Silicon Valley Has Learned to Love the Bust

An anonymous reader writes "Fortune's David Kirkpatrick interviews scores of valley execs who have stopped worrying continued innovating. He writes: 'The underlying tech boom that began the bubble actually has never stopped. It just stopped paying off. Says Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, the company that has emerged as the head of the new class: "If anything, the rate of innovation in technology has increased in the past couple of years. But that doesn't necessarily make it a good business. The beneficiaries are the end users." Agrees Rob Carter, the CIO of FedEx: "The sound we heard wasn't the bubble bursting; it was the big bang."'"

Comments

Re:blame the analysts

[afidel]

Um traditional P/E for the NYSE is 19 during non-recession years so I don't know where you are getting 6 from. For two decades of figures see the last page of This pdf, for more historical info search around.

Re:CEO/CIO versus the grunt laborer at the bottom

[Tackhead]

> So here's a married man, with two kids, trips to little league and ballet practice, active in the community, likes to travel, and volunteers at his church. This guy doesn't belong in the business?
>
>And then we have a 21-year-old, fresh out of college, no kids, no relationship, lives on taco bell and mountain dew, works 70 hours a week on code. He does belong in this business?

The ones who belong in the business are the ones who turn out the most maintainable, bug-free code per week.

From the information provided, I can't yet tell you which one belongs in the business. Maybe both do.

Whether you do it in 40 or 70 hours is a lifestyle choice (I'm still only paying you for 40!), as is whether you choose to tie himself down with a wife/sprog/mortgage or burn yourself out by getting hopped up on Bawlz all night long while fragging n00b azz over the company's OC-3.

A good employer is one who can avoid letting his or her prejudices about (legal) lifestyle choices get in the way of hiring decisions.