of driving prices up on niche drugs with no alternatives. The same is become more and more true in Silicon Valley.

It’s the kind of narrative of the monopoly. When what you need to maintain power is sales and PR, rather than qualitative innovation, the culture will shift towards sales and PR.

Re: Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

#23

Post by blockwriter »

goldenchrome wrote: post #16

I still don’t know what “bro culture” is. At one time I thought it meant fraternity bros, as in the WASPy “my dad is a lawyer, let’s get blackout drunk” kind of bro. But in the last few years I’ve seen it associated with Silicon Valley, a place filled with engineers who worked themselves to the bone for huge paydays. To me the two groups are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Jocks vs nerds. The only thing I see in c…

Their style and affects converge, maybe, as the hardworking nerd models his idea of cool on the fraternity members at university, mostly because the nerds were too busy working hard to pause and think about their individual identity. The entitled frat bros were the readiest to hand working model for important social markers.

Re: Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

#24

Post by nomdep »

coldtea wrote: post #8
totallyblasted wrote: post #7

I want Silicon Valley to produce quality products and innovation. I don't care what culture it has as long as it respects the Constitution and the laws of the land and everyone gets a fair chance on the basis of the work they actually produce. NY Times has declined big time in recent years.

NYT has slipped into outrage culture

Since 2016…. But I don’t think it’s profitable anymore

Re: Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

#25

Post by rocket_surgeron »

totallyblasted wrote: post #7

I want Silicon Valley to produce quality products and innovation. I don't care what culture it has as long as it respects the Constitution and the laws of the land and everyone gets a fair chance on the basis of the work they actually produce. NY Times has declined big time in recent years.

The only thing Silicon Valley produces now are

1. venture capital pyramid schemes,

2. adware privacy-invading nightmares,

3. the next "x" with "x" being some successful social network that they want to make even worse so it can be monetized more easily,

4. buildings in which executives and managers sit, controlling far-flung centers of innovation where actual work happens, and

5. whatever HP is vomiting out next quarter

Innovation has moved elsewhere.

You don't believe me. I know you don't.

The executives, sales, and marketing folks currently driving Intel into the ground are in Santa Clara. The engineers trying to save it are in Oregon, Colorado, and overseas.

Speaking of Intel much of the Zen microarchitecture was done at Austin, and Colorado, and India. Not silicon valley.

Of course, Apple is still there, somewhat. Getting someone on HN to say Apple is innovative would make my day!

People in Oregon, Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, and elsewhere are building the future.

People in Silicon Valley are trying to figure out the best way to squeeze people in order to wring dollar bills out of them.

Re: Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

#26

Post by NoThisIsMe »

goldenchrome wrote: post #16

I still don’t know what “bro culture” is. At one time I thought it meant fraternity bros, as in the WASPy “my dad is a lawyer, let’s get blackout drunk” kind of bro. But in the last few years I’ve seen it associated with Silicon Valley, a place filled with engineers who worked themselves to the bone for huge paydays. To me the two groups are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Jocks vs nerds. The only thing I see in c…

> Has anyone considered the fact that there are far fewer powerful women because women aren’t generally interested in working 80 hours a week?

Wtf is this

Re: Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

#27

Post by Siddarth1977 »

NoThisIsMe wrote: post #26
goldenchrome wrote: post #16

I still don’t know what “bro culture” is. At one time I thought it meant fraternity bros, as in the WASPy “my dad is a lawyer, let’s get blackout drunk” kind of bro. But in the last few years I’ve seen it associated with Silicon Valley, a place filled with engineers who worked themselves to the bone for huge paydays. To me the two groups are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Jocks vs nerds. The only thing I see in c…

> Has anyone considered the fact that there are far fewer powerful women because women aren’t generally interested in working 80 hours a week? Wtf is this

I'd like to believe it was the original poster's goal to point out that women tend to make smarter choices regarding work-life balance because they've been socialized to "want it all" meaning work is only one facet of success alongside family, friends, community and personal fulfillment, while men tend to be socialized to pursue high income to the detriment of all other aspects of life. As a consequence of this, if you want to have a diverse and inclusive workplace, you probably shouldn't base promotions based on who's responding to emails at 8pm.

Re: Silicon Valley slips back to Bro culture

#30

Post by iancmceachern »

rocket_surgeron wrote: post #25
totallyblasted wrote: post #7

I want Silicon Valley to produce quality products and innovation. I don't care what culture it has as long as it respects the Constitution and the laws of the land and everyone gets a fair chance on the basis of the work they actually produce. NY Times has declined big time in recent years.

The only thing Silicon Valley produces now are 1. venture capital pyramid schemes, 2. adware privacy-invading nightmares, 3. the next "x" with "x" being some successful social network that they want to make even worse so it can be monetized more easily, 4. buildings in which executives and managers sit, controlling far-flung centers of innovation where actual work happens, and 5. whatever HP is vomiting out next quar…

Good ones still exist, biotechnology, Robotics, a few other domains.
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