Intro
When trying to figure out what to talk about for this week’s blog post, I kept coming back to when Greg, and most recently Sean, discussed Silicon Valley and the culture that surrounds the tech hub. These conversations, along with watching the HBO show Silicon Valley, have led me to write about the absurdity of Silicon Valley culture, which almost sounds too ridiculous to be true. Silicon Valley is known for being on the cutting edge of workplace practices, offering a progressive workplace culture with an abundance of young people. Sean, our most recent speaker, emphasized the extreme difference he found going from Synovus to SVB. This sizable difference has garnered lots of positives but it doesn’t come without downfalls. I will be using the show Silicon Valley to display some of these consequences and the absurdity of it all. I will be comparing real-life accounts to the show’s satirical accounts, but I will try to leave out spoilers.
Negatives
In the show, there are several characters from a rival company that often belittle and make fun of the main character, all while using tech lingo and displaying their large egos. This trope is known as a “tech bro” and apparently is surprisingly accurate to many who work at start-ups in Silicon Valley. I’m sure we’ve all heard this joke term but this tech start-up archetype has become well known to contribute to misogynistic cultures at some tech startups. An example is Uber which has been the subject of many lawsuits surrounding its “misogynistic” culture. With only 20% of the industry being women this idea is further perpetuated. This trope is used a lot throughout the show and usually exaggerates their antics, however I do believe the culture and principles of Silicon Valley, like long hours and over-dedication to technology, may perpetuate this type of person in many companies. The showrunners describe the philosophy of Silicon Valley as “hippie culture that has run headlong into rampant capitalism.” The show does a good job of displaying this idea by creating a fictional Google called “Hooli.” The show uses Hooli as a way to poke fun at the ridiculousness of the tech giants by displaying the Hooli offices with weirdly phrased signs and a comical amount of food stations. This idea of tech companies having lots of perks seems almost like a contest to attract talent. While I’m sure working on these campuses is enjoyable, it also leads to another issue in Silicon Valley culture, the blending of work-life balance. It is commonplace in SV for employees to work long hours and even be shamed for only working the normal 40 hours a week. This idea of companies offering perks becomes a bit weird because it’s as if they are blending all aspects of someone’s life at their workplace. I’ve even seen reports that some companies are offering laundry, entertainment, and healthcare. While this may seem like the future of the workplace it may lead to higher rates of burnout because SV companies expect more hours from their average employee due to their “perks”. Other companies are adopting this progressive work environment but it originated from Silicon Valley culture.
Positives
Silicon Valley’s culture has positives as well that shouldn’t be overlooked. There is a reason that it became the hub of innovation and technology. The casual culture that Silicon Valley fosters creates a good environment for genuine collaboration and teamwork. I believe this to be the driving force behind the innovation that is all over Silicon Valley. The show displays this idea too with the main characters being part of an “incubator” which in the show is a house where they all work on their own projects. While this incubator idea is exaggerated in the show they do exist in real life but focus more on guidance and overall teaching rather than a place to live. Another positive that I think drives innovation is the competitiveness of the area. So many companies and only so many opportunities drive companies to be better and more efficient. The show displays this in an extreme sense where the main villain of the first two seasons is a cutthroat and savvy business leader that tries to steal ideas. That level of competition could be bad but also could foster higher levels of innovation in the industry.
Conclusion
Overall Silicon Valley seems to have a very odd culture attached to it and I feel as if the show does a great job of not only describing but making fun of it. Bill Gates has even said the show is “fairly accurate” with its depiction of the industry. I urge anyone to watch the show because not only is it very funny, but it is also very well-researched and is about topics we learn in this class.
Nick – cool article. I will totally watch the show now, along with Succession (seems similar). I do agree with your points on extra perks mean extra expectation and the incubator theory. I think we should have hubs for innovation and specific industry focused areas, the more you are surrounded with likeminded people the more progress comes from that focus. Now, that is not to suggest surrounding oneself with an extreme bias. But, if an abundant amount of tech people live in one area, more brainstorming in the tech field can commence when compared to that of isolated thought.
Great post! I have also become more fascinated with Silicon Valley, the work culture there, and innovation that it incubates after hearing from our guest speakers this semester. I think its interesting to hear about the excitement that comes from working in such a fast-paced constantly changing environment, but also the drawbacks of being in an industry that is very much sink or swim. I want to watch this show now to learn more!
The actually Silicon Valley folks actually used to love the HBO show, because it did a great job of skewering the craziness of the SV culture. I often told my students that 50% of the people we meet in SV are genuine geniuses and 50% of the people are crazy and full of crap. The problem is that it’s often difficult to tell the difference between the two. I tended to like the Boston/ NYC startup culture a bit more personally because it didn’t fall for some of that craziness. For me, SV was a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there (and couldn’t afford to!)
I absolutely loved Silicon Valley and got to finish the show a couple of weeks ago. I think from what I’ve heard from a lot of people in that space that it is fairly accurate. Obviously sometimes dramatized but I think it opened people up to this world that many of us will never see. It was almost like everyone knew everyone, and people were always trying to find ways to cheat others out of their ideas.
Cool post! I never heard about this show before, so I am definitely going to put this show on my watchlist. I never knew much about the Silicon Valley culture and didn’t know that they used the perks to justify increasing workload for their employees. I wonder how much tech culture can improve as it varies from place to place.
Hi Nick! Great post. I love this topic and how you laid everything out. When I was in high school, I really wanted to live in Silicon Valley so bad, but with the monthly rent prices, I don’t know if that is possible anymore lol.
After watching “The Internship” a few years back, I always did hear that Google and other large tech firms give all of those benefits so that you do stay on the campus and work harder/longer. They give workers literally almost everything that would be in a home, which causes them to just stay and work more, as you stated. I personally think I would love this culture/space, because I hate boring cubicle offices and LOVE all of the free food stations. Furthermore, as you said, I feel like open offices foster communication and innovation. But I also do not know how stressful working at Google is, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
I think I will definitely watch this show soon, thanks for the suggestion! 🙂
Hey Nick! Great post! I agree, the tech bro thing is ridiculous and companies offering all kinds of perks could lead to burnout. But the collaborative environment and competitiveness drive innovation, as the show depicts. Bill Gates even said it’s “fairly accurate”! I’m really curious in experiencing what life is like working in silicon valley.
Hi Nick! I completely agree with your assessment of Silicon Valley culture and its absurdity. The show Silicon Valley portrays the tech hub’s environment and principles well, and the “tech bro” trope is an accurate reflection of some of the industry’s toxic and misogynistic practices. However, I think it’s important to note that this culture isn’t present in every company in Silicon Valley. While it may be more prevalent in some, others have managed to maintain a healthy work-life balance and a positive work environment while still being innovative.
This is an interesting blog post for me because I actually just returned from Silicon Valley a couple days ago and got to experience the culture first hand. While I was touring the Google office, it began to feel more like Google integrated themselves into their employees lives rather than creating an actual work-life balance. Just something to note!