I've worked in Silicon Valley and these companies do coordinate. Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, Ebay, Intuit, Pixar/Lucas were sued for coordinating to prevent "poaching" and thus keep worker salary down. This was in the early 2010's with the suit coming about in 2013 or so.
Also happening in the 2010's was influx of politics into Silicon …
I've worked in Silicon Valley and these companies do coordinate. Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, Ebay, Intuit, Pixar/Lucas were sued for coordinating to prevent "poaching" and thus keep worker salary down. This was in the early 2010's with the suit coming about in 2013 or so.
Also happening in the 2010's was influx of politics into Silicon Valley. The Obama administration hired a lot of tech to work in Washington. These were not engineers, they were well connected "people that know people". I believe many of those people have come back to the Valley in recent years. Additionally there has been an influx of political types into Silicon Valley, particularly in social media companies. I think there have also been Board appointees that are "think tank" types
Next, there is a phenomenon of company encouraged employee activist groups. I believe the intent was for these groups to help people of similar race, gender, sexual preference, etc, work through challenges in tech. However, these people are often politically volatile and constantly interject political or social justice into large company meetings. An example of this a group within Spotify throwing a fit over Joe Rogan having Alex Jones on. Additionally I've former colleagues have heard of activists at left leaning offices imposing their will on other offices for things as petty as what food or food providers are used to cater events.
Finally, tools like Slack further encourage virtue signalling. Any political or social event has people clamoring to get visibility by raising issues in large company wide channels.
It's sad what it's becoming. Years ago it felt like everything was made by an eclectic group of misfits. The main requirement was talent and passion for what you were working on, pay may or may not come. The first group I worked with was more diverse than anything I've been a part of recently. I don't know what's to blame for that, it may have been the social media / smart phone revolution funneling more of the elite graduates into the system in search of $$$.
Much of the silicon valley tech population has yet to face serious adversity. Smart phones and social media were on the rise as everything else was crumbling. There was a large influx in 2011-2014 and these people have made out like bandits. They could use their stock/bonus to buy a condo for say 500K. By 2017 that condo might run 1.0 to 1.2 million. They've amassed large net worths in the matter of a few years.
However, they have yet to face the dot com bust and rolling blackouts of the early 2000's or the housing market bust of 2009 and municipalities struggling to provide services because of tax revenue declines. Because of this lack of adversity, they are trying to find adversity to overcome on their own. I've more than once walked into the office and seen 50% of building instantly empty with desks being just as the left them, only for them to get a call not to come in. I've been there when the conference rooms are all booked and blocked off mysteriously so that staff can be laid off all at once. When this happens, you don't need to look for something to fight, you are fighting for your own preservation or that of your family.
The AI "ethics" (race/diversity) researcher at Google is another classic example of SJW narratives going off the rails, biting the hand that feeds them.
I've worked in Silicon Valley and these companies do coordinate. Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, Ebay, Intuit, Pixar/Lucas were sued for coordinating to prevent "poaching" and thus keep worker salary down. This was in the early 2010's with the suit coming about in 2013 or so.
Also happening in the 2010's was influx of politics into Silicon Valley. The Obama administration hired a lot of tech to work in Washington. These were not engineers, they were well connected "people that know people". I believe many of those people have come back to the Valley in recent years. Additionally there has been an influx of political types into Silicon Valley, particularly in social media companies. I think there have also been Board appointees that are "think tank" types
Next, there is a phenomenon of company encouraged employee activist groups. I believe the intent was for these groups to help people of similar race, gender, sexual preference, etc, work through challenges in tech. However, these people are often politically volatile and constantly interject political or social justice into large company meetings. An example of this a group within Spotify throwing a fit over Joe Rogan having Alex Jones on. Additionally I've former colleagues have heard of activists at left leaning offices imposing their will on other offices for things as petty as what food or food providers are used to cater events.
Finally, tools like Slack further encourage virtue signalling. Any political or social event has people clamoring to get visibility by raising issues in large company wide channels.
It's sad what it's becoming. Years ago it felt like everything was made by an eclectic group of misfits. The main requirement was talent and passion for what you were working on, pay may or may not come. The first group I worked with was more diverse than anything I've been a part of recently. I don't know what's to blame for that, it may have been the social media / smart phone revolution funneling more of the elite graduates into the system in search of $$$.
And to add one more thing...
Much of the silicon valley tech population has yet to face serious adversity. Smart phones and social media were on the rise as everything else was crumbling. There was a large influx in 2011-2014 and these people have made out like bandits. They could use their stock/bonus to buy a condo for say 500K. By 2017 that condo might run 1.0 to 1.2 million. They've amassed large net worths in the matter of a few years.
However, they have yet to face the dot com bust and rolling blackouts of the early 2000's or the housing market bust of 2009 and municipalities struggling to provide services because of tax revenue declines. Because of this lack of adversity, they are trying to find adversity to overcome on their own. I've more than once walked into the office and seen 50% of building instantly empty with desks being just as the left them, only for them to get a call not to come in. I've been there when the conference rooms are all booked and blocked off mysteriously so that staff can be laid off all at once. When this happens, you don't need to look for something to fight, you are fighting for your own preservation or that of your family.
dot com bust...made Wall Stree wealthy and the rolling blackouts made ENRON and Kenny Boy Lay wealthy.
don't forget Cheney/Bush's appointment to the Presidency.
It did have the benefit of kicking Gray Davis to the curb, though Arnie didn't fare much better when tough times hit.
As far as I know, the classic toxic/surrealistic SJW-grifter-narrative-gone-bad case in Silicon Valley is Shanley Kane of Model View Culture.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2014/12/10/The-Madness-Of-Queen-Shanley/
The AI "ethics" (race/diversity) researcher at Google is another classic example of SJW narratives going off the rails, biting the hand that feeds them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timnit_Gebru