If only ManBoygrammer had the same ring as Brogrammer. I have no interest working with a homogenous group of people who have the values and interests of a 12 year old. I'd rather work with mature people with a life and know how to intelligently manage their time to contribute to the success of a company.

Startups are just companies now, they're just another business like everything else.

Ageism is rampant in the valley and ironically most of the youngsters I see don't have the work ethic to drive successful start-ups. All the gaming and brogrammer bs ultimately create such huge distractions that real quality productivity is greatly diminished. Focus on work and then don't - which means leave and go have a life for the evening or at least for a few hours. We work as hard and well as anywhere because we get to it and then we let loose and go have a real personal life - not gaming or going out with co-workers. And we're kicking butt.

Sorry, but culture is real, and the notion that you can hire somebody that "doesn't fit in" just because they're talented and they'll be just as good as anyone else is simply false. In any company if you take a look around, you'll notice the guy in the corner that doesn't play well with others and no one likes is the guy slowing work down, not speeding it up. Hiring someone who fits in is crucial. That being said, does that mean that you must have homogeneous groups of clones working together? No, diversity is fine. But culture is crucial.

So, just to clarify... seems like the writer meant "someone who doesn't fit in" the "brogrammer" stereotype - but are you saying that if they are not a brogrammer they don't fit in? Or is it that brogrammers don't get along with women and older white men with families? In essence, what I'm saying is that your point shouldn't and doesn't negate what he's saying. Women and older workers and minorities should be able to get along quite well with "brogrammers" if they are competent. That's the kind of desired workspace I'd want. But if you have a company of just brogrammers or baby-man-dudes or what have you, its toxic in itself.

I agree that "women and older workers and minorities should be able to get along quite well with 'brogrammers'", but unfortunately should doesn't always equate to does. Often people get along with people they relate to, period. and if brogrammer is the culture of the company (for better or worse, I won't argue which), then most likely people who don't fit this culture will not add significant value.

As a lady programmer, it all sounds very "yuck", but i get that it is a reality for some companies. whatevs. i wouldn't wanna work there. Sounds like idiocracy

And how do you gauge whether someone "fits" this "culture" you talk about? What is this "culture"? It seems to me that this is nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse to discriminate against some groups. What are the chances that a woman will fit in a Brogrammer culture? What are the chances that the 30 something married man with children to raise and a wife to help at home will fit with the culture of 20 something, single males who like to party hard after work?
And if culture is as real and important as you claim, why is it not specified in the job postings in the same way that desired programming language skills, O/S familiarity, etc,,, are mentioned. Something like, must fit in a culture of hard work and hard partying (or whatever)?
Culture is your equivalent of "Class" to people who don't want to mingle with certain other people.

It's definitely true that many companies mismanage the process of evaluating candidates for culture fit. But company culture is real, and it is not about looking like someone or having a pingpong table in the office. It's about having the same values and priorities of the people that you work with, so that when you are working on business strategy you are aligned. Differences like age, race, gender, personal choices around work-life balance, shouldn't matter in comparison to a shared mission. We work on this directly at Pomello (www.pomello.com) and would be happy to chat more with anyone offline.

Yay for working from home, screw Marissa and her perspectives on that topic.

Never been to the Valley but it boggles the mind why more companies don't set up shop anywhere EXCEPT the Valley. Why the hell would you want that competition for talent and then overpay for the real estate to house them?.