It's also semi-unnerving for what it portends regarding the possibility of deep rot in our political economy. Yes, we've seen treatments like this before. Yes, the author is probably missing the mark a bit (or missing it even more if you're an optimist or realist or whatever). But still.
I recently read a number of historical treatments of the late gilded age and the roaring twenties, as well as some notable treatments of 20th century American history that partially covered that era, or provided additional insight into it (e.g. "The Glory and The Dream").
There are two strong impressions of that era that jump out from the historical literature. They are something like: "where are the adults?" and "business activity at full-speed, moving nowhere at all".
It's interesting. She sounds like a pro writer. I wonder if her four years were really research for a planned book. That kind of thing is very common. If so, it's paid off. She's hot news, right now. Being exec producer on a movie before the book is even out, is sort of...Silicon Valley.
My own perspective is kinda weird, and I don't pretend to be an expert in the culture.
I started programming in 1983, with machine code, and I've been doing this stuff a very long time. As I look around at folks in the industry, I see that it is a very long time, indeed. There's not many people with the length of time in the industry I have (which is not necessarily something that has been beneficial to me).
I spent most of my career at a top-shelf Japanese corporation. It was a frustrating, but also awesome, experience that has almost no analogue at all with Silicon Valley culture. It was basically a "silo."
After leaving that company a couple of years ago, I have been acclimating to a vastly changed landscape. It's been rather eye-opening.
The one thing that has struck me the most, is that money seems to have become rather corrosive, while also energizing. It powers a lot of growth, innovation and energy, but also brings with it an almost complete moral vacuum. The Japanese corporation had many flaws, but I was impressed by their focus on teamwork and almost insanely high ethical standards (It was a very "old-fashioned" company). I regularly worked (and argued) with some of the most brilliant scientists and engineers in the world.
I like the energy, and I think some of the tools and techniques that have developed are really nice, but I have been rather taken aback by the manner in which our culture is expressed, these days. It's very different from the rather "scrappy" and hopeful way we thought about things back when.
I'm figuring out how to navigate the new world. I need to learn how to work in the fast-paced, cutthroat culture, while holding to my ethical compass, and my workflow.
>She sounds like a pro writer. I wonder if her four years were really research for a planned book.
That makes it sound rather nefarious. Rather than the experience motivating a book, it reduces it to a muckraker looking for drama. Non-fiction p-hacking. This is a big accusation dressed up as idle speculation, and it's motivated by nothing other than the fact that she's really good that this? I'm saddened to see this sitting up here as the top comment.
Sigh. No nefarious intent meant. I suspect that it started off as genuine employment, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if things changed. I have known a number of folks like that.
Personally, I like them, and I completely support this. It's far better than writing from an ivory tower.
In fact, I find it rather interesting that you assign nefarious intent to me.
" I wonder if her four years were really research for a planned book."
Given that she worked at various startups in tech for four years, and the classic whiteboard/algo/coding/etc. required, that's quite a bar purely for a single book.
> It's interesting. She sounds like a pro writer. I wonder if her four years were really research for a planned book. That kind of thing is very common. If so, it's paid off. She's hot news, right now. Being exec producer on a movie before the book is even out, is sort of...Silicon Valley.
Of course she sounds like a pro writer, she is a pro writer. That's like going to the bookstore, picking up a random novel and saying, "hey, this guy should write books!".
It's a bit off-putting to suggest that she started her big-tech career with the express goal of writing a book. It isn't common.
I changed the headline because the site guidelines call for titles to be changed when they're baity, as "the explosive memoir exposing Silicon Valley" is.
That doesn't mean I changed it to anything optimal—I'm at an event this morning and doing moderatory things on breaks, so everything is hastier than normal. If anyone can suggest a better title—that means more accurate and neutral, preferably using representative language from the article—we can happily change it again.
Anna Wiener, a former GitHub employee, authors a book titled "Uncanny Valley" about "Unregulated surveillance, ruthless bosses, sexual harassment..." in Silicon Valley.
Also, from TFA: "in January 2018, Universal Pictures optioned film rights; the screenplay is now in its initial development stages and Wiener is executive producer."
You have the folks who only think of FANG as far as anything tech / coding practices goes.... or only think of their greenfield startup as how things are done.
Or that everything is some ultra deep back end computer science project ... and they bring those points of view to everything (that isn't necessarily bad or good).
Granted, all that variety is nice, but I suspect a lot of the grass roots coding world just isn't quite what we see on HN.
This common criticism misses the fact that FANG, and greenfield startups, and even HN, set the tone for much of the tech industry.
It is very likely that these grass root coders are or will be in the coming years using the very tools, methodologies, and even business practices devised in the Valley.
In popular culture, yes. If you count up the sales or revenue numbers of very large companies then there are lots of the old companies left. I work for hp and I would also consider Intel, Apple and many of the chip suppliers as part of the original silicon valley. My dad worked for Shockley when SV started so for me it's hard to consider the FANG companies as "silicon" valley companies at all although they are shaping our lives just as much or even more as the previous generations of companies started there.
>To illustrate this point she highlights public goods or services that are increasingly privatised, like for-profit coding boot camps, which are marketed as an investment or a substitute for a four-year university degree. “The tech industry is trying to provide solutions to crises that they didn’t necessarily create, but that they are now exacerbating.
This is a good example of how lines of thought like the author's that purport to be democratic socialist are actually committed to maintaining the institutions that entrench existing inequalities in cultural, social (and of course, financial) capital.
Maybe the writeup doesn't do book justice but it all sounds like boiler plate views journalists have on SV with no real insight. Mike Judge probably doesn't have to worry about any competition even after the series ended.
> Maybe the writeup doesn't do book justice but it all sounds like boiler plate views journalists have on SV with no real insight.
It's from someone with experience in the environment, so maybe it's just that the “boilerplate views” are common because they accurately reflect the situation, which would itself be a valuable (though uncomfortable to the same people that like to dismiss the perspective as “boilerplate views”) insight.
I don't make claims that SV is one way or another, nor do I dismiss anything, but the skeptical response to your proposal is that hers is just another data point, and our media systems only select for data points that support certain narratives. Perhaps this sounds conspiratorial, but it's not that far fetched if you consider how much the newsmedia and literary industries skew progressive and the fact that the narratives in question are progressive narratives--it's not a conspiracy but rather the predictable fruit of two utterly homogeneous industries.
>boiler plate views [] on SV with no real insight.
Judging by only this article and the author's n+1 article, I get the expectation that the contents will be not-wrong but not-far-enough. The "boiler plate views" as you put it are popular because they contain blind spots - intentional or not - where a lot of damning criticism can be found. But their exclusion gives comfort to people with one foot in the valley bubble. People will more readily accept criticism of something that involves them if they get to sit on the periphery unscathed.
The risk to such coverage is that the reaction is surface level adaptation. Where problems don't get fixed, they just evolve to be less tangible.
I gave up on SV (the show) when the only female character I saw after several episodes was a hot assistant. I don’t care what her character arc turned out to be, that’s a bad look. Hopefully, a show based on a female former insider’s experience will offer something beyond that.
Why is it a bad look ? If you'd actually watch the show they have many female characters that are not hot assistants and they even touch on the subject directly later on. It's kind of hard for me to fathom how that particular aspect can make someone give up on a satire TV-show
I remember someone noticing that their Techcrunch Disrupt crowd was very white but they were using real footage.
Although the best commentary probably comes late in the series, and very briefly so it's easy to miss, when a sociopathic (white, male) COO comes to Pied Piper offices and right off the bat comments that the gender balance is quite nice but could use a little colour.
She does evolve and there also a female VC. There’s some stereotyping though. Later episodes have other female character arcs but the are only in scope around the main characters.
Readit News
(As literary magazine names go, “n+1” is pretty relatable haha)
Here's the HN post from April 2016:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11565691
Also the self reflection of being in the industry is notable.
I recently read a number of historical treatments of the late gilded age and the roaring twenties, as well as some notable treatments of 20th century American history that partially covered that era, or provided additional insight into it (e.g. "The Glory and The Dream").
There are two strong impressions of that era that jump out from the historical literature. They are something like: "where are the adults?" and "business activity at full-speed, moving nowhere at all".
"The Metrics of Backpacks" by Victoria Gannon
https://www.artpractical.com/column/the-metrics-of-backpacks...
Deleted Comment
Deleted Comment
My own perspective is kinda weird, and I don't pretend to be an expert in the culture.
I started programming in 1983, with machine code, and I've been doing this stuff a very long time. As I look around at folks in the industry, I see that it is a very long time, indeed. There's not many people with the length of time in the industry I have (which is not necessarily something that has been beneficial to me).
I spent most of my career at a top-shelf Japanese corporation. It was a frustrating, but also awesome, experience that has almost no analogue at all with Silicon Valley culture. It was basically a "silo."
After leaving that company a couple of years ago, I have been acclimating to a vastly changed landscape. It's been rather eye-opening.
The one thing that has struck me the most, is that money seems to have become rather corrosive, while also energizing. It powers a lot of growth, innovation and energy, but also brings with it an almost complete moral vacuum. The Japanese corporation had many flaws, but I was impressed by their focus on teamwork and almost insanely high ethical standards (It was a very "old-fashioned" company). I regularly worked (and argued) with some of the most brilliant scientists and engineers in the world.
I like the energy, and I think some of the tools and techniques that have developed are really nice, but I have been rather taken aback by the manner in which our culture is expressed, these days. It's very different from the rather "scrappy" and hopeful way we thought about things back when.
I'm figuring out how to navigate the new world. I need to learn how to work in the fast-paced, cutthroat culture, while holding to my ethical compass, and my workflow.
That makes it sound rather nefarious. Rather than the experience motivating a book, it reduces it to a muckraker looking for drama. Non-fiction p-hacking. This is a big accusation dressed up as idle speculation, and it's motivated by nothing other than the fact that she's really good that this? I'm saddened to see this sitting up here as the top comment.
Personally, I like them, and I completely support this. It's far better than writing from an ivory tower.
In fact, I find it rather interesting that you assign nefarious intent to me.
Given that she worked at various startups in tech for four years, and the classic whiteboard/algo/coding/etc. required, that's quite a bar purely for a single book.
Of course she sounds like a pro writer, she is a pro writer. That's like going to the bookstore, picking up a random novel and saying, "hey, this guy should write books!".
It's a bit off-putting to suggest that she started her big-tech career with the express goal of writing a book. It isn't common.
You have a point.
I did not mean that, but didn’t articulate myself in a productive manner.
Nobody who doesn’t already know Anna Weiner or Uncanny Valley would understand the meaning of the headline.
That doesn't mean I changed it to anything optimal—I'm at an event this morning and doing moderatory things on breaks, so everything is hastier than normal. If anyone can suggest a better title—that means more accurate and neutral, preferably using representative language from the article—we can happily change it again.
comma grammar at your discretion
Anna Wiener, a former GitHub employee, authors a book titled "Uncanny Valley" about "Unregulated surveillance, ruthless bosses, sexual harassment..." in Silicon Valley.
Also, from TFA: "in January 2018, Universal Pictures optioned film rights; the screenplay is now in its initial development stages and Wiener is executive producer."
Deleted Comment
You have the folks who only think of FANG as far as anything tech / coding practices goes.... or only think of their greenfield startup as how things are done.
Or that everything is some ultra deep back end computer science project ... and they bring those points of view to everything (that isn't necessarily bad or good).
Granted, all that variety is nice, but I suspect a lot of the grass roots coding world just isn't quite what we see on HN.
It is very likely that these grass root coders are or will be in the coming years using the very tools, methodologies, and even business practices devised in the Valley.
This is a good example of how lines of thought like the author's that purport to be democratic socialist are actually committed to maintaining the institutions that entrench existing inequalities in cultural, social (and of course, financial) capital.
It's from someone with experience in the environment, so maybe it's just that the “boilerplate views” are common because they accurately reflect the situation, which would itself be a valuable (though uncomfortable to the same people that like to dismiss the perspective as “boilerplate views”) insight.
Essentially, she says: “It’s important to remember that Google is an ad platform and that Facebook is a surveillance platform.”
Google does indeed run an ad platform. But that's like calling any magazine or newspaper an ad platform. True, yet neither accurate nor interesting.
And don't get me wrong. I'm all for adblocking and razing Facebook to the ground. But I don't want to read empty mood affiliation pieces.
Judging by only this article and the author's n+1 article, I get the expectation that the contents will be not-wrong but not-far-enough. The "boiler plate views" as you put it are popular because they contain blind spots - intentional or not - where a lot of damning criticism can be found. But their exclusion gives comfort to people with one foot in the valley bubble. People will more readily accept criticism of something that involves them if they get to sit on the periphery unscathed.
The risk to such coverage is that the reaction is surface level adaptation. Where problems don't get fixed, they just evolve to be less tangible.
Although the best commentary probably comes late in the series, and very briefly so it's easy to miss, when a sociopathic (white, male) COO comes to Pied Piper offices and right off the bat comments that the gender balance is quite nice but could use a little colour.