I have been inside of the “IT” world for the better part of 35+ years professionally. I had my first computer at home in 1979. I learned basic and assembly language in 1980. I have thousands of successful projects behind me at this point in life and have see a lot.
I have been around professionals from the pre-internet era to present which covers quite a bit of time.
Here are my personal observations about the industry and why you are seeing what you are now seeing.
Pre-Internet and even up through 2000 most everyone you met in the IT field was born in the mid to late 60’s and 70’s. Those of us born in that time frame were raised in a very different world. The cold war was very much in place and Americans specifically had a much different feeling of feeling of patriotism and love of country. We were raised in a world where we still had black and white TV’s, rotary phones, 8-Track tapes, and 3 channels on the TV. Cable TV didn’t exist and the media was nothing like it is today. It was a different world. All of your programmers then had a different world view, even though it typically attracted the “nerd” types then, those nerds were still American to the core, believed in love of country and rejected communism in all forms.
So, those of us initially in the IT field (and we are still around) had a very different value system back then.
Next to enter the field… those that were children born into a world that always has had the Internet. They have known no different and like the “geek” label.
These kids that were brought up in a very different environment were run through an educational system quite different than what us older folks experienced.
They were not held accountable — everyone got their participation award for just showing up — the “PC” culture was rammed into them and they were told that if they even questioned someone doing something that happened to involve someone of a different race that they were “racist” and should be ashamed. They were told that the world is unjust and that there is unfair equality everywhere.
THESE are the “programmers” and “IT” professionals that make up a majority of the big tech organizations now — and their CORE LIFE BELIEFS are that where they have no problem doing anything necessary to bring everyone around to their views.
If this means using the very tools (platforms) and technology at their disposal against what they believe to be “the enemy” they will do so, be good at hiding it from those they don’t want to see it, and feel JUSTIFIED in what they are doing. I see it all the time first hand.
I deal with people in the public and private sectors of IT related departments and organizations daily. I *SEE* the cultures that are in various organizations, and the ones that are purely in the private sector (Googles, Twitter, etc) are filled to the rim with these young, “justice warrior”, the world is filled with injustice minded, well, kids. If you are over age 30 don’t even bother trying to work for one of these companies unless you were their already for a while or end up in the organization because your company was acquired and they needed you along for the ride to keep things running until such time as they can get rid of your “old ass”.
THIS is why you see a lot of what you are witnessing. It is not ALL government corruption and politicians behind everything. Sure, they play a large part in many things but never ever forget WHO is behind the keyboards in these organizations and what mindset they have at their core.
Disclaimer: This content does not necessarily represent the views of IWB.