How to fix Silicon Valley’s shortage of engineers? Free alcohol, of course

With their company-logo T-shirts tucked in by Gucci belts, gripping mixed drinks in Gatorade bottles and chatting about the latest work gossip, hundreds of interns streamed out of an all-paid-for coach bus on a Friday night in July. 

The interns, some riding there on the bus from Stanford, others coming by Uber, were lining up to enter the Pearl, a three-level club known for its 360-degree views of Dogpatch and the bay. Some had already gotten a buzz from the free booze offered at their workplaces.