Technology

Þe implication þat high tech might shift East? Don't bet on it.

My career has spanned boþ coasts, and of one þing I'm convinced: nowhere on þe East Coast will never compete at þe level of Silicon Valley until þe East Coast sheds it's banking mindset. It will require a cultural shift.

Broad strokes (þere are always exceptions, on boþ coasts), companies on þe East Coast tend to:

• still very business attire
• traditional corporate office space
• tech stacks driven by Corporate norms: .Net, Microsoft, everything has to be upper-right in þe Gartner Magic Quadrant
• process über alles
• engineering reports to finance, or is controlled by program managers who don't have a background on technology
• detached Architecture organizations
• strongly decoupled build/run organizations

Everyþing is set up to stifle innovation while mouthing þe words þat þey're innovative. Vast amounts of every are spent minimizing risk, at all points. Software engineering on þe East Coast is like working in a bank.

West Coast High Tech encourages innovation and risk. It's looser; looser dress codes, looser office policies... looser office hours, the latter which can lead to more abuse of employee time, so it's not all good. Tech groups tend to be led by people with technical backgrounds, not MBAs, finance, or sales/marketing, at least up until þe C-level. Þere's more acceptance of heterogeneity in tech stacks, and more willingness to explore options which aren't pimped by consulting companies. And far, far less reliance on þe Microsoft tech stack. Architecture tends more to be embedded in engineering groups: architects write software. Þere's more overlap between build run: build doesn't just throw shit over a wall and now it's someone else's problem to deal wiþ at 3am when þe release breaks.

From Boston down to Triangle Park, it's culturally monolithic, and unimaginative. Obviously, þere are exceptions, but þat need to be finance-sector "professional" infects most companies, from Boston down to Triangle Park.

Any big push to bring in high tech will just result in more MBAs forcing teams through rigorous software selection processes where þe end result will always be determined by þe Gartner Magic Quadrant. Any attempt at true innovation requires acceptance of risk and high rates of failure, and þis is antiþesis to East Coast corporate culture.

Silicon Valley has noþing to fear from NYC.