Ask HN: Are your friends also in the tech space? Do you wish they were/weren't?
I'd say about 75-80% of my friends are teachers. While they are definitely smart, interesting people, they're not the least bit interested in the area of startups, entrepreneurship, emerging technologies etc. In fact, I'd be surprised if they even knew what I really did (I run two startups). None of them know what 'VC' or 'Angel' means. Again, not a knock against them, they are smart, it's just not their domain of expertise or interest.<p>Sometimes I wish I did have a social circle (when I say social circle, I don't mean twitter followers, FB friends etc. I mean people I grew up with, went to school & play hockey with) that was interested or involved in my area of interests because it'd be nice to bounce ideas off people you really like & trust. On the other hand, I guess I also like the fact that I can dis-engage from the world of startups whenever I want and I'm not trapped in a 24/7 echo chamber.<p>Curious if others have similar feelings or thoughts.
I don't have any friends who are into the tech space either. You're not alone in that. There is definitely something cool about being able to step out of it for a while. None of my friends read HN, reddit, or most of the news and blogs I read online, so in some ways real life and online life are completely separate. I see it similarly to you, sometimes a boon, sometimes a bane.
That said, I've been trying to network a bit to get more face to face acquaintances in tech, and I'm thinking that will be really helpful in the future.
My core group of friends are artists and teachers. They go to church and they live traditional lives. They keep me grounded and stable. I often turn to them more so than my tech friends for help and guidance. But the reason is because I don't see my tech friends being as mature given the same age. It's a time thing. Eventually everyone will be old enough and mature enough.
No one wants to talk shop all the time. That makes you as boring as a kooky professor.