1990s 90s 90s-nostalgia adventure ambition artificial-intelligence aspirations bill-gates canadian-literature career character-driven code coding comedy coming-of-age communication competition computer computer-coding computer-culture computer-engineering computer-engineers computer-games computer-industry computer-programmers computer-programming computer-science computer-software computers consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate corporate-america corporate-culture corporate-environment corporate-life corporate-world coupland creative-writing creativity cult culture digital-age digital-lifestyle digital-revolution dorky-humor dot-com-boom dot-com-era douglas douglas-coupland drama east-coast-west-coast-divide eccentric-characters employees engineering entrepreneurial-spirit entrepreneurialism entrepreneurship escapism existentialism exploration father-son-relationships fiction friends friendship friendships futurism gaming geek geek-culture geek-humor geeks gen-x generation-x hacker-culture hackers happiness humor humorous identity identity-crisis innovation internet internet-boom internet-culture internet-revolution introspection introspective isolation it-industry life-at-a-tech-company life-in-the-1990s loneliness love mental-health microserfs microsoft microsoft-campus microsoft-culture microsoft-employees mid-life-crisis millennial millennial-generation modern-age modern-life modern-society modern-workplace multitasking nerd nerd-culture nerds nerdy-humor novel office-culture office-drama office-dynamics office-life office-politics online-communities personal-computers personal-growth personal-identity personal-relationships pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern-literature postmodernism programmer programmers programming programming-languages psychological-thriller quirky rave-culture realism. reality-vs-virtual-reality relationship relationship-drama relationships robotics romance satire satirical satirical-critique search-for-meaning seattle self-discovery self-discovery. silicon-valley social-commentary social-dynamics social-interaction social-isolation social-media social-networking social-relationships societal-critique societal-pressures software software-developers software-development software-engineering software-engineers software-industry start-up start-up-company start-up-culture start-up-life start-ups startup startup-culture startups storytelling success teamwork tech-industry techie techno-thriller technology technology-industry unconventional-career vancouver video-games virtual-reality vulnerability web-development work-culture work-life work-life-balance workaholic workplace workplace-challenges workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-hierarchy workplace-satire young-adults