Tech Jobs Lead to the Middle Class, But Not for the Masses

Post by czbond » Mon, May 20, 2019, 3:45 AM UTC

devoply wrote: post #10

eropple wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why your post is so defensive. For years , "tech jobs" were marketed as a way to the upper middle class for a broad swath of people (in America and elsewhere). This was not the doing of "two-bit journalists" (and Steve Lohr has a track record of pretty good work!); it was a concerted effort by tech companies . It's turning out to not really be the case and the successful stories are comparatively f…

What should be talked about is what's actually the point of jobs. It's not as a means to get work done so corporations can generate profit. Jobs are a tool to organize society. Profit is a side-effect of that but an irrelevant part the primary function of jobs. This concept of jobs as a tool to organize society rather than a way to solve problems using human "capital" or humans as machines or tools for problem solvin…

Post by rayiner » Mon, May 20, 2019, 3:49 AM UTC

jstewartmobile wrote: post #84

rayiner wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With 10% down at today’s rates a $230,000 house will cost you $1,200 per month in mortgage, taxes, and home insurance. Little bit less with the mortgage interest deduction and real estate tax deduction. The rule of thumb is 36% of gross income, which is $2,000 on $70,000. The rule of thumb cuts it close, but this is well below that—20% of gross income. Net pay on $70,000 in Maryland for a married couple is $4,750 per…

Original was " affordable for a family making $60k " Drop the fam back to $60k, and that " $3,000 a month for saving and other expenses " drops to $2167--and I would put special emphasis on "expenses": few hundred a month for vehicles, a few hundred for groceries, occasional co-pays (that can get pretty big as you get older and have more things wrong with you), emergency repairs, school clothes, etc. There will proba…

Post by Hyperborian » Mon, May 20, 2019, 3:57 AM UTC

aj-4 wrote: post #86

chillfox wrote: post #57

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My guess would be a mindset learned early + the impact of being poor (food, clothing, shelter).

who doesn't have food clothing and shelter in the US?

Post by meritt » Mon, May 20, 2019, 4:04 AM UTC

caseymarquis wrote: post #88

seibelj wrote: post #13

There has always been a bottom-tier category of software development, which is programming at the level of "tweaking wordpress websites". Not that all jobs at this level are doing this, but the technical skill is what it takes to setup, configure, operate, and tweak a wordpress website, which requires some understanding of how websites work, web servers, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, a plugin ecosystem, backups, etc. It is q…

And here I am debugging TCP stacks, reverse engineering custom network protocols, writing ISRs in assembly, and doing fullstack, embedded, and native development while making that same amount. I feel underpaid. :(

Post by richdev » Mon, May 20, 2019, 4:15 AM UTC

Jedi72 wrote: post #83

neilv wrote: post #73

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I don't think plumber vs. theoretical physics post-doc is a great example. Plumbing is critical skilled work, taking years to master, and is paid accordingly. I imagine plumbing is also very stressful, at times, such as when you're being careful not to flood a building, or avoiding breaking something that would require ripping open a floor to fix. Though plumbing guild training sounds not entirely different than acad…

Dude come on, theoretical physics is harder than plumbing. We dont need to leap to the defence of plumbers here.