An Interview with Paul Graham: Hackers & Painters 10 Years Later

PG: ”Hacking is getting a lot cooler now. But I think it is probably better for picking people up at parties if you can say you’re a painter.”<p>At a party, I say I used to be a painter, but gave it up because I can paint utter shit and still get recognition for it. When you code utter shit, nothing matters unless that shit works.<p>Most people don&#x27;t understand either profession. Nowadays I just say - &quot;I&#x27;m still a practising artist, but I only practise the black arts.&quot; Then I try and explain recursion to them.

<i>When Hackers &amp; Painters came out in 2003… hacking was not cool. Computer science was not cool. Having a startup was not cool.</i><p>I&#x27;m sort of curious about this, as I was still in grade school at the time. Can someone who was, say, in college or a recent graduate in 2003 comment to this? What was the climate like?

<i>Paul Graham addressing the Y Combinator crowd</i><p>White, males, crowd.