Silicon Valley: A Techies Haven

As I took my first step out of San Francisco International Airport toward our rented car, I told myself, ‘This is it. For the next two weeks, this is my home.’ Silicon Valley is such a cultural melting pot that in the 14 days that followed, there was never a moment that I felt out of place.

During my visit, I spent a greater part of my time in and around Silicon Valley, namely Palo Alto, Mountain View, Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Menlo Park, Cupertino and a portion of my time in San Francisco (a new hotbed for tech startups). I may not have seen it all, but like most people that have visited Silicon Valley and San Francisco, I fell in love with the place.

I am a non-tech person myself, however I am fascinated by the culture of entrepreneurship, the culture of experimentation and the culture of ‘fail fast succeed faster’ in the technology startup community.

I fell in love with the place because it has such high concentration of driven, focused and intellectual beings. Stop by any cafe or restaurant, chances are there will be individuals or groups of people chatting away at the table next to yours - except their topic of discussion won’t be just about the weather, American college football or politics; but also about their startup project or which company secured which round of funding and perhaps what’s new on AngelList, Hacker News or GitHub.

The valley of many great things to come.

It has a tight-knit community that almost everyone knows one another or shares a mutual connection. Building trust and maintain good relationships are highly valued in the startup ecosystem. Referrals between mutual connections happen frequently in Silicon Valley, and there are events and workshops happening daily in Silicon Valley and San Francisco for techies to meet and exchange ideas.

The technology startup ecosystem is so strong that on a daily basis, there will be new individuals arriving in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, either from within the United States or from a foreign nation, to work on their startup project.

It is a techies haven. It is a place where people sees highly of execution, experimentation while celebrates risk and failure. If you fail, you start again.

To learn more about Silicon Valley, catch “Life in the Valley: The Digital Gold Rush” on Astro AWANI (Astro 501) at the following dates at 9.30pm.

28 September 2013

5 October 2013

12 October 2013

19 October 2013