I am not living in SF. My house is at Tokyo, Japan now. Moreover it’s the first time to visit Silicon Valley. I don’t know what I can understand from what I saw, what I felt and who I met. So it’s my review time for this trip and make use of this to know how I should live. There are 3 points.
We were all only users
In Japan, the number of tech startups are growing. The quality of software can, I think, compete with world class softwares. Living in Japan as a software engineer didn’t look so bad to me. But this trip changed me totally.
Most of the software I am using in Japan was imported from here, Silicon Valley. All is developed in here, Silicon Valley. We are only users of these softwares created by engineers in Silicon Valley. This makes me so disappointed. What am I supposed to do? I feel all things I keep doing is in vain. We are only users. Just users. Not creators. This is the one thing I decided to change my life as a software engineer.
Communication
I am not good at communication even in Japanese. I am a nerd or geek or otaku. I thought somehow geeks in SF will be the same type of person like me, but it is not true. Most of the people I met here would like to communicate voluntarily with great vitality, especially about their own idea and viewpoint. There was no exception. I am somewhat confident about my own idea and the skill to convey one to others. But it is not enough here. People are more serious about their communication skill in order to persuade others or make own team involving your own. There are no exception even about engineers. I have to obtain not only English communication skills but also communication skills itself.
Life
Only correct thing what I assume in advance is this, LIFE. I think people who are living in Silicon Valley know what life is and what happiness is. People works for own life’s happiness, but not working itself. I cannot feel this righteous sense in Japan. All people looks down, are tired with daily work and earn little money even though they have no vacation to spent these money. It is not sound thing as lifestyle. Conversely all people I met here are all smiling, looks very happy. I wonder what makes them happier than people in Japan. Money? Vacation? Job? I cannot grasp what is the most influential factor. But I am sure that people in Silicon Valley are happier.
Overall, it is dream for all engineers to live in Silicon Valley. Today I know the reason why this is dream for us. I am sure to return back here.