Style Evolution
From Tech to Bro
From lab coats and polyester to hoodies and that-grey-vest, the rise of the tech bro tracks decades of shifts in style — and in substance. We trace the arc of the Silicon Valley male look from the days of nerdy, unassuming scientists to vain, barely technical megalomaniacs chasing immortality.
By Paulina Borsook and Brian Maggi
Scientist, Intel 1977
Intel put the “silicon” in Silicon Valley. Many of its employees were simply called scientists. It was their job to perform research and discover new things.
Engineer, HP 1986
The OG of SV, Hewlett Packard morphed from scientific imaging company to jack-of-all-trades that employed engineers – people who built real-world products.
Program Manager, SGI 1994
SGI today could mean Saskatchewan Government Insurance. But back in the Jurassic era – as in Park – it meant Silicon Graphics inc., builder of brightly-colored boxes with hardcore computing power that brought CGI movie dinosaurs to life, among other things. Things were getting complicated; it was important to have a Program Manager to oversee the fulfillment of complex goals across multiple corporate departments.
Chief Heart Officer, Uber 2015
The world was ripe for disruption, and Uber was ready to pounce, Legal or not, there were Big Opportunities out there. It was time to move fast, break things, and worry later. Normalizing the “bro” corporate culture was just the icing on the cake.
Generalist focusing on existential risk, Retro 2025
Retro is a science startup funded to the tune of $180 million by Sam Altman, Open AI CEO and prepper. The company uses every possible computational tool, including AI, to focus on Silicon Valley’s current obsession of living well forever at the cellular level. Aging, disease, and death are for normies, not for the intellectual elite who intend to accompany Elon and Sergey to Mars.
Paulina Borsook has been immersed in Silicon Valley culture since the mid-1980s. She was on the masthead of Wired during its first few years. She is perhaps best known for her Salon essay “How the Internet ruined San Francisco” and for her book Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech, which was a personal financial disaster but is still being read to this day.
Brian Maggi got his start in tech over 30 years ago as a subject in a research project at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. He worked at Apple on iconic and not-so iconic products including the Newton and the iMac. His biggest claim is inventing the email spam filter with Postini, thus giving the world the greatest excuse for not reading our mothers’ emails.