1990s 20th-century 90s 90s-culture 90s-nostalgia adventure ambition artificial-intelligence aspirations bill-gates canadian-author canadian-literature career character-driven code coding comedy coming-of-age competition computer computer-bugs computer-culture computer-engineering computer-engineers computer-industry computer-programmers computer-programming computer-science computer-software computers consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-america corporate-culture corporate-driven-society corporate-environment corporate-ladder corporate-life corporate-lifestyle corporate-world coupland coworking creativity culture data digital-age digital-lifestyle digital-revolution disillusionment dot-com-boom dot-com-era douglas douglas-coupland drama dystopian-fiction employee-satisfaction employees engineering entrepreneurial-spirit entrepreneurialism entrepreneurship escape escapism existential-crisis existentialism exploration fast-paced fiction friendship friendships futurism gaming geek geek-culture geek-humor geek-squad geeks geeky-humor gen-x generation-x generational-divide hacker-culture hackers happiness human-relationships humor humorous identity identity-crisis individuality information-technology innovation internet internet-boom internet-culture internet-revolution introspection introspective isolation it-industry life-at-a-tech-company life-in-the-tech-industry lifestyle loneliness love mental-health microserfs microsoft-campus microsoft-culture microsoft-employees microsoft-redmond-campus millennial millennial-culture millennial-generation modern-life modern-society modern-workplace multitasking 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 programmer-humor programmers programming programming-languages psychological-thriller quirky rave-culture reality-vs-virtual-reality relationship relationship-drama relationships robotics romance san-francisco satire satirical search-for-meaning seattle self-discovery silicon-valley silicon-valley-life social-commentary social-dynamics social-interaction social-isolation social-media social-networking social-relationships software software-development software-engineering software-engineers software-industry start-up start-up-company start-up-culture start-ups startup startup-culture startups storytelling success tech-industry technology technology-addiction technology-driven-society technology-industry video-games virtual-reality work-culture work-life-balance workaholic workplace workplace-challenges workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire young-adult young-adult-fiction young-adults young-professionals