I suppose I have never really agreed with the equivalence people on hacker news make between tech, and companies that do tech. To me, they are completely different topics. I don't consider CEOs my peers, no matter what sort of company they are in charge of. A jackass CEO of a "tech company" says absolutely nothing about tech to me.
I know what you mean. No matter where I work, big or small companies, I never really feel in the same peer group as CEOs. I am working in tech, though, so even if I don't feel like I'm a part of what they are doing I recognize that people outside of tech don't really see it that way.
As unfortunate as it is, businesses produce a lot of technology and hire most of the people working in tech on a daily basis. Even if I don't like it, those businesses are a part of the field I'm in and what they do affects me, esp. if they are contributing to alienating women who already have a hard time breaking into or working in tech.
Many readers of HN are in startups whose small teams have to deal with all aspects of running a tech company, from engineering to handling customer complaints like this. On the Keen IO blog we write about all aspects of starting a tech company, and many of our non-technical posts have been very popular here (e.g. negotiating salary, pitching).
It would be interesting to see the breakdown of HN readership. I always assumed a large portion are YC companies and other startups who would be able to relate to these kinds of posts.
