Live data from Hacker News

This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

medium.com

51–60 of 182 posts

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And let me put it this way: Every working couple except for one that I know with a kid has hired a nanny for at least some portion of the time, including myself.

A nanny is not a part-time worker. That is a babysitter. A nanny lives with the family.

A nanny doesn't necessarily live with the family, but the 'primary care setting' (i.e. where they take care of the children most of the time) is the child's home. They can also be part-time.

The key difference is that a nanny is usually a formal salaried employee with regular contracted hours, whereas a babysitter is typically paid an hourly rate and is self-employed.

https://www.care.com/a/what-is-the-difference-between-a-baby...

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#53
post #49

Well written. I like the tone. I think it's a particular case of a global concern : what the purpose of life and how to live it well ? Even if i'm very different and put my efforts in other domains than "looking smart for other people". I'm asking myself similar questions: doubt about past choices, job, city, and so on.

At the point you get to 'self-actualization', you realize that it's best done by helping others get to that point. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a pyramid scheme.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#54
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A nanny is not a part-time worker. That is a babysitter. A nanny lives with the family.

Is it in the US ? In the UK to be a nanny, childminder or work in a nursery you have specific regulation and qualification required. A babysitter requires nothing, it can and generally is some teenage kid. The difference with all 3 is where the child go. Nursery has special dedicated facilities to take care of several children, number limited by the number of employee and size. A childminder will take care of 1 to 3…

Again UK-specific: They only _need_ qualifications to register with OFSTED, and as a parent, it's up to you whether you require your childcare to be registered. If you leave your kids with a friend, for example, your friend doesn't need any kind of qualifications. However, you can only get Government subsidies (like child tax credits and childcare vouchers) for a registered childcare provider.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#55
post #22

You guys take yourselves too seriously. I think this article is funny as hell. "You briefly use mobile Safari to browse for Vipassana retreats — you hear a 10 day retreat in Soquel may be the ticket to shake things up. You realize it’s not going to be possible. You download a meditation app. You turn it off. You don’t have time." TOO REAL

Very surprised to not see any jabs at Burning Man, or waiting in line for brunch.

I don't really know about brunch, although I guess there's something about waiting the better part of an hour to eat that makes it attractive to hipsters because I sure have seen them do it a lot.

But my guess is that Burning Man is rather passé, and has been roughly since people who hadn't been there started hearing about it in large numbers.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#56
post #5

For the last decade since I moved here, my life in silicon valley was more like: wake up without an alarm, brew a cup of dragon well tea, walk my dog, hit my gym for slow and steady progress, check email for crises, deal with anything other people care about, maybe go to the office. Have some lunch, write code until I'm tired, then maybe make an effort to socialize. As far as coal mining goes, these are sweet digs.

Great! I'm really glad to hear you've found a lifestyle that works well for you. Is it possible your experience isn't representative?

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#57
I remember reading about a third of "Portnoy's Complaint" and then closing the book and putting it aside forever when I realized that it was supposed to be comedy and not tragedy. Same thing happened with this article.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#58
post #5

For the last decade since I moved here, my life in silicon valley was more like: wake up without an alarm, brew a cup of dragon well tea, walk my dog, hit my gym for slow and steady progress, check email for crises, deal with anything other people care about, maybe go to the office. Have some lunch, write code until I'm tired, then maybe make an effort to socialize. As far as coal mining goes, these are sweet digs.

Great! I'm really glad to hear you've found a lifestyle that works well for you. Is it possible your experience isn't representative?

Likely not, but this portrayal in the article isn't close either. It only applies to 'hot startup' folks, which are a subset of startups, which are a tiny subset of employees here.

Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley

#59
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$60k is more than 88% of Americans make in total income. Having that for discretionary spending would place you well within the top 1-2% of Americans, regardless of how much or how little your living expenses are.

Living expenses make up the majority of most people's living expenses, and this person owns the house they live in, which means it's possible their expenses aren't that high to begin with. They imply as much in their post. So it's possible their salary is like $70-75k. The median salary in the US is $52k. In light of that, I, too, would call his salary "decently high".

$52,000 is the median household income, not median salary.
Post reply on HN