undefined | Better HN

0 pointsjollybean3y ago0 comments

Tech was nerdy in the 1990s.

By the 2010's there is a totally different culture. Call it 'All Birds' culture.

1990's there were a lot of weird folks, hippies etc.

2010's 'All Birds' is more commercial, fashionable, a totally different kind of culture.

1990's tech was about tech, it's upstack now, so more like tech applied to classical business problems.

AirBnB isn't really a tech company, it happens to be because other, more established companies were not able to integrate tech quickly enough to develop those kinds of markets, where you want to have strong tech / IT instead of relegating them to the back office.

Even Facebook, it's a social media company really. Which is different than Oracle, Sun, Microsoft.

0 comments

gilbetron3y ago

There are more "nerdy", non-boring tech people, but you are correct, you won't find them at AirBnB, Facebook, or Amazon. So don't go there if you want to find it. There's a place in my town that uses drones to inspect Air Turbines - I can guarantee there are more interesting people there. Go into small, crazy businesses that exist to do cool tech. "Cool" people, in my experience, are pretty dull, at least for the societal definition of cool. Find the nerds and geeks, they are still out there, but they still aren't the cool, in group. They are weird and thorny and sometimes smell a little. But they have really fun ideas!

jollybeanOP3y ago

My fear is that the 'All Birds Nerds' exclude 'Nerd Nerds'.

'nerd nerds' don't know what they are doing in terms of presentation or communication.

If 'nerd nerds' are 'hip' it's completely by accident.

I also think 'nerd nerds' just say whatever, meaning that occasionally they will say something un-PC, or lacking in empathy and be 'pushed out' for that reason.

There was a time (and some people are still like this) where utterances didn't imply an ideological alignment, it's just something that's said.

In 'All Birds Culture' everyone is careful how they communicate.

I'm sure there are some nerd nerds at AirBnB and frankly not everyone in All Birds Nerd culture is the prototype either but the 'mainstay' at AirBnB would be All Birds Nerds.

Someone who wears a 'Metal' T-shirt, completely un-ironically, because they like Metal, and wore it 5 times without washing it, because they forgot, and have disgusting greasy sideburns just 'because they like it' ... and an article of clothing made out of snakeskin ... that's probably a nerd nerd.

bluefirebrand3y ago

I suspect, with no evidence, that the distinction you are making here can be described as neurotypical nerds (what you call All Birds nerds) versus neurodivergent nerds (autistic, adhd, whatever you want to bucket them under)

Neurodivergent people tend to have a bit less of a social filter, they are more direct and honest, often to the point of bluntness (leading to the 'just say whatever' behavior you mentioned)

They also tend to be pretty unfiltered when it comes to their passions, and hyperfixate on them to the detriment of other areas of their life, like laundry.

And yes, these people are often excluded basically anywhere they go, and they have to mask their behaviours to appear more normal to get jobs. In that respect, the All Birds culture has absolutely pushed them aside, or pushed them under.

This is just my 2 cents, attempting to put some definitions around the All Birds and Nerd Nerds groups you described. I could be entirely mistaken.

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse