Yeah I wanted to be a dev many years ago, that's how I got to know PG/YC/HN. But life took a turn, and I don't regret it actually, I like where things are heading. :)

To be honest, many people I work with are pretty nerdy compared to people with "real/corporate jobs" (it's a university bookstore afterall), but I also feel that we all ended up here because we were the disenfranchised type of nerdy people, so we don't open up our nerdy sides very much. Which means we still end up doing smalltalk etc. It's not that bad, just boring.

EDIT: Come to think of it, the nerdy people at work are mostly the bookworm-type who are more into novels etc. I think I'm literally the only person in the entire place that likes textbooks and academic titles haha. HMMMM

Interesting that there's still smalltalk in such a job. I always imagined that fitting into a specific image of an ideal person/worker is a burden that you have to carry in white-collar corporate jobs, while in low-end menial jobs you can just be your own grumpy self if you want to be, as nobody gives a damn as long as you get the job done. It was even portrayed in one episode of Black Mirror, where a truck driver was the only person free to express herself (because there was nothing she could lose, her job was not desirable).

I'm guessing it's all very context dependent. And Black Mirror was probably one end of the spectrum.

I think I'd much rather smalltalk with my colleagues than with people in the corporate world, or back in the suburds where I grew up.

And I think with my workplace, either because most of them are here for the job stability, or maybe because I live in Canada, a lot of our conversations aren't really conversations at all, but people talking to the air in a positive way so to make a harmonious environment. So often I start saying something and then realize the other person didn't hear me, and yet continue as if we totally get each other. That's what I meant by smalltalk.