Live data from Hacker News

If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

activevoice.charlesbivona.com

51–60 of 152 posts

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#51
I read a lot of comments mentioning how the author is overqualified for the jobs he's applying to.

But we've gotta consider two things:

1) We're currently in a depression/recession. Jobs are scarce out there.

2) He has a Masters degree in English! Compared to most of us on Hacker News, we don't have experience job hunting with an arts degree.

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's consuming value.

Then we disagree on the value of staying alive irrespective of one's productivity level.

You're being intentionally ignorant of the way everyone else uses the term "creating value," which describes work that improves the world around you, not just work that happens to keep you alive.

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a better suggestion?

Yeah. Learn how to get a satisfying job instead of taking bad advice from an incompetent career counselor. Maybe doing 3hrs worth of data entry this the most economic value this guy can provide. In that case, he better learn to settle. The answer is right there in the article. “I learned all I needed to know in high school, ya know,” he argued. “I wanted to make money." The way to get a job is to convince your boss y…

I've had a lot of success relating to the employer like a frat boy. It's way easier to get hired this way than actually knowing how to do something.

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#54
post #15

It would appear that you talk like a fag, and that your shit's all retarded.

Why are you voting this guy down? It's a quote from Idiocracy.

Is that supposed to be a reason? How does being a quote from Idiocracy make it worth posting?

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#55
post #12

I expected this article to be something totally different. I think it was a great article, though the title had little to do with the moral of the story. But man I can relate. When I graduated with my Mechanical and Electrical Engineering degrees, I thought the world was my oyster. I found a sweet job called Marketing Engineer that required both a well-formed understanding of engineering and a knack for marketing and…

I totally sympathize and if you are on the startup path it sounds like quiting was the right move. But I think your expectations for an entry level job are too high. One thing newly minted adults would do well to realize is your first few years at any job are going to be spent doing the grunt work. If you go into it expecting to spend your days oscillating between mind numbing boredom and hectic days filled with busy…

You're telling me, my expectations absolutely were too high in this case.

However, at this particular company, it was actually the accepted culture to hate your job and hate the company. Seriously, people seemed to compete with each other at how miserable they were. 2-3 years would not have made a difference here.

That aside, assuming it would have gotten better in 2-3 years, is it really worth spending 2-3 years of your early-twenties being miserable, convincing yourself that it's necessary and will get better at a later time? Afterall, that's what everyone at this company had done, except replace 2-3 years with 20-30 years; they were in it for retirement.

Where do you draw the line? I guess that's a personal decision everyone has to figure out for themselves. My line was 8 months.

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#56
If this story is trying to convince me that it makes sense to dumb down credentials ("at least I was employed") it was not successful. He apparently sent out his resume to roughly every business he saw on the street. Perhaps if he had represented himself better on it, he would have gotten a different job that doesn't suck.

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#57

I'm 35. I'll try not to be too critical. Moral of the story: Being educated doesn't say anything about you being smart. Here's the rub. A college degree is a specialization. That's why you "major" in something. It was never designed to be an extension of high school. So, you should get a degree in something that you are both passionate about and also accept the limited career paths that come with that particular pass…

Specialization can definitely be a negative when you apply for a position where your degree doesn't apply.

As an employer, if you see someone applying for a "billing specialist" (read: fairly unspecialized) job with a masters or PhD, you instantly think: "This person is not going to be satisfied working this job, this person is going to want to get paid too much, etc"

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#58

I'm 35. I'll try not to be too critical. Moral of the story: Being educated doesn't say anything about you being smart. Here's the rub. A college degree is a specialization. That's why you "major" in something. It was never designed to be an extension of high school. So, you should get a degree in something that you are both passionate about and also accept the limited career paths that come with that particular pass…

Part of the problem is that there is almost no career path for the specialization called "Masters in Humanities." Even with a PhD, the career path is very limited. I've watched my sister-in-law, with a PhD in English and teaching experience, pretty much give up on her career because it is nearly impossible to find a tenure-track position in the humanities.

Re: If You’re So Damn Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you voting this guy down? It's a quote from Idiocracy.

1. Because this isn't reddit. Random quotes add little to the discussion. 2. Because it misses the point, in that the problem is the author, not everyone else being stupid.

No humor allowed. Got it. Thanks.
Post reply on HN