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Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

janellequibuyen.com

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Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#41

Post by corecoder »

gxs wrote: post #30
paulcole wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You can live at home with your parents and try out ideas" You say this like it's a privilege that everyone has. Not everyone has this option.

Omfg give it a rest already. Yes, some people are more privileged than others. But if you're going to hang out on an internet forum full of professional programmers only to lament how privileged everyone is youre going to have a bad time. In the context of this forum and this discussion, nothing about what the parent said screams privilege. Living with your parents after college is privilege now? Where the hell does…

Yes, living with your parents is (somewhat) privilege. Yes, most of us reading HN are privileged, often in more than one way. No, the alternatives are not forgetting our privilege or giving up joy and happiness, the alternatives are being self absorbed and unaware or trying not to.

Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#42

Post by exolymph »

fao_ wrote: post #36
aub3bhat wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite new ridiculous word is "silent technical privilege"[1] , according to which we now must apologize for having interests in technical subjects since childhood, rather than socializing and getting drunk like rest of the "unfortunate" kids. [1] http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/01/...

It isn't, and never has been, about apologising. It is about recognising that you had a step-up based on being part of a particular demographic, and then either acknowledging that other people won't necessarily have had those step-ups, helping to level the playing field by giving extra help to those who don't have that step-up, or both. So, basically equalising things a wee bit.

I agree with you, but beware the motte and bailey of social justice buzzwords: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/07/social-justice-and-word...

Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#43

Post by thesimpsons1022 »

spinPhysician wrote: post #12

Ten years ago, the rhetorical buzzwords of that period had gotten really, really tedious. Words like: - Patriot - Freedom - Terrorism - Never Forget - If we don't do X, they win Ten years later, and I'm glad those words are a joke by now. But only to face new words: - Privilege - Trigger - Victim Blaming - Social Justice - Perpetuating false narratives Buzzwords only have currency with people who want others to stop…

I don't even see those that much. What is more annoying to me is the circlejerk against it. I feel like people spend hours crawling Tumblr to find some post like that and then try to pretend that's the mainstream opinion. You're really edgy and smart being on the percent of the other 99 pct of us.

Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#45

Post by TeMPOraL »

yardie wrote: post #20
FreedomToCreate wrote: post #2

Passion without genuine skill and knowledge is useless. You can be passionate about many things, for example cars, but unless you put in the hours, your passion doesn't mean you will be a great car engineer, or automotive company executive. [EDIT] Also want to add that people grossly underestimate the responsibility of being their own boss. There are a lot of tasks you have to handle outside of your usual work like f…

There are lots of startups that I considered dumb. A messaging service that only allows 140characters sounds ridiculous. But here we are. In trying to start my own business I'm still learning to get over my own self doubt.

> A messaging service that only allows 140characters sounds ridiculous. But here we are.

A world in which such a service is a billion-dolar business is a world which's aggregate business method is to throw random shit at the wall and see what sticks. In other words, success in startups is a lottery.

I hope I cheered you up. :).

Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#46

Post by geofft »

spinPhysician wrote: post #12

Ten years ago, the rhetorical buzzwords of that period had gotten really, really tedious. Words like: - Patriot - Freedom - Terrorism - Never Forget - If we don't do X, they win Ten years later, and I'm glad those words are a joke by now. But only to face new words: - Privilege - Trigger - Victim Blaming - Social Justice - Perpetuating false narratives Buzzwords only have currency with people who want others to stop…

What about words like

    - Disruption
    - Free software
    - DevOps
    - Dragnet surveillance
    - Fair use
    - Intellectual property
    - Responsive design
Are these words politicized buzzwords? Why or why not? They all seem to be shorthand words that deeply embed a particular worldview that not everyone agrees with. Do they also seem to you to be manipulative and pandering and dishonest?

Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#47

Post by exolymph »

ravenstine wrote: post #13

Life is full of trade-offs, and sometimes the choices you make don't work out. The author sounds pissed off because they took a risk that didn't work out, so he's telling everyone that it's objectively "bullshit" to make himself feel better about his lack of success like it's someone else's fault. The fact is that both the haves and the have-nots take these kind of risks all the time, and few succeed. But some do and…

> Basically, the post reeks of bitter naive white guy problems, and I want my 3 minutes back.

The author is a woman of color.

Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#48

Post by exolymph »

alex82398 wrote: post #29

It is not bullshit. I quit my job, and it worked fairly well, 6 figures in remote job, I even got on stage with Google vice-president. The problem is that you need to give it 100%. Otherwise you are just replacing one job with another. It is not good idea to 'travel the world' while building next startup. Best thing is to lock yourself in cheap basement, work 12 hours day, take regular walks, eat and sleep. What kill…

*author herself

also lol at the disclaimer

Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#49

Post by exolymph »

dwaltrip wrote: post #14
cloudjacker wrote: post #3

so this isn't the obvious "duh" post tl;dr OP quit their job because they were depressed, got bombarded with quips about how courageous they were, got seduced by conflating their depression with a courageous career choice, then talks about what caused other people to be so excited for them when entrepreneurial endeavors is a privilege reserved for the upper class, instead of a practical social contract of the America…

No he is saying it is disingenuous & dangerous to pretend everyone can just as easily quit everything and become your own boss, with the same risks. For someone who is "less privileged" (or however you are supposed to describe it), the consequences can be more severe if failure happens. While the rich, ivy league grad whose endeavor flops can go home to pops and rebuild his resume, hit up his network, and get a great…

*she

Re: Quitting your job to pursue your passion is a privilege

#50

Post by xivzgrev »

beatpanda wrote: post #27

tl;dr "Being your own boss is hard work." It's true that some people are going to have an easier time quitting a full time job to pursue a passion than others. The correct response is for those of us who have that privilege to do our best to recognize that not everyone can do that, and then enable those people for whom that's harder. Discussions of privilege derail when they turn in to "...and so you should feel bad…

I dont think thats author was saying. Its just that when we paint the pretty vision, we should be explicit about who is applies for / include disclaimers. Otherwise some people who have obstacles in their reality that you did not have may feel inspired, take a leap and...crash into those obstacles.

You cant be responsible for other peoples actions, but to the degree you can be self aware about whom your advice applies to, you should.

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