Yup, post 2012, bunch of people saw ‘ the social network’ and decided tech is cool and makes money. Before that, most engineers were in the nerdy side. As the pool has increased, the talent has diluted as well
I’m still working in academia and am wondering how I can find the still-nerdy circles when I have to move to industry.
Anyway, The Social Network is a pretty bad example because everyone in there already started from a privileged position, e.g. rich parents; Zuck's parents were a psychiatrist and a dentist, both at least 150K / year jobs. Harvard costs $50K a year for tuition, plus nearly $20K / year for housing.