Merits of the contents aside, the guy presenting has a very judgmental and condescending tone making it difficult to appreciate what he's actually saying. Saying things like "this doesn't look anything like a programming language, especially if you're coming from the javascript world" or "I will explain shared memory multi-threading in a bit, especially for the front end developers" really doesn't help. I find statements like that offensive, and detrimental to getting good conversations going. I've not finished watching that presentation on these grounds, and I'm not sure I will. It's not out of principle either, but simply because I get too annoyed to continue.
For the record, I identify myself as a software engineer. These days I mostly do front end development, but I have written code in many languages and contexts (asm, javascript, c, python, vb, whatever fits) and been well remunerated for it. I find the front/back/native/whatever splits to be silly, probably fueled by trying to make more efficient job listings. Fine that HR folks do this, but as engineers we should know better.
So you're a full stack developer. Some coders are only familiar with their domain. For example, most of my coding experience has been backend database scripting stuff, I have very little familiarity with the front end.
I don't see why you would get offended, he was talking to the specialists, not the generalists. You have to understand there's no shame in not knowing something outside your domain. For example, if you've never done AI programming before, would you be offended if an experienced AI coder skipped over some details in order to provide a more friendly introduction? It's not meant as an insult, it's not a reflection on your capability to learn about it, but rather it could be based on a consideration that you may not have taken the time to learn about it yet.
A good communicator is careful in his phrasing and keeps 'the human factor' in mind. It's not something that engineers are usually willing to admit or cater to, of course, but doesn't make it less true.
As a corollary, this is the same point that people asking 'why aren't engineers paid better' are really asking about, but can't or won't see...
Engineers don't like being talked down too, but if something is outside your field then simplifying is still pragmatic, regardless if you have extensive knowledge in other fields.
Let's put it like this, if I was the guy giving the talk, and I knew I'd get this reaction, I would do nothing differently. I'm not going to waste my time pandering to people who would take a tech talk personally. I don't care if managers get paid more, if they want to water down their words to ensure no offence to anyone, they're welcome to take that burden.
It's not about pandering, but about being inclusive in an educational setting. You're giving a talk so as to inform people, not imply they are lesser in some way. To concretize, consider replacing "the front-end developers" with "those unfamiliar with the concept":
> I will explain shared memory multi-threading in a bit, especially for those unfamiliar with the concept.
Versus the condescending:
> I will explain shared memory multi-threading in a bit, especially for the front-end developers.
Tiny change, makes all the difference. Be inclusive; don't be condescending.
I'm really sensitive to the issue you mention, and I appreciate your bringing it up.
It annoys me no end when someone talks down to me, or maybe even worse, asks about my skill level in a particular area when the implication is that they will then know how to dumb down what they're saying to a level that even I may understand.
But after watching the first 15 minutes of the video, I'm not seeing any kind of judgmental or condescending tone. Was it something in the remaining half hour?
He did ask for a show of hands of front end vs. native developers, but you have to admit that front end developers who've only done front end may never have been exposed to the concept of threads with shared memory - his topic for the next few minutes.
So my suggestion is to give it another shot. Based on the first 15 minutes, it seems like a fairly interesting and insightful talk.
This is a very disturbing trend in the software industry (starting around mid 2000s). A person who knows programming semantics can code in any language, but because of over-reliance on frameworks and the hesitation to try and write deep code, developers are being segregated into frond-end, middleware, db, big data, etc. I don't think it's sustainable in the long term.
For the record, I identify myself as a software engineer. These days I mostly do front end development, but I have written code in many languages and contexts (asm, javascript, c, python, vb, whatever fits) and been well remunerated for it. I find the front/back/native/whatever splits to be silly, probably fueled by trying to make more efficient job listings. Fine that HR folks do this, but as engineers we should know better.