[extropy-chat] Silicon Valley pod villages?

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Samantha Atkins <sjatkins at mac.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure
> just what sort of 
> support network you are referring to and I've been
> in the bay area for 
> 28 years.   Have I missed something critical for
> most of that time?

Maybe.  The sheer number of technically knowledgeable
people around here makes it far easier to do F2F
networking with people who could help out on a
development venture.  (Granted, this is the kind of
sleazy social thing that some would like to ideally do
away with - but it works today, which means it's a
tool for building tomorrow.)  Then there's things like
a walk-in nanofabrication facility, telecommuting
support services (delivery services, mainly, to make
it easier to do without a central office, but also
more extensive telecom infrastructure), specialty
supply stores of all kinds (need some raw silicon for
a chipmaking experiment today, can't wait for
delivery, and don't have a pre-existing corporate PO
with a supplier?  No problem), elected officials who
know how many of their voters are technologists and
thus are not only friendly to but active supporters of
same (to the point where, when a local school teacher
tried to mix religion with history, the only people
questioning his being put under review were from
outside the district), nearly constant
free-to-the-public seminars on all manner of new
discoveries and developments...literally, it's more
things than probably any one person is even aware of.
The resources are just sitting there to be discovered
and taken advantage of - so much so, that one won't
have time to do even a large fraction of all that can
be done.  (The MIT area has some of this, but from
what I hear, not quite the density of SV.)

> > You mention a few technical development jobs in
> NH.  I
> > can easily find thousands of employers looking for
> > tech developers of all stripes around here, so
> many
> > that I don't have to worry if one or a whole
> string of
> > employers goes bankrupt.
> 
> Tell it to dozens of unemployed techies I know
> personally.

The only unemployed techies I personally know fall
roughly into three groups:
* Demanding senior-level salaries for junior-level
  competence.  (For example, $100,000 for grunt QA or
  simple HTML work.  High level architects of QA
  strategies or masters of Web sites that get millions
  of visitors - not just hits, but actual people - a
  month, maybe.  But not just "I can install a
  self-installing program" or "I can write a Web
  page".)
* Personality problems that would be unemployable in
  any service industry.  ("I'm always right, and
  you're not the boss of me even if you sign my
  paycheck!")
* Sales, marketing, administrative, and managerial
  types who never actually did anything technical, but
  consider themselves "techies" because they used to
  work for a technology company.  ("I designed a bold
  new radio ad campaign for a startup internet service
  provider that flopped.  Aren't I 1337?  I even know
  what that means!")

Everyone I know (well enough to judge these three
criteria, anyway) who has decent technical skills, is
willing to accept what companies offer, and can at
least kind of work with a team is presently employed.
(More of them are self-employed these days than, say,
in 2000, but so long as they get an income somehow...)
Meanwhile, the local newspaper's classified section
continues to grow, even as more companies and people
look to online help wanted sites.

> While there is some truth in what you say I think it
> wise to push our 
> careers toward location independence as much as
> possible.

Oh, definitely.  That's not always possible for all
careers, especially not today, but it is something we
can aim to realize in the future.  (I may be on the
leading edge of this: I've been working for a company
since August, and I've only met anyone else in the
company F2F once - and then only because a potential
business partner wanted to meet the team.  Although,
my employer has on occasion had me working literally
from the time I got up to the time I went to bed, with
barely enough time for stuff like grabbing food and
bathroom breaks.  Even right now, with my part of the
current build done, I've been monitoring for emergency
requests for assistance while I check my email; I hope
to have a chance to get dressed and walk around some -
get at least a little exercise today - in an hour or
so.)