I love to build software systems. I have been doing this for most of my life and I will build software systems for as long as I can. I love the work, the problem, as you point out, Abbie, is the environment.

The tech industry has become more and more toxic for human beings. Despite the constant bleating of technology companies, there is no shortage of technology workers. If there was, they would treat the people who work for them better. Better treatment does not mean free food, it means a humane work environment, that actually values people, not just the chance for the founders to become wealthy.

I try to remember that as an older white male my outrage at discrimination exists because I have not experienced it before. This would not have been my experience if I were a woman or a person of color.

Discrimination is hardly a new thing. People are tribal and seem to have an unfortunate tendency to discriminate against anyone who is not like them.

People who are discriminated against have often been forced to found their own ventures, since they don’t have other options.

In the press there’s a lot of discussion about Goldman Sachs being a “vampire squid” and so on. The success and ruthlessness of Goldman Sachs makes it easy to forget their history. Goldman is an investment bank that was founded by European Jews who, back in the day, could not get jobs at “white shoe” investment banks like JP Morgan or Merrill Lynch. Back then discrimination against Jews was institutionalized. Harvard had a “Jewish quota” that limited the number of Jewish students they would accept.

My answer to age discrimination has been to build nderground, both as a reaction to Facebook and as something that is a venture of my own. I don’t think that nderground will grow up to be a vampire squid, but perhaps a Lion Fish if I’m lucky.