Anna Wiener
Anna Wiener on Being a Jewish Woman ‘Outsider’ in the Tech World
Midway through our conversation, author Anna Wiener tells me, “Tech culture is just incredibly goyishe. I don’t even know where to begin with that.”
We had been talking about her experiences as a Jewish woman in the tech industry in Silicon Valley, where Wiener always felt like an outsider. Her debut memoir, Uncanny Valley, is “written from the perspective of an insider who never felt fully accepted, or fully like an insider.”
“In talking to my friends about this, especially the Jewish ones, people are like, ‘Oh, you feel like an outsider in your own culture? How unique,'” she jokes sarcastically. “I do think that there’s a long tradition of people on the periphery of their own experience who are Jewish.”
Uncanny Valley is a gripping and engaging read, and as I wrote in our most anticipated books of winter 2020, a searing indictment of start-up culture and “tech bros.” It’s meant for those who work in tech and those whose lives are impacted by tech (so, all of us). And I can’t recommend it highly enough. Wiener moved from New York to San Francisco in her mid-20s, ended up at a data start-up, and remained in the industry for the next five years. Uncanny Valley traces her experiences, but as she emphasizes over the course of our conversation, the book is about much more than just her experience. It’s the experience of so many women and others in the industry who are not CEOs or venture capitalists, but the people creating — and supporting — the technology that is fundamental to our world.
I chatted with Wiener about all things Uncanny Valley — from advice she would give to someone looking to work in tech, to what is currently giving her hope.
