I quit drinking. A guy came up and spoke to me after one of my first AA meetings. After some small talk he asked about me: was I homeless? No. What do I do? I’m a programmer. Where do I work? [Company]. Do you use one of the white buses? Yes.
“Oh,” he said. “You’re one of those people.”
I’ve lived in San Francisco for long enough to be used to this sort of remark. I think the cliché goes something like this: nerds move to SF for well-paid pampered jobs. Meanwhile they change neighborhoods for the worse, have no interest in giving back to their community, and are generally anti-social douchebags.
I certainly fit that description, although I’ll posit that douchebaggery is subjective.
The backlash against tech workers in San Francisco seems to be growing louder. The brouhaha over Peter Shih was a predictable piece in a larger narrative. I wanted to share my thoughts on it, which doesn’t feel unwarranted given that the narrative is largely about people like me.
It’s true that I don’t give anything back to my community, although the idea that I have a community here in SF is laughable. And what exactly would this look like? Giving lots of money to the homeless? Getting involved in local politics? Forget about it. I know how to make web sites, not fix broken political systems.
And speaking of the homeless: it’s the single reason why I would never consider living here permanently. This city loves to pat itself on the back for its liberalness but I don’t think a truly liberal city would let this sort of mental health crisis spiral for so long.
And of course a lot of this anger comes down to money. I’m not going to go as far as agreeing with Mayor Bloomberg’s defense of Wall Street: “This is our industry. We’d appreciate it if someone recognized that this is our tax base.” However, the city ought to be able to improve itself at a faster clip given the financial advantage.
So where does that leave me? The transaction is simple: I will live here to work and will pay taxes for the duration of my stay. That’s it. It’s not me, San Francisco- it’s you.
I think the brewing resentment towards tech workers is rooted in completely understandable class tensions, but the typical coverage is a bunch of sensationalist, divisive link-bait.
And to my fellow computer nerds and startup bros, “in this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.”
Sincerely,
One of those people
