Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ethics of the power players in Silicon Valley are far worse than those on Wall Street. (I don't know dick about Hollywood other than its reputation.) Wall Streeters are greedy, but they don't go out of their way to ruin peoples' careers (except in the movies). They'll do a lot of things to get that $10 million bonus, but they don't hold long-term grudges and wreck careers of people who've since flown away from th…
"Wall Streeters are greedy, but they don't go out of their way to ruin peoples' careers..." How confident are you about this claim?
How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
31–40 of 65 posts
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#32Don't hate the player. Hate the game.
but the players deeply love this game, and play it ruthlessly. What then?
It's sortof like high school. Popular people treat the unpopular badly. Type A's are revered, have lots of friends, and get lots of sex.
Nerds are treated badly because they are "different". There isn't much compassion for people who are "different". You better be funny and Type A or you got some serious character flaws ;-)
Nonetheless, it's still a game. It's also a cold world. Some people transcend and live a more meaningful life, some don't.
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#33[1] http://www.marinij.com/novato/ci_25251868/lib-at-large-novat...
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#34Certainly Silicon Valley has their fair share of douchebags, but the media hype surrounding this is simply nonsense. The world hates Silicon Valley? You're telling me that somehow all these SV douchebags outweigh Hollywood or Wall Street douchebags? Come on, now.
The ethics of the power players in Silicon Valley are far worse than those on Wall Street. (I don't know dick about Hollywood other than its reputation.) Wall Streeters are greedy, but they don't go out of their way to ruin peoples' careers (except in the movies). They'll do a lot of things to get that $10 million bonus, but they don't hold long-term grudges and wreck careers of people who've since flown away from th…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2013/07/22/carl-icah...
people in every industry hold long term grudges and wreck each others careers. They simply just exist in whatever industry you choose.
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
[deleted]
For the 1%, I was using the $394,000 figure put forward by Emmanuel Saez. [1] At $140k or anything near it, you're far closer to barista wages ($30k?) than the 1%. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/phildemuth/2013/11/25/are-you-ri...
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#36Certainly Silicon Valley has their fair share of douchebags, but the media hype surrounding this is simply nonsense. The world hates Silicon Valley? You're telling me that somehow all these SV douchebags outweigh Hollywood or Wall Street douchebags? Come on, now.
The ethics of the power players in Silicon Valley are far worse than those on Wall Street. (I don't know dick about Hollywood other than its reputation.) Wall Streeters are greedy, but they don't go out of their way to ruin peoples' careers (except in the movies). They'll do a lot of things to get that $10 million bonus, but they don't hold long-term grudges and wreck careers of people who've since flown away from th…
I'm a nobody who came to Silicon Valley and has done relatively well for himself as a founder. I've seen many, many other founders with similar stories. We raised a significant amount of money and can spend it however we want. The worst I can say about my experience with investors is sometimes they can be arrogant. The ones that did invest in us have been nothing but incredibly humble and helpful. But going out of their way to screw someone over? I just haven't ever seen anything close to that happen to anyone in the 3 years I've been here.
I used to work in finance where they're much more ruthless. I have a classmate from undergrad who recently was arrested for "stealing trade secrets" from a hedge fund: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/02/19/analyst-c.... Who knows what actually happened but that sort of stuff would never fly in Silicon Valley.
That's not to say I have the correct perspective but I always see these generalizations coming from you that seem so far off from my reality that I wonder what's going on. What happened to you?
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#37Seriously, employees who ride buses to their 10-hour jobs who are probably scrabbling to get some work done on the commute (those buses have wi-fi for a reason) are causing "heightened anxiety about the widening income gap between tech workers and "ordinary" citizens"? These protesters are either misinformed or being deliberately malicious if they are targeting the ordinary tech employee. At $39000 average spending p…
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#38Australians despise the U.S. and The Age is simply airing the rank and fetid feelings of the people that read their newspaper. Trust me, I know - I was born and raised in Australia, and because of the country's heavy Socialist/British background and identity, we were taught to hate everything about America. My wife and I lived in Melbourne from 2009-2012, and she suffered horrible discrimination for being from the US…
Firstly, this Melbourne Age piece is syndicated from The Telegraph, a British newspaper from my home country. As a regular visitor to Australia, with relatives living there, I had presumed that the article was syndicated even before I reached the byline. This due to a clarity of language unusual in locally written newspaper articles.
It sounds atrocious, the treatment of your wife, and if her treatment was as widespread as I'm inclined to take on trust from what you say, then I'll need to reassess a thing or two.
Australians know virtually nothing about Americans as people, and that's a pity. Their television is acutely americanised, and their culture inculcated with American influence, but I've noticed that hardly any Australians have actually met an American. It's hardly polite or even civil to blame the rare American they meet for the perceived wrongs of the US body politic. And I can empathise with your experience somewhat.
It can be parochial. I watched Grease the movie on Australian TV recently, and it reminded me that Australians love John Travolta because he loved Olivia Newton John, who's really a Brit anyway. He's in if he can say g'day. On the other hand Mel Gibson was Aussie and became American. He's not claimed anymore.
But I haven't found hate as you appear to have. Australia is a lot bigger than the left wing inner city self styled intellectuals you apparently met too many of.
Go to country NSW and they all dress and sing like Chet Atkins.
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#39Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook, spent a reported $US10 million on his wedding Wow, how unbelievably arrogant. Spending his money however the fuck he wants? Paying people to render him services of their own free will? What an asshole. He must've forgot signing that social contract with angry poor radicals that once you hit $(whatever today's immoral amount of money is) you no longer have the right to…
> Perkins is right. The closest parallel to the mindless, hate-drenched opprobrium of these people is Nazi Germany turning on the Jews This perverse non-analogy is an embarrassment. It reads like absurd satire. Please stop repeating it.
Re: How the world came to hate Silicon Valley
#40Seriously, employees who ride buses to their 10-hour jobs who are probably scrabbling to get some work done on the commute (those buses have wi-fi for a reason) are causing "heightened anxiety about the widening income gap between tech workers and "ordinary" citizens"? These protesters are either misinformed or being deliberately malicious if they are targeting the ordinary tech employee. At $39000 average spending p…
While I don't in any way think the antagonism towards tech workers make sense, I don't think you're quite on target with your numbers. A) income tax is progressive and continuous, you can't say $28k in taxes for the 28% bracket (however, FICA and CA income taxes mean that number is in the right ball park) B) a couple living on one income in a 2-bedroom isn't considered a birthright in dense cities like SF C) $100k wo…
I'm not so sure that low six figures is considered low for someone straight out of school, remembering that not all hires are superstars, and there are a lot of less technical positions being filled as well.
And in the Bay Area, childcare and/or education expenses are likely to add up unless you've got a very good local public school.