Indeed. I loathe the term “tech bros” because it makes zero distinction between douchebags born into money and that fell backwards into obscene amounts of even more money vs, people like myself who have been into tech from very formative ages, and mostly were ostracized and marginalized for it to a great deal already, until only fairly recently when, for a few short periods of time, certain individuals get lionized and some kind of respect, but usually only if they are involved with either making obscene amounts of money, or by being central to that effort of making someone else a lot of money.
In a strict sense, I’m a “tech bro” (being male and into tech) but that doesn’t mean I want to be lumped in with dickhead freaks like Elon.
Same. I got into it for a love of tech. It was cool to work at a company that was doing something exciting. Then people started getting into it not for love of tech but because they found out it could provide high salaries. Same people who become lawyers and doctors only because money. It’s not fun anymore.
I will say that my enjoyment of it comes and goes. I hate to say it, but I think there was a huge problem with people rushing into this industry during the late dot-com boom and they had absolutely no business in the industry, and I see a fair bit of that again. Not sure if that is indicating another bust like that one.
What I’ve also noticed lately is that there seems to be a real culture of gatekeeping type of thing that has emerged - meaning, expecting people to grind away on algorithms and so on just to pass an interview, or expecting people to show all their free time doing commits on GitHub, as if everyone is working for FAANG and is going to be in their early 20s, no matter what the business is actually doing and what their needs really are. Very few places actually need people to do massively distributed systems, serving customers in the way that FAANG does, so the algorithms and the opportunity to try to see how much computer science [whatever] someone remembers at the whiteboard, as well as stats on Github have little to do with the actual job, but there are a lot people that want to make people dance this little jig, anyway.
It seems to me the term “tech bro” has always had emphasis on the “bro”, as in the type of toxic masculinity that made Gamergate blow up. I have always preferred the term “geek” for myself; now doubly so for its gender neutrality.
I could describe myself in similar terms as you described yourself; basically a nerd who can also program my way out of a paper bag (and maybe a leather one).
To me the term “tech bro” always meant someone between Elon Musk and some low middle class douche-bag who feels smart and adult about “accepting” that AI needs to be everywhere and we also need to pay for SW every month. Someone person who would say “bUt iT’s fOrD mOdEl T” and has some Alexa non-sense in their house.
Indeed. I loathe the term “tech bros” because it makes zero distinction between douchebags born into money and that fell backwards into obscene amounts of even more money vs, people like myself who have been into tech from very formative ages, and mostly were ostracized and marginalized for it to a great deal already, until only fairly recently when, for a few short periods of time, certain individuals get lionized and some kind of respect, but usually only if they are involved with either making obscene amounts of money, or by being central to that effort of making someone else a lot of money.
In a strict sense, I’m a “tech bro” (being male and into tech) but that doesn’t mean I want to be lumped in with dickhead freaks like Elon.
I think “Tech bro” is an attitude you can have, without even Knowing anything about actual tech. (Think start up bros who want to get into AI)
Having common sense is the opposite of that.
Same. I got into it for a love of tech. It was cool to work at a company that was doing something exciting. Then people started getting into it not for love of tech but because they found out it could provide high salaries. Same people who become lawyers and doctors only because money. It’s not fun anymore.
I will say that my enjoyment of it comes and goes. I hate to say it, but I think there was a huge problem with people rushing into this industry during the late dot-com boom and they had absolutely no business in the industry, and I see a fair bit of that again. Not sure if that is indicating another bust like that one.
What I’ve also noticed lately is that there seems to be a real culture of gatekeeping type of thing that has emerged - meaning, expecting people to grind away on algorithms and so on just to pass an interview, or expecting people to show all their free time doing commits on GitHub, as if everyone is working for FAANG and is going to be in their early 20s, no matter what the business is actually doing and what their needs really are. Very few places actually need people to do massively distributed systems, serving customers in the way that FAANG does, so the algorithms and the opportunity to try to see how much computer science [whatever] someone remembers at the whiteboard, as well as stats on Github have little to do with the actual job, but there are a lot people that want to make people dance this little jig, anyway.
That culture absolutely sucks, IMHO.
It seems to me the term “tech bro” has always had emphasis on the “bro”, as in the type of toxic masculinity that made Gamergate blow up. I have always preferred the term “geek” for myself; now doubly so for its gender neutrality.
I could describe myself in similar terms as you described yourself; basically a nerd who can also program my way out of a paper bag (and maybe a leather one).
To me the term “tech bro” always meant someone between Elon Musk and some low middle class douche-bag who feels smart and adult about “accepting” that AI needs to be everywhere and we also need to pay for SW every month. Someone person who would say “bUt iT’s fOrD mOdEl T” and has some Alexa non-sense in their house.