Makerbot Replicators only cost $2.2k. Not nearly impulse purchase range, but affordable for most engineers (well, assuming metro/urban USA), especially if you go in on it with a couple of other local hackers. I'm somewhat surprised 3D printer co-oping isn't more of a "thing" since the price is right for that and for most people they aren't something you need physical access to on a daily basis.

And of course there are even cheaper options, down to about $500 though obviously YMMV on quality/materials/etc.

In my experience, most major North American cities have a hackerspace or two, and they nearly always have 3D printers.

I'd say that's a "thing", as much as one would expect, given the limited quality and utility of them as of now.

If you're suggesting this isn't a good reason to want to work for GitHub I think you're missing the point, which is that GitHub seems like a fun place to work in general.

I think that's the point :P