Exploring HBO's Silicon Valley, Being Old for Tech, and Finding Your Twin Flame Employer With Dan Lyons

It Gets Late Early: Ageism in the Workplace

Note: Due to tech issues with my headphones and microphone, my audio on this show isn’t of the typical quality for It Gets Late Early. But Dan sounds great!

If you love comedy and work in tech, you must have watched HBO's Silicon Valley. If you haven't…fix that immediately, but it's a show about the struggles of Richard Hendricks, a Silicon Valley founder and engineer trying to build his own company, Pied Piper. The comedic genius of that show is straight-up legendary!

Today, I have Dan Lyons, a writer on HBO's Silicon Valley and author of the NYT bestseller "Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble," which the LA Times called "the best book about Silicon Valley today." He followed up this book with two more - “Lab Rats: How Silicon Valley Made Work Miserable for the Rest of Us,” and his most recent book, “STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World.” Dan also was the creator of the anonymously penned blog "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs."

Dan regales us with a story about his first day working at a promising tech startup at the age of 52. He also walks us back to a time when his then-CEO was quoted in the New York Times saying, effectively, we don’t appreciate old employees. You’ll hear how Dan responded…and what he wishes he had done now with the benefit of hindsight.

But after all his (mis)adventures in a tech company that only wanted to hire young workers, Dan now works at a job he loves at DocuSign. In fact, Dan loves working at DocuSign so much, you might even call it his Twin Flame employer. What?! Tune in to find out what we mean.

Join us as we discuss his time working in a startup as the token-old guy, his experience as a writer on HBO's Silicon Valley, the concept of Twin Flames, horoscopes, and even my childhood crushes. And we will leave you with hope that you can find a job you love - at any age.

This is a kind of sillier, more entertaining episode - I hope you enjoy hearing some unfiltered banter between Dan and me.

"So, having come from the journalism world, you're a little freer in that world to be kind of irreverent about your own institution or your boss. You can be a little obnoxious and get away with it."

- Dan Lyons

In This Episode:

-How does one transition from losing a journalism job to entering a tech startup?

-What is it like walking through the door on the first day as an older employee in a tech company?

-Dan recollects his days working for a company whose CEO told the New York Times that "gray hair and experience are really overrated"

-What was it like working at Newsweek?

-Experiencing the reality of midlife collision

-The call to work at HBO's Silicon Valley and Dan's big break as a writer

-How Dan wrote his bestselling book "Disrupted" and the events that led him to write two more books

-The Bozo Explosion explained

-It all comes down to the culture

-Horoscopes, Love Language, and Twin Flames

-How to find your twin flame employer

-Maureen's childhood crush(es) revealed

And much more.

Resources:

-Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons: https://danlyons.io/books

-STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World by Dan Lyons: https://danlyons.io/books

-Lab Rats: How Silicon Valley Made Work Miserable for the Rest of Us by Dan Lyons: https://danlyons.io/books

Connect with Dan Lyons:

-Website: https://danlyons.io/

-LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realdanlyons/

Connect with Maureen Clough:

-Instagram: @itgetslateearly - https://www.instagram.com/itgetslateearly/

-YouTube: @itgetslateearly - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGrHwk-y7ERaq7bCSjZYf1A?sub_confirmation=1

-Website: itgetslateearly.com - https://www.itgetslateearly.com/

-LinkedIn: maureenwclough - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maureenwclough/

-Facebook: It Gets Late Early - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088694515585