Randomly enough, the writer of this previously achieved HN fame when he was unstoppably fired by a machine:
I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
351–360 of 458 posts
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
For anyone interested, I highly recommend _Theory of the Leisure Class_, in which Veblen developed the notion: http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/LCS/theoryleisureclass.pdf
It's worth asking if most of what society is doing is prestige-seeking? Conspicuous consumption is undeniable when looking at some goods and services, but what about the ordinary, say university?
University is definitely a prestige good. Most people don’t go into the profession they trained in. Lots of people studied something there are either no jobs in or they never even intended to practice professionally. Most people forget most of every university class they ever took. People care enormously about the prestige of university attended even though what’s covered in an engineering or literature degree at Harvard and Directional State U will have huge overlap. Finally, look at credentialism; people need Master's to get jobs that used to require a. Bachelor’s and a Bachelor’s for ones that used to require a Master’s. The Case Against Education, Bryan Caplan, has much more but education is absolutely a positional good. People don’t just want it. They want to have more than other people do so that in a legible ranking they’re superior.
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#353My parents had been running their own tailor shop in the 80's, barely making ends meet, pulling in less than $20K a year. It wasn't for lack of business, father was a master tailor trained in Italy and capable of elite bespoke craftsmanship. They had as much business as they could handle. The problem was that they were charging what they thought the work was worth rather than what their customers were willing to pay.…
This reminds me one of my favorite comments of patio11 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4477088 >> Frew, who apprenticed with a Savile Row tailor, can — all by himself, and almost all by hand — create a pattern, cut fabric and expertly construct a suit that, for about $4,000, perfectly molds to its owner’s body. In a city filled with very rich people, he quickly had all the orders he could handle. > You don't hav…
I wonder if it's sustainable though. If you keep raising the prices and people buy what you're selling, and then eventually realize the quality isn't up to par of what they're paying for.
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#354I had worked for a big bank doing financial modelling, reporting, random ad-hoc stuff for about 3.5 years before getting fairly bored. I quit and went to work for a small AI/ML* consulting firm whose biggest client turned out to be the same bank I used to work for.
Before I left, I gave my boss an opportunity to beat the new salary that was offered to me. He said he couldn't.
My annual pay was ~170k at the bank, but now they pay $2500 a DAY for me to be there, and, as a consultant, I work FAR less hard and far fewer hours (albeit in a completely different division). I've been here for 10 months now and it seems like it will continue indefinitely...
This article has strongly reminded me to start doing my own thing and charge even more.
*In reality, all I do is data engineering/munging because their data models and systems are so poor.
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me one of my favorite comments of patio11 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4477088 >> Frew, who apprenticed with a Savile Row tailor, can — all by himself, and almost all by hand — create a pattern, cut fabric and expertly construct a suit that, for about $4,000, perfectly molds to its owner’s body. In a city filled with very rich people, he quickly had all the orders he could handle. > You don't hav…
I wonder if it's sustainable though. If you keep raising the prices and people buy what you're selling, and then eventually realize the quality isn't up to par of what they're paying for.
No matter what you think you are selling, you are always selling the buyer's experience. And for some work, framed the right way, high prices improve the experience.
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me one of my favorite comments of patio11 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4477088 >> Frew, who apprenticed with a Savile Row tailor, can — all by himself, and almost all by hand — create a pattern, cut fabric and expertly construct a suit that, for about $4,000, perfectly molds to its owner’s body. In a city filled with very rich people, he quickly had all the orders he could handle. > You don't hav…
I wonder if it's sustainable though. If you keep raising the prices and people buy what you're selling, and then eventually realize the quality isn't up to par of what they're paying for.
> then eventually realize the quality isn't up to par of what they're paying for
Will they?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/2...
> Nordstrom is selling “mud-stained” jeans to the tune of $425. They’re called the “Barracuda Straight Leg Jeans” and come with some sort of fake mud substance caked all over them. (It’s not clear what that substance is.) The knees, pockets and crotch of the jeans appear bear most of the faux brown muck.
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#357Saving you a click: He charged $75/hr for a job that included a ton of waiting around and idling on-location at the client's office. :)
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#358Randomly enough, the writer of this previously achieved HN fame when he was unstoppably fired by a machine: https://idiallo.com/blog/when-a-machine-fired-me
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with you, but a lot of people are happy to take the money for doing nothing. Sometimes this is driven by lack of capability - if you're not good at much, not very driven but still want a great income and lifestyle, this sorta hits the sweet spot. Also a lot of these people lie to themselves about their own importance, in order to have a (false) sense of self worth (but they're okay with it).
I'd assume you'd just double dip your time and work on something personal while doing nothing at work...
In my experience, most people just browse the internet.
Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page
#360Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same for brown diamonds.
Honestly, you don't even need to specify 'brown', regular diamonds would apply. DeBeers has some awesome marketing, diamonds are one of the least beautiful gemstones.
Beauty depends entirely on the cut. (If you haven't seen diamonds with "old european" cuts - late 19th century, essentially - you should. They are so much more beautiful than the sterile modern cut ones)