
The Silicon Valley Hustle - Futurebot
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/28/technology/silicon-valley-photo-essay.html?smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&smtyp=cur&_r=0
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chejazi
If there was one picture that sums it up for me, it would be the Cal Hacks [0]
one, broken down into either four or six pictures (depending on how many
employees you have). The actual "hustle" is quite boring--put a bunch of
people around a table with computers and there ya go. All the weird places
such as beds, backyards, roofs, boats, stadiums, the street--that's not where
the hustle happens. That's just an effect of being young and mobile.

Random: How many non-macs can you spot in that picture?

[0] [http://i1.nyt.com/images/2016/02/28/technology/silicon-
valle...](http://i1.nyt.com/images/2016/02/28/technology/silicon-valley-life-
slide-N6WN/silicon-valley-life-slide-N6WN-superJumbo.jpg)

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aurora72
I noticed that too, almost all are Macbooks and the remaining few Dell. Well
it's not the case when all the people used a PDP-7. I've hated that thing
called Hackathon anyway, it gives a false sense of victory or achievement.
It's no wonder we're having terrifying news from the tech startups.

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noname123
Honestly I wish there was a "SV Vacation Party package" kinda of like what
they have for college Springbreakers to Montreal, NYC or Cancun.

Stripping away from all of the BS and being honest, I don't want to do any
coding at all on vacation, just want to have the experience and have fun!

(1) Day 1, book me on a "startup trip" to Google campus and eat at the campus
cafeteria, maybe get a massage or even a spa treatment from the salon
trailers; listen to some cool TED talks; opportunities to stop by the Google
Store to buy me some souvenir Android plush dolls.

(2) Day 2, immersion "hackathon" day at a trendy startup co-working space
where there's lots of snacks and good espresso coffee, a mini-kege with craft
beer and faux impromptu nerf-gun fight, retro-aracade tournament; and more TED
talks and also lots of "breakout" socializing sessions where everyone gets to
talk about their visions and business ideas; the point is I don't want to code
at all, I want to "feel the energy" of a hackathon without doing any coding at
all.

(3) Day 3, Fantasy "VC camp" where I get to play the VC and have tons of
actor/actresses come and pitch me; and I get to offer them advices at the
boardroom table and have them nod back at me; the point is I want to role-play
the power reversal(!)

(4) "Lifestyle and Networking Workshops," the "early morning non-substance
dance parties," the noon power-lunches or yoga, the after-work kickball
league, the evening EDM bangers. I want to experience the life of a highly
mobile young SV techie everywhere in the Bay Area (night clubs in SOMA,
hipster bars in Oakland, makerspace in Palo Alto, hookah joints in Berkeley).

You may think my descriptions is meant to be satire. But to be honest, I feel
like a trip like this would be more memorable and more cost-effective for
those who wants to experience the startup lifestyle than moving out to the Bay
Area and actually working and paying exorbitant rent for 2+ years before
giving the startup shutdown notice.

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samstave
Seems like a fluff piece for people who have no access to SF/SV and it shows
it like a giant FB frat party.

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atemerev
Have they ever tried coding for 18 hours straight? When your brain turns into
porridge and feels like leaking through your ears...

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kafkaesq
As it does working in most of these inexplicably popular open plan office
environments for any length of time.

So in a way, it's excellent preparation.

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samstave
Who is doing the study on the impact of the 3800 open office corral of FB by
Gehry where they only have ~(5) exec core non-open-space offices??

Surely FB is doing this - but will this data ever be avail to anyone?

Doubtful - and this is what sucks about the FB ethos "open and connect" people
- bullshit - they have 3,800 engineers OPENLY connected in a SINGLE room -
none of that human "connection" data will ever see the light of day - their
morals are fucked.

~~~
kafkaesq
More specifically, one wonders whether a "study" commissioned by a company
about its own working environment can ever hope to be objective.

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compumike
This is crazy. Makes me want to post real photos from our office where -- the
horror! -- we're actually building stuff for our customers.

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samstave
Reminds me of that commercial from a few years ago where they show all the
young awsome tech workers in some startup-y environ - and they are praising
how awesome they are as they do anything but work, then the black guy is
riding a scooter down the hall and they say, at the time he gets hit in the
face by an opening conf room door "and you never answer the damn phone"

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at-fates-hands
The article is interesting. As an entrepreneur myself, I see a lot of
companies that don't a) have an original idea b) are not trying to _really_
disrupt any current technology or industry and c) Are spending a lot of money
on what I deem "worthless" expenditures.

What IS interesting are these:

 _mingled at an industry networking event at the W Hotel in San Francisco in
August 2014. The event — the Start-Up and Tech Mixer — is held every few
months and typically draws hundreds of attendees._

\- Who's the company putting these on? Pretty sure they're not free and are
addressing the new for SV types to gather under some notion of "networking".

 _Participants in Cal Hacks 2.0, a 36-hour hackathon in October 2015, building
projects inside the football stadium at the University of California,
Berkeley._

 _According to the event organizers, 2,071 participants attended from 143
schools and 10 countries._

\- One of my business friends always said to "go big". You want to have a
hackathon for a few dozen teams? What about 1,000 teams? This is what these
organizers did. Charge a small fee to the organizers, get companies to chip in
free stuff and you're off and running.

 _Around 45 people, many of them technology entrepreneurs, live in 20 Mission.
The space is a former single-room-occupancy hotel that had been vacant for
several years before being turned into the co-living community._

\- Man, talk about real estate opportunities! Take a beat up forgotten
building and turn it into a co-living community. Buy the building outright and
let the residents pay your mortgage and then make a little on top of that. If
you want to, drop some money into it and refurb it. Then in 5-10 years, flip
it for big bucks.

What's interesting is the companies they didn't highlight are probably making
good money on the goldrush as opposed to the majority of the companies and
individuals presented.

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sgt101
or in 5-10 years discover that it's worth jack? Maybe...

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at-fates-hands
Yeah, real estate isn't what it used to be for sure. Especially commercial
real estate.

~~~
sgt101
It's a one way bet! History proves that you can't lose any money at all
investing in real estate. Ever.

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Bjorkbat
I'm a little confused about the guy who has a startup selling glow-in-the-dark
decorations and party accessories.

Is he living in the Bay Area because of his startup? Or was it job first,
glow-in-the-dark startup later?

Pretty sure moving to the Bay Area for the sake of a startup that sells party
accessories is overkill. Unless, God forbid, they connect to the internet.

Please don't tell me someone is making glow-in-the-dark party accessories
combined with some IoT kool-aid.

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yolesaber
Literally no black people in any of the photos.

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drallison
I was taken by the photos, but the start-ups all seem shallow and not very
high tech. Where are the start-ups based upon cutting edge science and
engineering? Where are the start-ups that will change the world?

