Had lunch with a friend yesterday and we were talking about the tech economy and how many are about to get a severe wakeup call. He recalled his first year out of college when he was working downtown SF and the market crashed in 1987. People sitting on the sidewalk in shirts and ties, smoking cigarettes, staring at the ground. He said he had little idea of what had actually occurred at that point. I had a friend who was a broker at the time in the Pacific Stock Exchange and he had similar stories of everyone drowning their sorrows at the local watering holes.

Part of the issue here is that from my perspective, many people in tech approach their careers with a project based mindset, so for them to go out and 'find another gig' is just what happens. In contrast, people in financial services spend a lot of time building a customer base and it is not easy to take them with you if you leave so they look at it differently. I suspect there is probably some internal manipulation going on at the nest of the little bird to stoke the employee (over)reaction, but what they don't get yet is the lineup of gigs is rapidly shrinking. And kids? They OWN you. I've worked in an M&A situation; you walk in one day and are told "the company got sold" when the reality is YOU got sold. And you have zero say in the matter.

The reference to platforms collapsing under their own weight? Prime candidate. And it will be wonderful to watch.