1990s 20th-century 90s 90s-culture 90s-nostalgia adventure ai ambition artificial-intelligence bill-gates blogging canadian-literature career career-aspirations career-transitions character-driven code coder-life coding comedy coming-of-age competition computer computer-coding computer-culture computer-engineering computer-engineers computer-industry computer-programmers computer-programming computer-science computer-software computers consumerism contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate corporate-america corporate-culture corporate-environment corporate-life corporate-world coupland creativity cults cultural-commentary digital-age digital-media digital-revolution disillusionment dot-com-boom dot-com-bubble dot-com-era douglas douglas-coupland drama dystopian-fiction east-coast-west-coast-divide eccentric-characters employees engineering entrepreneurial entrepreneurial-spirit entrepreneurialism entrepreneurship escape escapism existentialism exploration fast-paced fiction friends friendship friendships gaming geek geek-culture geek-humor geekdom geeks geeky-humor gen-x generation-x hackathon hacker-culture hackers hacking humor humorous identity identity-crisis individuality information-technology innovation internet internet-boom internet-culture internet-revolution introspection introspective isolation it-industry life-balance life-in-the-1990s life-in-the-tech-industry loneliness love mental-health microserfs microsoft microsoft-campus microsoft-culture microsoft-employees millennial millennial-generation modern-age modern-life modern-society modern-workplace nerd nerd-culture nerds office-culture 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 quirky rave-culture relationship relationship-drama relationships robotics romance san-francisco satire satirical satirical-critique search-for-meaning seattle self-discovery silicon-valley social-awkwardness social-commentary social-dynamics social-interaction social-isolation social-media social-networking social-relationships societal-critique societal-pressures software 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 tech-industry techie technology technology-addiction technology-driven-society technology-industry vancouver video-games virtual-reality vulnerability work-culture work-life-balance workaholic workaholism workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-satire young-adult young-adults