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Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

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Re: Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

#31

Post by pavel_lishin »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #5
twoodfin wrote: post #3

Is this phenomenon unique to the information technology industry? I don't know what they do for fun at pharmaceutical conferences, but I suspect alcohol is often involved.

Society has a bit of a drinking problem. (Some other societies, like Russia, have a bigger one. Some have less.) Next question? :P

> Society has a bit of a drinking problem.

Maybe, but hosting happy hours after conferences is not a symptom of that. It's a symptom of our various societies having discovered alcohol, and then built up a lot of social norms and customs around it.

It's like saying that our society has a violence problem because people like to gather around a television and watch men hit each other while trying to tug a ball around a field.

Re: Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

#32

Post by wcummings »

ezl wrote: post #9

No, our industry has a blogging problem. Tech (is that our industry?) is not unique in it's practice of hosting happy hours, especially after conferences. People like drinking. We could ask more conferences to host 5k jogs as an alternative meeting event, and it would be novel and fun, but it likely wouldn't ever be as inclusive as a happy hour (Also, it's hard to get 5 people in a circle talking while on a jog). Not…

Has anyone considered that blogging might be a disease?

Re: Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

#33

Post by xradionut »

misiti3780 wrote: post #11
yodsanklai wrote: post #6

I would say it's our society that has a drinking problem. It seems to me that overall, people drink less in our industry.

I agree - if you are go to school in the US you're exposed to binge drinking on a weekly basis - also - software engineers seem to drink a lot less than other industries like Finance, etc.

Real courses require more time to study. :)

You could tell which dorm rooms had business majors by the number of beer cans in the trash.

Re: Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

#35

Post by danso »

ezl wrote: post #9

No, our industry has a blogging problem. Tech (is that our industry?) is not unique in it's practice of hosting happy hours, especially after conferences. People like drinking. We could ask more conferences to host 5k jogs as an alternative meeting event, and it would be novel and fun, but it likely wouldn't ever be as inclusive as a happy hour (Also, it's hard to get 5 people in a circle talking while on a jog). Not…

You said exactly what I was going to post. It's strange to me that a group of ostensibly rational/scientific thinkers would be so oblivious to basic concepts of bias here. You of course notice the problems in your own group way more than you do, say, in the Steampunk Civil War Re-Enactment Association. Second, this group, developers, happens to be one very skilled with the Internet and a higher percentage than usual are the type to use the Internet to communicate, sometimes very often.

There is most definitely a gender imbalance and the problems that come with it in tech. But is the drinking and sexual harassment proportionally worse than it is in marketing or law or medicine, or academia? It's very possible that the reason why you don't hear about those conferences is because those are groups more reticent about blogging their dirty laundry.

(just to reiterate, before anyone jumps to a conclusion here: I'm not saying there isn't a problem...but it's not particular to our community. Which is not something to be happy about, if you care for more than just your own group)

Re: Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

#36

Post by mynameismonkey »

amasad wrote: post #25
aarondf wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I upvoted after the first sentence of your comment. The rest is good, but that first sentence is gold.

if you think people over-express their opinions on blogs then why do you hangout in places like HN, click on links, read blog posts, and then go in and comment on them?

Because silent dissent is a great way to not let people know you have a differing opinion.

Re: Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

#38

Post by nraynaud »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #5
twoodfin wrote: post #3

Is this phenomenon unique to the information technology industry? I don't know what they do for fun at pharmaceutical conferences, but I suspect alcohol is often involved.

Society has a bit of a drinking problem. (Some other societies, like Russia, have a bigger one. Some have less.) Next question? :P

I think it's time for 2 very americans quotes :) :

"I have a drinking problem? Fuck you, Peck! You're a Mormon! Next to you, we all have a drinking problem!" http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Burn_After_Reading

"They found the Dutch morals much too libertine. Their children were becoming more and more Dutch as the years passed by. The congregation came to believe that they faced eventual extinction if they remained there." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims_(Plymouth_Colony)

Re: Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

#39

Post by lwhalen »

wcummings wrote: post #32
ezl wrote: post #9

No, our industry has a blogging problem. Tech (is that our industry?) is not unique in it's practice of hosting happy hours, especially after conferences. People like drinking. We could ask more conferences to host 5k jogs as an alternative meeting event, and it would be novel and fun, but it likely wouldn't ever be as inclusive as a happy hour (Also, it's hard to get 5 people in a circle talking while on a jog). Not…

Has anyone considered that blogging might be a disease?

a form of mental incontinence, perhaps?

Re: Does Our Industry Have a Drinking Problem?

#40

Post by jkimmel »

philbarr wrote: post #19
LeafStorm wrote: post #10

Here's a point that gets forgotten in a lot of discussions of this issue: > We’re also underlining that our events are for over-18s, maybe even over-21s, by holding them in licensed premises. Most of us know students or even those who are working professionally in our field long before they are “adult.” Should they be excluded?

Under-18s can still enter licensed premises. At least here in the UK they can. And they often do, if my local that is more "5-year-old's playground" than "pub" is representative.

Interesting, I wasn't aware that this was permitted in the UK.

Here in the US, under-18's often aren't allowed on the premises of a drinking establishment at all, so the OP does raise a point depending on the location of the conference.

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