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Comment by ilrwbwrkhv | Hacker News Reader

It's really funny to see hackers fall in line to work at big companies. In the 90s all the true hackers hated large established companies and would show them the finger and work for scrappy upstarts. And now all the kids are bending over backwards to work for these large corporations doing hours of leetcode. What a shame.

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The hackers of the 90s and 00s are a different breed than those today. Today, many go through a boot camp and enjoy a cozy job. Might as well be an accountant or in HR.

The hackers of the early days were tinkerers. Odd ones out, often. They are still out there, but absolutely not taking the traditional path.

I think another problem today is that startups do not truly differentiate. They try to be a mini Google. Startups in the 90s were much more brash. Look at Apple's ads against IBM for example. Everything has become far more tame these days. So why join a mini Google when you can join the real Google instead.

In addition to this, there's been a lot of people flooding to tech because the financial incentives are so high and the cost of entry isn't overwhelming. A lot of people want to cash out -- which isn't a crime -- but it's result in a cultural change that's diluted the share of incorrigible hackers.

It's almost as if when kids grow up and have kids of their own, and have bills to pay, they hold their nose and do things they don't really want to do. of course, some of us never grow up and live in hippie communes and eschew the trappings of things like money.

Who are you talking to?

The Internet?

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