I'm guessing the use of AnyObject is implicitly bridging Int and String to their non-struct types. The benchmark for an array with type Any seems to perform twice as fast as AnyObject.
Great article. The diversity in tech is definitely apparent in Oakland. Not just in employee demographics, but in how companies tend to think in a different manner.
The article mentions that start-ups in Oakland are driven by a social mission, and it's very true. I work at VSCO and we're based in Oakland. VSCO is not about giving likes, being popular, or generating money through ads. We are simply about empowering the community with the art of photography. Without trying to sound too self-righteous, I like to think that the tech companies coming to Oakland also share a sentiment of contributing to social causes bigger than themselves.