Inside Tech’s Wild Subcultures: From Devfluencers to Codepreneurs—A Candid Exposé
Written by Massa Medi
The tech world is the land of visionary founders and groundbreaking products, all striving to maximize shareholder value. But here’s the untold truth: as you dive deeper into technology, you’ll encounter a colorful cast of characters. The most common trait? Not dazzling IQs. No, it’s that they’re all annoying and obnoxious in their own unique way. And let’s not pretend I’m above it all—after all, who’s more insufferable than the devfluencer? That’s right: me.
The Evolution of the Devfluencer: From Mediocre Books to TikTok Brain Rot
The Dev Influencer isn’t a new phenomenon. Back in the 2000s, devfluencers were hawking mediocre programming books—more likely to cure your insomnia than your coding woes. By the 2010s, they upgraded to hosting expensive online courses. As we progressed to the 2020s, the hustle has shifted: now it’s all about getting you to subscribe to their Twitch stream for the perfect bargain of $5 a month.
In the old days, becoming a coding creator actually required skills. At minimum, you had to write a few lines of code and drum up a catchy title for an otherwise abysmal book. But today? All you really need is a mustache and a snarky, polarizing hot take on web development. No longer is your favorite code editor Vim or Emacs—it’s CapCut, so you can crank out TikToks of questionable value at blazingly fast speeds.
The True Menace: The Blogger
But devfluencers aren’t the final boss. The real scourge of tech influencers? Bloggers. If you’ve ever been in the thick of coding, desperately searching “how to reverse a list in Python,” you know the pain. The top search result is always a rambling, over-SEO’d post from some random company or consultancies with names like “Code Solution Hub.” Before giving you one actual line of code, you’re treated to a whopping 9,000-word essay on the ancient origins of the written word. All you wanted was list.reverse(), and instead, you got a lesson in cuneiform.
The Codepreneur: All About the Benjamins (and JS Templates)
Enter the codepreneur: the evil twin of the devfluencer. Their entire self-worth, identity, and even awkward chats with their mother revolve around one thing: money. A telltale sign? Just check their Twitter bio. Their proudest achievement is having earned big bucks—selling, naturally, a generic Next.js template. Call them out for recycling the same code as everyone else, and you’re instantly blocked.
The codepreneur archetype is almost always European, which—if we’re being cheeky—mirrors modern European society: think “pickpocketing” and “zero innovation.” When Americans want to scam you, at least they brand it as SaaS. But for codepreneurs, programming is just a means to an end—there’s no love for software engineering, only for cold, hard cash.
The Sales Guy: Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaires
But wait, it gets worse. Imagine the codepreneur graduates, and instead of learning to code, morphs into... the Sales Guy. These folks—self-proclaimed “temporarily embarrassed millionaires”—are the true force of chaos in your coworking space. Ever had the misfortune of sharing an office with them? You’ll know, because they’re the ones screeching with glee about closing a six-figure deal for a feature that, surprise, doesn’t exist yet. And now it’s needed... in two weeks.
Decked out in a Rolex and Arc’teryx jacket to compensate for never having built a tangible skill in their life, the Sales Guy pulls legendary overtime hours doing supremely mentally stimulating work: crafting slide decks, replying to endless emails, and scheduling meetings as if their lives depend on it.
Product Managers: Praise Without Purpose
Who else lurks in the tech jungle? Product people. Product managers are what happens when you’re neither technical enough for software engineering nor charismatic enough for sales. Big Tech needed a way to keep their nepo babies employed, and CEOs needed someone to handle the tasks intelligence and ambition alone can’t tackle. Product Managers: They’re in charge of the search bar on Reddit—the one whose existence makes you question your own purpose—just remember, that functionality has its own dedicated, salaried overseer.
Product managers have a knack for getting heaps of praise while seldom doing concrete work. That’s why so many end up as CEOs. And if you ever wondered why “vibe coding” videos rack up so many views? You can thank your friendly neighborhood product manager.
Tech Supremacists: The Obsessive, Opinionated Die-hards
The tech industry has its share of supremacists—think of them as the hardline fans who believe the technology they champion is the alpha and omega of human achievement. Disagree? Clearly, you’re wrong in their book. While sometimes a pain to interact with, tech supremacists at least study technology deeply and are often net positives for the community. Ever found a super detailed, life-saving blog post about an obscure Docker bug? Thank a tech supremacist.
But don’t get too cozy. These folks still fall into the category of “difficult to be around.” Case in point: Linux users. They save a fortune, not from tech salaries, but from never purchasing deodorant or cologne. We salute their commitment to open source—and questionable hygiene.
FAANG Sexuals: Maximizing Shareholder Value, One Soul at a Time
For every would-be crypto bro determined to break free of “the Matrix,” there’s an army of studious overachievers—affectionately dubbed the FAANG sexuals—ready to sacrifice everything for a shot at using the bathroom at Google HQ. Personality? Optional. Shareholder value? Essential. Sometimes, they even dabble in content creation—but not about exciting topics like distributed systems or scalable databases. No, it’s all about how they started leetcoding at the tender age of four, and if you didn’t... well, tough luck for your dreams.
The Moral? Tech’s a Quirky Parade—Mostly Odorless, Occasionally Parasitic
So, what did chronicling this expedition into tech subcultures teach me? At best, everyone in technology skips the deodorant aisle—at worst, they’re parasitic and a net negative for society.
When I entered the tech industry five years ago, I envisioned meeting the sharpest minds, the guardians upholding our digital world. Instead, I collided with a glorious circus of oddballs who couldn’t hold a conversation with your neighborhood mechanic (and let’s appreciate mechanics—they’re genuinely brilliant folks).