Patrick Shyu: One of the Most Polarizing Figures in Tech

As the TechLead, Patrick Shyu is exceedingly honest and open.

He speaks in depth about his experience at top tech companies, gives viewers insights into his personal life (including his divorce), and shares his controversial views on social justice issues. Some would call his openness an asset, while others would say its cause for Shyu’s failings. No matter one’s view, these characteristics make him one of the most polarizing (and trending) figures in tech.

How Shyu Got His Start

Shyu’s rise to prominence can be attributed to his time spent at two top companies -- Google as a tech lead and Facebook as a staff software engineer.

Before his tenure at these two FAANG companies, Patrick Shyu worked in computer graphics. Dissatisfied with this work, Shyu decided to pivot to a new career. He quit his job and spent a couple of months teaching himself a programming language while abroad in China.

When he returned to the U.S., Shyu started applying for jobs at Google, his dream company. In a video, Shyu said that Google rejected him multiple times, but he continued to apply until he was accepted. 

Shyu said this continued persistence and hard work led too much of his success at Google and later down the road. Shyu eventually, became a tech lead at the company. Tech leads act as managers to teams of software engineers. They’re responsible for keeping software development on track and acting as the face of their team. 

While at Google, Shyu also started his YouTube channel called TechLead. In the beginning, the channel focused on vlogs about Shyu’s work at Google and gave tips for how others could get into the industry.

Shyu said he learned a lot as a tech lead at Google, but one of the biggest things he realized is that these top tech companies aren’t necessarily the end game. 

“When you first get into one of these top tech companies you think ‘oh it’s so great’ and you think you’re never going to leave, but over time that actually becomes your baseline and it’s not really the end of a journey, but the continuation of your journey,” Shyu said. 

After three and a half years, Shyu felt it was time for him to broaden his scope in tech, so he resigned from Google. He said his time at Google helped him land a job as a staff software engineer at Facebook in May 2018. 

Shyu’s time there was short-lived, as he was fired about a year and a half after starting there. In a video entitled “Day in the Life of a Facebook Software Engineer,” Shyu makes fun of Facebook HR employees and claims he was fired because of his YouTube videos, which he says the company didn’t like. In this same video, he criticized Facebook's culture, saying it felt like a “shouting match” and a “popularity contest” where only those that were loudest about their work did well.

The TechLead on YouTube: Success and Conflict

Success

While his departure from Facebook was abrupt, Shyu tried to be as positive about it as possible. After reflecting on his time, Shyu realized he wasn't happy at Facebook because he didn’t enjoy the work.

“It dawned on me pretty quickly that none of the teams at Facebook interested me.”

Shyu didn’t fight to keep his job, but rather felt “kind of relieved” because he was consistently working 80-hour work weeks and was afraid he would never leave. He thought about jumping back into the job market following Facebook, but realized that wouldn’t be right for him.

Instead, Shyu decided to focus on expanding his YouTube channel, TechLead. What started as a side hustle now has over 800 thousand subscribers. Shyu’s videos, with some click-bait-like titles, primarily focus on topics related to Silicon Valley and making money in the tech industry. Recent videos garnered anywhere from 60 thousand to 200 thousand+ views.

Conflict

Towards the end of 2019, Shyu found himself in the center of conflict with ex-Google software engineer, Clément Mihailescu and the much younger YouTuber, Tren Black.

In an attempt to expand his individual endeavors, Shyu partnered with YouTuber and ex-Facebook data scientist, Joma Tech to create the platform AlgoPro. The site was dedicated to offering online help with technical programming interviews and a professional community. 

AlgoPro, however, seemed to be modeled after Mihailescu’s AlgoExpert, a site also meant to help with technical interviews that already had 10,000 users

Once people began pointing this out, Shyu started "trolling" AlgoExpert by secretly purchasing a website domain (algoexpert.com). This domain name was eerily close to Mihailescu’s website, algoexpert.io. People who visited the fake ".com" site were redirected to AlgoPro.

Mihailescu addressed this issue in a YouTube video, saying the domain algoexpert.io is the only AlgoExpert site. Although this particular issue was resolved, Shyu later got into a conflict with Tren Black, a college YouTuber who wanted to expose Shyu for what he did.

As Aphinya Dechalert points out in the article "The Rise and Fall From Grace Of The TechLead", these actions and conflicts are partly cause for Shyu’s “downfall” in the tech community.

The TechLead on Diversity and Black Lives Matter

Diversity & Inclusion in Tech

Today, Patrick Shyu focuses mostly on TechLead and his other venture, Tech Interview Pro. Recently, however, comments from Shyu about diversity and inclusion efforts have reinforced his polarizing image, as many find the comments harmful.

Diversity and inclusion (or a lack thereof) is one of the most critical conversations in the tech industry today. People are trying to understand why certain demographics are absent from the industry and the consequences of a majority white/male field. This impact extends beyond a company's culture-- it also limits innovative potential.

Diversity at Facebook

According to a Reveal News article, the industry began to address these issues more aggressively around 2014 when top tech companies started releasing diversity reports. The numbers in these reports are rather stark, as Latino and Black populations are significantly underrepresented, especially at managerial and executive levels. 

Shyu’s own former employer, Facebook, does not stand out in terms of representation. According to their 2020 diversity report, Facebook employee demographics were 53% Asian, 42% White, 6.3% Latino, 4% two or more races and 3.9% Black. Their female population was 37%. 

Shyu criticized Facebook harshly when he was fired -- there were at least five videos about the company's shortcomings. In one, Shyu talked about a tendency for the company to be “very political.”

“When you walk around the Facebook campus, you will see posters and art everywhere. Nearly every piece of art is political in nature,” said Shyu, “It is about LGBT pride or it may be about immigration, equality, and gender-free politics, all of this diversity stuff... I think it’s great. I just think it’s a little too heavy handed.”

The comments above foreshadow what Shyu says in later videos, which directly address diversity and inclusion programs.

"Why Diversity is garbage"

In the video “Why Diversity is garbage (as an ex-Google tech lead),” Shyu criticizes the growing frequency of diversity programs, especially those that focus on giving underrepresented groups exclusive opportunities.

For example, he looked down on Womanhack, a company that “promotes gender equality in tech and helps people get hired at companies that are committed to diversity in the workplace.” One of their main services includes hosting invite-only events for women in tech.

Diversity programs aimed at helping underrepresented groups succeed in these fields are one of the main ways that companies and organizations work to address diversity issues. By specifically focusing on these groups, it’s more likely that companies will find candidates from different backgrounds.

Shyu, however, said programs that prioritize these underrepresented groups are creating a field hostile to other groups -- mainly White and Asian populations. Additionally, he claimed they are discriminatory in nature, and could even be illegal. He said this is not the type of field he wants his son to enter when he gets older.

“I’m just imagining this field that can be very hostile to him and other people like him as well.”

The tech industry’s conversation about diversity and inclusion is constantly evolving as companies work to change this traditionally homogeneous space.

With these ideas in mind, Shyu thinks the industry should operate on a meritocracy basis. A couple of his suggestions for diversifying the field include creating programs for high school students to boost interest in tech from the start and increasing access to maternity leave. However, it is also clear that he isn’t keen on much else.

Black Lives Matter

Shyu is also voicing his opinion about other social issues in the U.S., namely the Black Live Matter Movement.

In a recent video entitled “Exposing #BlackLivesMatter: it's just reverse-racism.”, Shyu shared his thoughts and criticisms of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Shyu criticized the movement saying that people are taking on the “victim mentality.”

“This isn’t about logic. It’s not about equality. It’s not about a debate. People don’t really want a rational discussion. Nobody is out there really discussing the issues. People are out there just fueled by emotion, rage, general frustration at society... People want privilege and this is really the only means. You start blaming other people for your position and you just take on the victim mentality.”

Shyu continued on to say the Black people aren’t the only minorities in the U.S. that are discriminated against. He also said Black people have “had it pretty good,” citing the movie Black Panther, Former President Barack Obama, and the NBA as reasons why.

This specific video received much criticism on Twitter. Mojola Balogun, a student at Rice University, explained that Shyu's harmful views are part of why Black people may not remain in tech for long.

“This is a former Google and Facebook software engineering manager. These are his views on BLM and racism in the US. At top tech companies, Black people consistently make up less than 3% of engineers. Why is diversity and Black retention so low? Because these are our managers.”

Patrick Shyu did not respond to multiple requests for comments.

Banner Image Credit: Quora.com, article titled "Who is Patrick Shyu?", linked here.