The Technical Advisor for Silicon Valley on HBO: Ed McManus

Summary

Ed McManus, the technical advisor for season three of Silicon Valley on HBO, shares his experience working on the show. He joined the team without prior notice and spent his first day listening and providing input to the writers. His role was to provide technical explanations and correct any inaccuracies in the script. The show focuses on the characters and their emotions rather than specific technical details. The compression algorithm portrayed in the show, called middle-out, is based on real machine learning development. The team draws on knowledge from the dot-com boom era and explores the concept of growth hacking. The show incorporates real stories from the headlines and aims to include authentic elements. McManus had to convince the creators to move to AWS and paid attention to detail in the background elements. He accidentally created a fake compression algorithm that gained attention on Reddit. His role is primarily for story purposes, providing input on character development and technical details. He believes that other shows accurately portray technical details. The production budgets for new shows are increasing, resulting in higher quality episodes. McManus found working on the show to be a cathartic experience and is excited for future projects. Y Combinator and Hacker News were not mentioned in the show, despite their significance in Silicon Valley. McManus believes they should have been included as essential resources for startups.

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