Definition
”Tech bro” is a term that is thrown around a lot and can refer to different groups of people depending on the situation.
Cambridge Dictionary defines it as:
someone, usually a man, who works in the digital technology industry, especially in the United States, and is sometimes thought to not have good social skills and to be too confident about their own ability:
I think colloqiually I have seen it used as a synonym for just general techworker or specifically a subset of techworkers that are toxic and exude an air of “I’m better than you”. Another common usage has been to refer to techworkers who are in the business because it is a lucrative career rather than true interest in the field.
The Hate
In many cities I’ve traveled around the country in and just general sentiment online I’ve seen hate for “tech bros”. The reasoning behind the hate really does depend on the definition being used, but a few examples I can think of are:
- For generally being un-sympathetic gentrifiers who push locals out of their homes and can really destroy the original culture of the area.
- For not respecting art and regular pop culture. A lot of this discussion takes place in the generative image spaces too with a clash between conventional artists and AI enthusiasts
- For toxic masculinity and not valuing diversity. A lot of these discussions can be conflated with discussions about DEI, but I think that is quite different. More nuanced takes generally criticize DEI as a solution rather than the criticizing the goal of diversity, but it’s very easy to simplify and combine both as just hating diversity. That being said there are many tech workers I’ve encountered who genuinely don’t value diversity and have talked in very alarming fashions to me when there are women present vs when they are not.
Thoughts
As a certified tech worker whose hobbies consist largely of tech stuff, I can’t help but feel a little discouraged when I received direct hatred as a representative of tech, but at the same time I can recognize the above criticisms for different groups of techworkers and can sympathize with the plights.
Getting the “you’re one of the good ones” line isn’t great, but also I try my best to be inclusive and sympathetic to people’s struggles.
I think this tweet is a good summary of my thoughts:
you hate tech bros because they're nerds, I hate tech bros because they're not nerds, we are not the same
— tess @xsphi February 20, 2024