“The talent — and there’s a ton of it — flowing into Silicon Valley cares little about improving these infrastructural elements. What they care about is coming up with more web apps.”
The contemporary workplace is now made up of workers from more generation than ever before. These different generations bring a mix of perspectives to the task but they also possess wildly different expectations and ideas on how to get there.
In this week’s New York Times Magazine there is an interesting article “Silicon Valley’s Youth Problem“, that deal with the challenges and expectations of the younger workers and how that clashes with the perspective of the more seasoned, older worker.
Inherent in this generational divide is a cultural shift.
” There are thousands of engineers working at big corporations in Silicon Valley, many with years of experience and proven track records of creating code. . . . So why are start-ups constantly bemoaning a shortage of talent?
The easiest explanations are mismatched skill sets or cultural friction. Older engineers are not smart in the way that start-ups want them to be — or, if they are, they have reservations about the start-up lifestyle.”
Successful companies learn how to reach out to the newer talent (Apple) and the older more seasoned talent (Google) and bring them together in a workplace culture that motivates and rewards.