The Valley Is Fucked

This will sound patronizing if you've actually lived here but... you do know that San Francisco is not "the valley", right?

The "valley" is Santa Clara Valley, which is a full 45 miles away and a very diverse set of neighborhoods.

"There are no slums. There are no marginal areas." <-- have you seen some parts of east San Jose, or east Palo Alto? Or since "the valley" apparantly includes more than the actual geographic valley, what about Richmond or Stockton near the docks? I wouldn't suggest stopping at red lights at night.

I've lived in "the valley" my whole damn life. My family has ties going back to the gold rush days. I have no idea where it is that you lived, as it sure as hell doesn't resemble anything I recognize.

I'm sorry you had such a shitty experience.

> If you don't know Git, you don't know shit. If you have a Tumblr site you haven't updated in six months and you call yourself a programmer, you're an embarrassment to the language you claim to know.

That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about this writer. It doesn't seem hard to imagine that if you're a hacker wannabe who thinks things like having a tumblr are important to selling your skillset, or doesn't realize that outside trendy startups in the valley git is still far from universal, you're gonna have a bad time in the valley. And I say that as someone who hates the valley and couldn't be happier that I chose Boston instead.

Hi. I'm Gwen Bell. I stand behind everything I wrote in this piece, but I chose not to publish it because it was pretty harsh.

The person who submitted this is not me, but I guess they found the commit. Must have been digging. If you have any questions, feel free to reach me at gwen@gwenbell.com.

>If you don't know Git, you don't know shit

>If you have a Tumblr site you haven't updated in six months and you call yourself a programmer, you're an embarrassment to the language you claim to know.

>You know who gets acqui-hired? White guys. The occasional cute blonde.

This is written by someone who thinks git is the end all be all tech skill to learn. This is person is not a dev, but is telling devs what they should be doing. Not only that, but this is another example of the tech elite 'shitting' all over the homeless, and she's exhibiting racism and sexism in this article. Pass on this ugly post...

This reads like the ramblings of someone who enjoys living in a country where you get whipped for spitting out some gum.

EDIT: And what does this line mean "...using Git to keep your work cryptographically secure..."?

Weird.

Go to Berlin. Bring your startup there. Hang out at Sankt Oberholz. Visit Soundcloud & Google. Attend CCC/C-Base events. Attend LEAP events and teach artists/designers to code at hackathons. Enjoy the fantastic & relatively cheap living environment. Techno. I miss Berlin.

Homelessness, mentally ill, chronically unemployed, etc. these are serious issues that are obviously not unique to "the valley" or SF or any number of other places that border on affluent areas. I think the gist of the rant is that there is a lot of wealth in "the valley" but for some reason it does not "trickle down" to those with problems. Unfortunately, this is an issue that is much harder to solve than writing then next cool app or whatever. There seems to be a pervasive idea that just because tech people can solve complicated tech problems that means somehow they can use the same magic to solve social problems. I wish I knew how to solve some of these problems but I do not and I am guessing a lot of tech people feel the same way.

It kinda made sense to me up until

"If you don't know Git, you don't know shit. If you have a Tumblr site you haven't updated in six months and you call yourself a programmer, you're an embarrassment to the language you claim to know."

Like, really, is a tumblog now the way a programmer's skill is evaluated? Git? No one cares if you know git, it's not a core competency unless your job somehow directly involves maintaining an SCM system. Are we from the same planet even?!

I kind of agree with the rest though. I had to visit SF a couple of times and really really didn't like it. Don't understand people who choose to live there, I'd rather put up with the rain and the grey of Seattle.

This is a rant from one person who had a particularly bad experience. I would avoid trying to generalize it.

> Communist Coffee Shop

So you lived with shitty roommates...

> If you don't know Git, you don't know shit

...you're applying to places that value a Linked-In-style "skills list" over talent...

> If you have a Tumblr site you haven't updated in six months and you call yourself a programmer, you're an embarrassment to the language you claim to know.

...you think programmers actually use/pay attention to Tumblr...

and your telling us that the Valley is fucked? The Valley is indeed pretty fucked, but for precisely zero of these reasons. The only actual problem you named was the extreme income inequality and lack of affordable housing in SF, but you didn't really go into any depth at all about it. These are your own personal problems that you're trying to abstract onto the Valley as a whole. Not all of us have shit roommates. Not all of us try to work at places that seriously ask us questions about our git aptitude before they hire us. Not all of us blog. And by "not all", I really mean "very few".

Oh, and to go a little ad hominem/"constructive criticism" here, if you're really trying to make it as a writer... you need a lot more practice. I'm kinda gathering that this wasn't a polished piece, but... seriously. It just jumps back and forth between a number of completely separate topics with no connection, no narrative arc, and no concrete thesis. It's barely even readable in some places ("Tech Skills Still Pay the Bills" and "The Few and the Proud", especially).

If all the people that would rather flee than endure the sight of a homeless person could just leave, maybe the Valley would be appealing?

This seems like it was written by someone with no real development experience.

Just because you spent some time with some tech bros in a house in SF doesn't mean you know what's going on here.

I'm sure you'll get some clicks on your Tumblr or whatever, but I can confidently say that doesn't define the work of an engineer in the Bay Area.

"SF has no place for you to fall. (Really, the same can be said of America if you don't have a family support network.) "

While I agree with you that the safety net in the USA need to be completely reworked, what country gives poor non citizens a chance to "make it" that you feel is acceptable?

This is really interesting, especially from my perspective. I'm a senior in High School, planning on traveling after graduation. These tech hubs are clear attractions to young technologists, but posts like this cause me to reconsider.

Now, not knowing much about The Valley's history (other than the obvious), I'm wondering if these problems you speak of were caused by an influx of techies who feel entitled in the area. The glory of movies like "The Social Network" encourage ambitious young hackers like myself to move westward because of Hollywood-crafted fantasies, rather than necessity or convenience. Consequently, meritocracy is diluted.

Thoughts? These ideas are more from my intuition than anywhere else; I've lived in Boston from birth.

Please take it easy on this person and don't turn this into a lynch mob. I up voted it for a genuine differing perspective. I agree that "the valley" ( including SF ) has its warts, but on second thought this post is hardly coherent enough to be taken seriously. To the OP I suggest you delete this post forthwith lest it come to haunt you. Think about the problem more deeply. As others have pointed out, your mention of "tumblr" and "cryptographically securing your work with git" betrays a sophomoric lack of understanding software engineering.

There are a lot of places to go in the U.S. for tech hubs. SF just happens to be very "unique" among them. I have never seen the issues the author describes anywhere else than SF. The good news is that if you don't like SF then there are surrounding areas which are relatively normal (but still expensive.)

I can't even put into words how much this post sucks, I've been trying for 15 minutes and getting enraged instead. So instead I'll just say your privilege is disgusting, not only on a human/personal level but at a technical level as well. I hope you step on a lego.

Better title "The Valley is not what I Thought it was"

If you are a competent dev and you try and fail at starting your own thing, get a full time job. They will pay you enough to afford you your own place where the only person you have to clean up after is yourself. If you can't get a full time job, you probably are not the dev you thought you were, and you probably should head some place that has marginal areas where you can fall. You probably don't even have to go as far as Singapore.

Regarding the "Communist Coffee Shop": Sharehouse living sucks everywhere. I've lived in shitty shared house situations in several cities.

> If The Valley was sad at the start of 2012, it was doubly sad at the end of 2013.

wow, good thing I left the Valley in 2012, it was sad indeed.

Who is the impostor?

Gwen_Bell or GwenBell?

To other HNers. I'm looking to move to a different country for good. I'm thinking Germany. It's beautiful. Music, art, amazing women, startups, history, Europe.

Where should I go? I have all the money in the world and I'm looking to settle elsewhere besides North America.

Suggestions?

OP: I like the way you rant.