Silicon Valley - Movie Reflection

Considering I have been to California before, I think that I have a little bit of a different perspective from others since most people on the trip have not been here before. I have spent most of my time in the San Francisco area however, so Palo Alto, Mountain View and everywhere else we stayed were fairly new to me.

It was interesting seeing everything in person for the first time after seeing the film about Silicon Valley. I had always known the general background story behind the Valley - how many tech startups are rooted from this area, and some of the biggest companies in the world have both started here and are headquartered here.

There are a couple of takeaways from the movie that I want to mention here in my blog. The first takeaway was that the transistor was arguably the biggest turning point in tech and engineering and was the beginning spark in my opinion for Silicon Valley. It was interesting to learn about the speculation around William Shockley's company, and how he began to act much differently around his employees. What I mean by that is that Shockley made it a point to everyone that he wanted everything done his way and no other way. However, this was not always the case and he began to generate frustration amongst many of his employees and this created for an unpleasant working environment. The two-way communication between Shockley and his employees worsened, and as a result many of his employees shifted their focus from the transistor to the 4-layer dial. With that being said, the second takeaway from the movie is that due to this, a small group from Shockley's company ventured off and continued to pursue their vision. This was one of the smartest decisions that group ever made, because as seen in the movie it led to their partnership with Sherman Fairchild and then the creation of the Fairchildren. Instead of buying into Shockley's attempt at being an autocratic leader, they resisted his leadership style and pursued their vision. Their vision led to what is the greatest hub for tech and engineering today.

-David