Silicon Valley Bro Foolishly Tries To Explain Why Tech Guys Treat Women Poorly

Source – The best explanation we’ve heard in recent weeks about why Silicon Valley seems to breed so many men who behave so badly came from an engineer who cut his teeth at Facebook. His take is that the big money Silicon Valley often throws at young engineers who are right out of college stimulates this “frat house” mentality.

“It’s like, here you go, you’re 21 years old, here’s a $100,000 signing bonus,” said the engineer. “Then they think they are hot sh-t. They think, ‘Now people are going to respect me. Now women, who may have ignored me, they are going to respect me.” Add in the free food as well as beer and other alcohol at work, and the workplace can start to mimic a frat house.

And then there are things like the “brilliant jerk” phenomenon, the idea that the smarter you are, the less nice you have to be. Engineering culture is notorious for verbal abuse. It’s common for engineers to personally attack each other’s intelligence. On top of all this, there are very few women in positions of power; less than 20% of senior leaders at tech companies are women by some counts.

Wait- alcohol and money makes guys act like douche bags? You don’t say. I’d probably be a little prick too if someone handed me a hundred thousand dollar check the second I graduated college. Granted, no one did and I’m still kind of a prick but that’s neither here nor there. It’s shocking that in 2017 people are still trying to “explain away misogyny.” What’s even more shocking is that it’s coming from an Ivy educated man. Aren’t they supposed to be smart? I always thought the “lacking street smarts” thing was a joke. Apparently it’s very real. To his credit he does a good job explaining why he thinks Silicon valley breeds a toxic work environment for women. But that doesn’t make it any less cringe worthy:

“It’s like, here you go, you’re 21 years old, here’s a $100,000 signing bonus. Now people are going to respect me. Now women, who may have ignored me, they are going to respect me.”

“Now women will respect me?” Easy, psycho. I’m sure a lot of these tech guys haven’t exactly been “successful” with the ladies but still. Acting like Dan Bilzarian isn’t going to help your chances. That being said, it sounds like a great place for women to work. Sitting around with a bunch of guys who are trying to bang you and murder you at the same time. Just goes to show that you can make all the money in the world and still be a terrible human. I will say, the “brilliant jerk phenomenon” is spot on. If you’ve never met one just go to the office tech guy and ask him how to set up the printer. He’ll look at you like you’re the dumbest person in the world.

Regardless, working in tech is like working in finance. The moneys great but if your not cut out for it you’ll want to kill yourself. I always thought I’d be a tech guy over a finance guy but now I’m second guessing. I think I’d handle douchey frat bros a lot better than power tripping nerds.