What's your opinion? Are you a techbro? How do you reconcile the critique and mockery with what you do on a daily basis?
The only element that is missing is a charismatic political agitator to stir things up a bit, because the public have a lot to be angry at.
Anyway the working class Jews had nothing to do with Germany's economic problems but that didn't stop the Holocaust. It takes nothing to make scapegoats.
It's already a political topic: for example movements for affordable rent are trying to incorporate a narrative of "it's not the single programmer the problem, it's speculation and the market" because there anti-tech sentiment already translates to aggressions in many cities against tech workers and tech companies.
It is also an opportunity because it allows you to learn a lot in such an environment. Facebook management isn't stupid, they know the angles to push for developers to rationalize their work as something beneficial, how to make people feel important and peoples overconfidence blinds them to see a broader picture. Some just withdraw themselves from that and just focus on the technical side. Not a good excuse of course.
I know a lot of people expected more from classical software nerds, more from the internet and its effects. And it was something to rely on for a time. But overall user behavior was much more influential. People bought at Amazon because it is convenient. They shared their lives on Facebook to compete against each other. They did not care about the consequences either for whatever reason.
Many hate these developments too and maybe devs could search employment elsewhere, but it would not change that much as ultimately they are replaceable too.
Honestly, don't give those with animosity a noble lie. I think some devs could very well profit from having that sentiment being screamed in their faces because they can see the problem as well but believe it is what people want or they even hope for people from outside the industry to make some noise.
I'm asking because I've never met a "techbro" (some would then argue that if I've not met one, I must be one).
Do you have some evidence to support that there's actually such a sentiment ?
It's the first thing that appears on Google. And there's plenty of references on that page alone.
"They're less likely to be shy around people they're attracted to than a classic nerd, and may be depicted leaning hard into stereotypically masculine traits. Rather than being social rejects, tech bros are often in a position of prestige and may see themselves as leaders, or even as visionaries. That said, the Tech Bro is also often a far darker figure than the traditional nerd: a glib malignant narcissist whose people skills lie in manipulation rather than genuine empathy. "
I would say it's too early for a quantitative analysis of the phenomenon but maybe there's already something. For sure parties (like SPD in Germany) have hard numbers on the perception of such phenomenon before running campaigns on the topic.
Nah, what I'm seeing here is toxic "general population" culture that's always existed in the outside world, finally seeping in to make sure that no place is without a mob with torches and pitchforks to strike down hard on anyone who d not religiously (literally or figuratively) throw them selves in mindless agreement with whatever the current zeitgeist is.
But I also don't really understand the expectations of people. For tech as a whole to take responsibility?
I believe the SPD in Germany has not been to constructive to dampen negative effects of tech, but I would be very interested in their perspective, especially regarding the stereotypes people have formed.
I see, every day on HN, a ton of misogyny, racism, and entitlement. It's often wrapped up in a shallow "greed is good" worldview but really just "I've got mine and if you don't have yours, that's because you're not smart like me."
I see the villainy of Silicon Valley as that writ very large. But for me, the canonical techbro isn't Mark Zuckerberg, but the armies of HN commenters who often deride him while being just as myopic, narrow-minded, and selfish.
I used to think of myself as a techie, if not a techbro. I imagined moving to Silicon Valley at one point, but am horrified now. Not because of the corporations, which are their own kind of problem, but because of the people who should be my peers.
I know it's partly a problem of perception -- the most obnoxious people speak loudest, and on top of that I pay the most attention to them. The majority of people are probably not as bad as the image I've formed. But the absolute number of such people is depressingly large, and I'm not forming that perception secondhand. I'm talking about people who come here every day to tell me about it.
I don't know how the rest of the world perceives it. They probably do pay too much attention to the evil CEOs, and probably view the worker drones as tiny clones of him. But to me they seem even worse.