One of the most popular TV shows—though slow to gain its fame—is HBO’s Silicon Valley. Initially, the show seems to be a slow-paced comedy depicting the story of a few software engineers who are fed up with working for huge corporations and tech monopolies and who want to create a fortune of their own. As the show picks up, the plot keeps getting more interesting and the tech jargon catches on with the viewers, thus making it one of the most brilliant shows pertaining to the life in the tech business.
Though most of the people enjoy the show for its comedy, gripping plot or the fascinating character sketches, I feel the show has more to offer than any typical mainstream TV show out there. The makers of the show have put in a lot of effort in it just to make the plot as real as possible.
For example, the show introduces a factor to measure the efficiency of compression algorithms known as the “Weismann Factor” which most of the viewers think is a real thing. But a simple Google search reveals that the show’s makers have created such a term with the help of a Stanford professor and his graduate student to come up with a concept to compare various compression algorithms. This term was so widely used in the show that the equation was under peer review and has also been cited in a few research papers.
Apart from technical accuracy, the show also manages to touch upon various aspects of life in the valley by giving them a comic twist. The show touches upon venture capitalists, psychotic billionaires, over-conscious environmentalists, and many other such aspects which are a common occurrence in the Bay Area. It is a direct satire on tech CEOs who aspire to bring light to the world with their non-practical and irrelevant innovations, and the people who parasitically empower them all.
I had the opportunity to live with a few engineers working at companies like Google and Oracle in the Bay Area and discuss life in the region with them. It did not take much time for me to realize why every engineer dreams of working for a Silicon Valley startup. The place is a tech haven for engineers since that’s where the most innovative and interesting concepts can take shape into meaningful products, which is not possible anywhere else in the world.
There is no shortage of money or support due to the plethora of VC’s and funding opportunities for such engineers. Employees from startups are usually poached by tech giants, offering the most elusive salary packages in a manner that has never been seen before. Due to such an abundance of funds and revenue in the tech business in the region, the housing market has slowly transformed into the most expensive and overpriced market in the world.
The show has gained cult status for revealing all the intricacies and the pitfalls of the industry and portraying them with a comic twist. Many tech legends such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates have cited the show by comparing it with their own stories. Gates also said that “if you really want to understand how Silicon Valley works today, you should watch the HBO series.” I believe that the show gained such fame and accolades due to the makers’ determination to bring transparency to the tech industry and by revealing all the mysteries of life in the valley.
