I just read Zed Shaw’s post where he announces that he found a job in San Francisco. Congratulations to him. In his post, I appreciated his concluding comparison of how companies in New York and San Fran perceive and approach technologists. Zed says:
NYC prospects were looking for a badass/ninja/rockstar beta-male “techie” employee to make them rich creating lame applications for giant Finance/Fashion/Marketing companies. SF prospects were looking for a partner to get rich with them creating great products for customers.
To a large extent, I agree. New York is filled with companies that have non-technical core competencies. These businesses treat technology as a necessary cost. When they search for a rockstar ninja, their goal is to minimize cost. The thinking is “that last tech we had was too slow and too sloppy, and his mistakes cost us money. We need a superstar tech guy to come in here and do things right (not screw up).”
The dynamic is top-down. The business wants a super star who will take orders and work efficiently. On the whole, this makes perfect sense. As Judge Smails says, “the world needs ditch diggers, too.”
This system fails for superstar techies like Zed Shaw. This class of techies are often prima donna’s in the same vein as star wide receivers in the NFL. Instead of taking orders, they want to provide advice. Instead minimizing cost, they want to generate value. Indeed, they want to be partners, not employees. (Even if the company pays well, as many New York firms do).
San Francisco, on the other hand, is a town filled with ninjas looking to band together. Each one is a Steve Jobs looking for a Steve Wozniak to join them in the garage. This is a natural and attractive situation, as evidenced by Zed’s move from his beloved LES.
New Yorkers do have hope. The key is to pursue and promote every opportunity to increase revenue instead of decreasing costs. When you see this opportunities, you need to explicitly point them out. Then, if you’re given the green light, work extra hard to execute. If you score a couple wins, then you can take a partnership role (even in New York).
