
Ask HN: Is Silicon Valley a land of fakeness and pretension? - throwaway987987
I’d like to start by saying that HN has been a great source of contrarian views with many mercilessly cutting through marketing and PR. This is also why I decided to ask my question here.<p>I’ve been working in the Bay Area for over a year as a software engineer at a tech startup that just got acquired. Before arriving at the West Coast from Eastern Europe I’ve spent 3 years (of my time during university) reading about companies, VCs and products coming out of the Valley. It’s fair to say I had some understanding of the work culture and the mindset prevalent here. Or so I thought.<p>In general I’m impressed with the tech and know-how of some businesses.
My coworkers are brilliant, humble and understanding and it’s been pleasure. I can’t say the same for the majority of my interactions with others in the startup scene though. I’ve found a number of them to be pretentious, in-your-face, self-promoting and bragging. I feel like many businesses promise unattainable financial targets. Lots of folks exhibiting Dunning-Kruger effect and survivorship bias. Many are unaware of the importance of luck, be it upbringing, timing or other external factors and think they deserve all the credit for their achievements. I’m not sure they’re trying to fool themselves or me.<p>Is Silicon Valley a land of fakeness and pretension? I don’t know if I was just unlucky meeting the wrong people, or if it’s because the Valley has been attracting this kind of personality in the recent years (a bit like during the dotcom bubble)? Maybe it’s just a culture shock for a European who thinks overpromising and bragging is just tacky?
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rajacombinator
It is, but not for the reasons you stated. Sounds more like a culture clash of
European vs American styles. There are a lot of dumb founders sure, but
founders are forced to put on a veneer of overconfidence whether they
genuinely feel that way or not. The true bullshitters tend to be the ones with
power, ie VCs, bigco execs or even random employees that were in the right
place at the right time, etc. Those are the ones that really exhibit the BS
traits you refer to.

