Distant piers unlikely to make 'bro' waves

WORRIED ABOUT the sometimes-nerdy image of being a computer programmer? Guys, relax. Now you can claim to be a hip and with-it “brogrammer” instead. As in, a “bro” who programs. A cool, fraternity brother kind of dude. The sort of guy who is the antithesis of the stereotypical Valley geek in appearance, interests and social life, but who also just happens to code.

The term even has a Facebook page, which signifies – well, nothing really except a lot of people have time on their hands.

Apparently, this is the latest wheeze to try and lure more people into the tech jobs market. News out of the Valley this week was that (as in Ireland and seemingly, everywhere) technology job recruitment agencies are struggling to find qualified individuals with the right skill sets. Many Valley technology companies have whole swathes of jobs lying open.

So perhaps convincing guys that they aren’t just programmers, but “brogrammers”, will have a certain attraction. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the social media analytics company Klout was trying to lure new-hires at a Stanford University jobs fair recently with a poster that read, “Want to bro down and crush code? Klout is hiring.”

Or, maybe it is just all a tongue-in-cheek attempt to poke fun at nerd culture. Klout said it was all a joke, really, as did a lot of the male programmers.

Nonetheless, some seem to be taking it fairly seriously. One astonishing anecdote in the article describes a mid-20s Los Angeles-based, self-described “cool programmer” who said he and his work colleagues get feted all the time at parties thrown by tech industry recruiters, including one in Malibu “where there were naked women in the hot tub”.

If that all sounds like a particularly funny episode of the Big Bang Theory, it’s useful to keep in mind that the ultra-nerds have always been a subset of the programmer population anyway. Rather than being an army of Sheldons, the vast majority of programmers I meet, either students or those already in the workplace, run the full gamut of personalities you would find in any college class or workplace.

Nonetheless, the term “brogrammer” is a turn off for a lot of female programmers, who make up only about 20 per cent of US programmers, a situation the industry would like to change, not least to get a larger jobs talent pool.

Some women feel the industry can be frustratingly male-oriented; industry recruitment via naked hot tub parties sure won’t help the image.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for senior tech industry figures with real “bro” credentials, many would point to fighter jet-flying, carbon fibre yacht-racing Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison, who was in the news last week not for what he was doing, but for what he wasn’t going to do: renovate some of San Francisco’s most dilapidated piers.

Redoing several of the disused piers was a centre-piece of Ellison’s original pitch to the city to become host of the America’s Cup yacht race next year, a major event at the most cutting (and high-tech) edge of sailing.

Ellison and his BMW Oracle team won the last America’s Cup, giving them rights to choose its location the next time around. There’s been a lot of regional excitement at the prospect of the bay being at the heart of race activities.

The cost of restoring the long-neglected piers would run to about $100 million. Apparently the city by the bay – or more specifically, its supervisors – took ages to set a date to finally approve the plans, while also throwing up additional hoops for Ellison to jump through.

To the shock and dismay of many, Ellison has just announced he would instead base out of another pier way around the other side of the waterfront, well away from resident and tourist footfall, where renovation would cost up to 90 per cent less (and provide no great benefit to the city).

Reports say the deal is now history, but Larry has a way of eventually getting what Larry wants, at least in his tech industry dealings. That makes me more hesitant to believe it’s all over – especially as the other, far distant pier would mean near invisibility for the team.

Invisibility is not the Oracle or Ellison way. Oracle squeezed lots of image and marketing value out of its involvement in the last race, when the team was centrally based on the docks in Valencia in Spain, bringing in clients, partners and journalists to events. To heavy metal rock-out soundtracks, it always shows footage of its yachts in action at its annual San Francisco conference – big, sleek aggressive yachts crewed by tough, windswept, athletic men.

All very, very “bro”, great for recruitment and for industry posturing. A high-profile pier location would be far better for a sailing brogrammer.