Uncanny Valley: A Memoir

Get ready for a ride through the Silicon Gulch (California SF Bay Area) rise and change of the 1990s. Some issues may be over-thought, but the overall analysis of the software boom and its implications are spot-on. In addition to the author's valuable experience, there are some observations about the ultimate usages of data analysis software that are chilling. It's worth a read, not only for the humor, the good writing, and the honest experience of a woman in high-tech, but also for the implications of where the software industry is taking American technology.

In her mid-twenties, Anna Wiener is in New York City, working a low paid job in the publishing industry. Everyone she knows is working the same kind of barely making it job as they check their safety net of parents wondering how long they could subsist as they 'paid their dues'. When she has the chance to change her life and move to California and work in the technology industry, she jumps at the chance. She works there for half a decade, cycling between several tech start-ups and more established technology companies. Anna doesn't have technical skills; she isn't a programmer or a data scientist or a security guru. She works in customer service, fielding calls for help, tracking down copyright infringements and checking company content boards for offensive and illegal content. She is incredibly well paid compared to her NYC days and the culture is very different. Employee structures are flat and perks abound. Remote work is allowed and encouraged. But there are drawbacks as well. A higher salary doesn't mean much when all the technology money has made the real estate market so expensive that it is the rare person who doesn't have to have roommates well past the age that most people are on their own. Perks don't mean much in work weeks that routinely are expected to be eighty to a hundred hours weekly. Women are marginalized as are the non-tech employees. The buzz word for compensation is meritocracy but it's strange how the merit all seems to reside in young, white males who look just like the founders of these young companies. Uncanny Valley is a term used in the technology industry. It refers to the fact that individuals respond more favorably to robots that appear human, but if the robot gets too human appearing, a revulsion sets in. It is a metaphor for the technology industry that appears fascinating and desirable from the outside but is anxiety producing and barren from an insiders' view. It is the casual data driven environment where every purchase and opinion is tracked and sold to companies so that they can better target their products and influence society. It is a cautionary tale that only an insider can tell. This book is recommended for readers of nonfiction and especially for those considering a career in technology.

This book had been on my to-read pile for a while, and I finally finished it. Normally I hate reading books that are close to home because I like to suspend my reality. I built my first career in the tech world, working in product, delivery/implementation, and client-side. It's where I met my husband, an industry he still works in. We have family ties to the Bay Area and are there often, for prolonged periods of work and personal interaction. So I consider myself at least somewhat familiar with the whole microcosm of privately-funded (vc/hedge/equity/capital--whatever-you-want-to-describe-it-as) technology "startups." With that, I can say the author's description of the industry in New York and the Bay Area is accurate. Her storytelling from her days working at the various companies of her employ are filled with anecdotes that any woman could conjure up. (Or ethnic minority, or person over 40, or you know, any protected class). The theme of youthful bro-hood is very specific to certain sectors and geographic locations. I think you'll find less aggressively loose HR habits in places where the money has more contingency tied to it. Still, this is hard field to cut your chops in, but, so is... I dunno...finance...publishing...media...legal...medical...just about any white-collar industry. And it is probably even worse for blue-collar workers. So nothing revelatory here, just a different flavor of the same kool-aid. Meritocracy has been used for hundreds of years as a way to rationalize poor cultural choices. We just now have a language for it. The book has a strong start but peters out into a world of hypotheticals and intently intellectual self-discussion. It seemed as if she really is starting to delve into that mindset that the renaissance for the world is happening in the 650 area code. It is not, things happen elsewhere, and I hope she finds room in her life leave. Maybe she already has. Reality would easily welcome such a great writer back to cover more interesting topics than the redundant narcissism and discrimination of the technocracy.

The entire book seems like the author's judgements on silicon valley and its inhabitants. Not engaging at all. Passable read.

super buen libro, lo disfrute mucho

The book was very easy to read and engaging. To me much of the jargon is familiar, and pretentious vapourware. The dream versus the actual reality is still work in progress and will resolve itself in unexpected ways. One assumes the work is partly autobiographical and is an individual’s view of current West Coast culture. As a child of the 60’s I see parallels with the prevailing ethos of that time. However, the backdrop of American dysfunctional politics will be the wild card in this tale. Worth a read to calibrate your attitude to the digital technology revolution.

Very compelling and interesting

Very catchy book, really smart look into the startup ideology and the damage it created. Very precise and knowledgeable