Early tech people were different. Before there was much money in tech, only sincere nerds went into it.

Since the mid-90s, there've been an increasing number of money-focused techies. Probably still a minority, though.

In fact, before the 80s, finance was also mostly sincere accounting nerds. Then someone got the surprising idea that bankers could be Masters of the Universe.

It happened to doctors too. And lawyers before that.