Silicon Valley Techies Still Think They're the Good Guys. They're Not
wired.com
wired.com
That said, I'd imagine that a reporter is constantly exposed to the bad apple "bros" who view Silicon Valley as a get-rich-quick, fake it til you make it process. And by extension, this is what most of the outside world sees. After all, what's interesting or noteworthy about a bunch of people just working hard for a long time?
To bring it full circle: I've had a slightly (but not overly) negative view of Wall Street to date, but now I'm curious as to whether it was a similar story there. I feel like there is inherently more value in people building technology and companies than in buying and selling financial products, but I'm obviously biased.
It was not until I started giving courses (Zope, Plone) to the IT staff of government agencies that I realized how dedicated, competent, principled, and, many times, idealistic (making much less money than they'd do in the general market takes a lot of determination) they are.
Of course, there are bad apples. It's just so good apples are far less interesting than the really rotten ones.
That would be absolutely great. I'm rather tired of the excessive media focus.