
Hackers? Techies? What To Call San Francisco's Newcomers - justhw
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/01/16/263088398/hackers-techies-what-to-call-san-franciscos-newcomers
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dictum
> That prompted Sam Biddle of the Gawker site ValleyWag to suggest referring
> to the newcomers as "Software Americans."

What is the word when you know you shouldn't look at something, but the urge
to do it is too strong? Masochism doesn't quite cut it. "Mild death drive"?
Anyway, I had to check the article. Here's how it ends:

 _" So, the next time you see someone taking up a seat at a coffee shop to
work on a cold cut delivery app at 2 pm, resist the urge to slur—instead of
"techie," just call them a fucking loser dork with inconsequential ideas and a
dumb life."_

No, those "techies" don't make the search engine you use to find the
information you need in your work and your daily life. They don't make the
operating systems that run on your computers and mobile devices, nor the
devices. They don't make the software that runs in your appliances, the
automation systems that allow billions of people around the world to have
products and services only the rich could afford in the past. They don't make
novel ways to discover drugs and the origins of diseases. They don't make the
communication services that allow you to stay in contact with people you know
and discover people you didn't know. They don't make CMSs, blogging engines or
web browsers.

They make cold cut delivery apps. Fucking cold cut delivery app making loser
dorks.

~~~
smtddr
Okay, that's it. Next time I have to put my ethnicity on any paperwork.... I'm
now a "Software American".

\- I immigrated from Softwaria.

\- Our flag is a bunch of 1s and 0s.

\- Our national anthem ends with "return 0;".

\- All of our city streets look like logic-gates from a bird's eye view.
[http://doc.union.edu/PL/ee_master_gate.jpg](http://doc.union.edu/PL/ee_master_gate.jpg)
(yeah, I know... this is more on the side of hardware)

\- Our homes & buildings square footage are always divisible by X where X =
2^N, where N represents all real numbers. (what was that symbol for all real
numbers again?)

~~~
hmsimha
So basically 'Software Americans' are doing to Americans what Americans did to
Native Americans?

~~~
w1ntermute
What goes around, comes around.

------
bobbygoodlatte
The title of this piece really sums up my frustration. You're trying to come
up with a label for a group of diverse people? Why? So you can judge,
belittle, and intimidate them without feeling guilty?

Why not judge newcomers as individuals? They're people first. Some of them are
assholes. Others are awesome people who are positive for the community. Same
as any group.

Rents are going up. It sucks, and something should be done about it. The city
should permit more construction. The Ellis act should be repealed.

One thing I'm pretty certain won't make rents go down: labeling a group of
people and pressuring them to leave.

~~~
fennecfoxen
> The Ellis act should be repealed.

Communist.

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wavesounds
They always said nerds would inherit the earth, people shouldn't be so
surprised.

Haters gonna hate though, especially in SF the snob capitol of the world[1].

1.[http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/03/travel/snobby-cities-
usa/](http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/03/travel/snobby-cities-usa/)

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enjalot
"I still use it as an amiable label for the nerdy guy who comes to my office
and rolls his eyes when I ask why my computer won't talk to the printer down
the hall."

why does this piss me off so much? it was all well and good when we were
servin' you, and now we make something of ourselves and you mad?

while I can see that change is happening a little too fast for most people, I
do believe it was society that set us up to be nerds at the unpopular table.
WELL ITS MY CAFETERIA NOW BITCHES! WHAT?

~~~
hoprocker
Well, then, I refer you a few sentences on:

'"Techie" used to suggest a computer whiz with no social skills, now it
suggests one with no social conscience.'

This article boasts several choice phrases: "chronic obliviousness", "hermetic
subculture", "techie theme park". I'd venture Mr Nunberg has visited our
golden city some.

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avis
The nerds come to live in the vibrant and cool city so that they could have
some of its "coolness" reflected on them. Little they know the (fairly new)
pretentious residents are everything but cool, SPECIFICALLY in the mission
area, where large percentage live their lives believing they are unique &
progressive, while in reality they are prisoners of their conceptions - the
ones that got seeded in their heads by the companies the nerds are working
for.

the truth is that this city is: dead at nights. have a lame hipster wanna-be
community. too expensive.

p.s older san francisco residents are extremely nice!

~~~
fennecfoxen
The city is kinda dead at nights, but it's more alive in the Mission Area than
most other areas. It is too expensive, but the software engineers can afford
it readily enough.

But I don't think it's about the "coolness" reflecting on you that these
software developers are actually going for. I think it's more along the lines
of having a store nearby that sells liquid nitrogen ice cream during the
summer. Which is pretty cool. (And other establishments including night life
and dining establishments, naturally.)

~~~
avis
Summer you say ..... :-)

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yetanotherphd
In my high school, the preferred term was faggot.

Homophobia is passe now, but I hope the word "nerd" will serve people who want
to stir up hate against us just as well.

------
e0m
"I lived in Palo Alto myself for a while. It's a nice place to raise a car."
\- Geoff Nunberg

~~~
dredmorbius
That's so true.

I've never seen a place with so many well-bred automobiles in my life.

------
tomkarlo
Here's a few: "Taxpayers", "Customers", "Voters"

------
penrod
I hate hipster hackers as much as anyone, but what we have here is a case of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Cultures](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Cultures)

The arts and culture establishment, with their refined humanities backgrounds,
and accustomed to being the social elite, are disturbed to see that not only
are vulgar techies making lots of money, but that nerds are now being seen as
_cool_. This is simply too much to bear.

------
dfraser992
I left SF after the first Internet bubble burst - I needed a vacation from IT
and went to film school. I finally ended up in London, which is a MILLION
times better than the entire Bay Area. As expensive, but far more livable,
interesting, and varied than a IT centric socio-ecosystem. Not that I hated
SF, I'd probably still be there if I'd sold all that NSOL stock at the right
time... The first bubble was something - it really felt like something new was
being born. Now, it seems like everyone is just trying to get rich.

Based on everything I've read about this new bubble and how SF is changing
even more, I doubt very much I'd want to live there. Any sort of 60s vibe that
I did 'pick up' (that was one of the attractions for me) seems to have faded
away. $250K for new grads at Google? God almighty. There is too much money
sloshing about in the Bay Area now and money always changes things.

The fruits of IT are useful, at the top commenter points out, but I think some
humility needs to be learned. Then more effort will be spent on useful stuff,
and not making cold cut apps or figuring out how to manipulate users into
clicking more ads. Man is a tool making animal, but happens when one's ego
becomes tied up in those tools?

------
hornbaker
"Employed"?

------
freefrancisco
"the private language of the nerds' table in the high-school cafeteria, where
the kids cared more about being smart than being popular." Damn right!

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bowlofpetunias
> _" Actually, though, the distinctive feature of tech culture isn't arrogance
> so much as a chronic obliviousness, which is why some tech people can't even
> understand the resentment they engender."_

Besides the linkbait title, this article is full of painfully accurate
observations, which will ironically be completely ignored by most of HN's SV
population.

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Alex_MJ
"n00bs"?

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lowglow
Definitely call us Techies. -Dan Gailey

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kickingvegas
"Three year natives."

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pchristensen
"Residents"?

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neotoy
Hackies.

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fit2rule
Hatchkies.

