"Hacker" as in "Hacker News" is from an even more distant past. The word just got appropriately decaffeinated, so as to be acceptable within our current iteration of group think.
I was asking people if they were programmers, the median reaction was "a programmer? oh lord no, I'm a [marketing/UI/non-technical] person".
It seems the term was coopted and gutted by some in the startup scene.
(I'm aware there are legitimate hackers in the startup scene, this was just one particular event in one particular city.)
Many talented tech folks move to first-tier Canadian cities, or to first tier U.S. cities, which are zeroth tier by Canadian standards, if they aren't tied down.
They are obviously confusing a hack with a hacker.
/me ducks
Nothing wrong (or right) with any of that. I'm just observing.