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In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

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Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#161

Post by frandroid »

rayiner wrote: post #12

> Only the previous week, he says, he returned from a 10-day trip to Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Before that, he boasts, he journeyed to a yoga retreat and juice cleanse in Bali, the perfect setting to unload the stress he absorbs working at a well-known tech company in Silicon Valley. After ending a five-year marriage and shedding 10 pounds of subcutaneous fat several years back — his sun-kissed body now carb- and toxin-f…

It's California... A friend of mine who is quite attractive and _maybe_ had an extra 10 pounds moved to Southern California for grad school, and immediately felt like she was fat and started going to the gym, whereas I had never her mention her weight before. The social environment is just that different.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#162

Post by aaron695 »

I find it interesting we know your name matters but we don't hear much about changing it.

I know people from overseas for instance will pick a local name, but often it's not optimised, just something picked slightly at random.

It's also fully reversible.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#163

Post by hutzlibu »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #89
hutzlibu wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Children? Thats the case with me at least ... not much time for sport anymore.

Lol, yup plus a few other things. Some people manage to do it all but I have no idea how.

Well, I manage to do some sports with the baby. Since he is 12 kg now, running or just walking with him is sport.

But for really working out, I just lack the energy. But this is ok, other things are indeed more important. Still, I try not to forget my body.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#164

Post by aaron695 »

jacquesm wrote: post #93
fortran77 wrote: post #13

I'm 57 years old and work about 8 months/year in Silicon Valley (the rest in Tel Aviv) I dye my beard (my head is shaved) and I've had work done on my face. I'm careful to stay in shape, and not be overweight. It makes a big difference in how I'm perceived.

The day I have to dye my beard or get plastic surgery to stay relevant in tech is the day I'll happily retire.

What you miss is you'll find it harder to prove you are relevant as you age.

On things people fresh in the industry are up on, you'll will be behind on. You might still be 100% relevant to the job at hand but you will find it harder to show.

This exists today, the only thing that will change is it will apply to you.

If you're happy to let age beat you, then it's up to you. If you are morally unhappy tech does this you should really retire today. I get plastic surgery might be considered a large step, although I think that's cultural, but it's hard to argue dying a beard is a huge price to pay.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#165

Post by nkzednan »

adamch wrote: post #100

80% of male attractiveness comes down having a good haircut and clothes that fit you. Assuming you're in SF and have a high-paying software job. Find a hair stylist in a mid-range salon who you can actually talk to, show them some pictures of haircuts you like, and let them find something that works. If you find a professional and are OK paying them a bit extra, you'll get good results. As for "clothes that fit", I h…

Also check out https://www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/ - post some photos in the daily questions thread to get feedback.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#166

Post by sdinsn »

virtuous_signal wrote: post #46
anon9001 wrote: post #11

I'm pretty convinced that the most important thing you can do for your career after achieving basic technical competence is to be more attractive, both physically and socially. The reality is that you're going to have an easier time making connections and getting access to opportunities if you're well-mannered, sociable, and attractive.

I wonder how this all fits in with the recent trend towards Stoicism in Silicon Valley: From Epictetus, a father of Stoicism >1. Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions. >The things in ou…

> recent trend towards Stoicism in Silicon Valley

What trend? I haven't noticed this at all

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#168

Post by anon9001 »

jelliclesfarm wrote: post #132
Forbo wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of money to be made in convincing people otherwise. - Plastic surgery: ~$18B in the US in 2019 - Cosmetics: ~$55B in the US in 2019

I started by growing vegetables. Money pit. Then I started growing lavender and aromatics for essential oil distillation. It’s for cosmetic purposes and perfumery. Much higher margin. Go figure..people would spend more for perfume than for their food. Why? Because. Markets. It’s ok. If you work with pigs, you have to roll in pig poop. It’s already established what we do the minute we start selling..it’s only a matter…

Just out of curiosity, how much do you have to grow to sell and where do you sell it?

Is that the kind of thing you could do in your backyard for a side business, or do you have to have acres of property?

Not sure if it's a farm->wholesaler or backyard->ebay or maybe backyard->shopify.

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#169

Post by S_A_P »

wikibob wrote: post #138
S_A_P wrote: post #35

I will provide a bit of anecdata. I went from not really fat, but kinda just mushy to my high school weight when I was ~30 and started working out and did a lot of running. The way I was treated be everyone was drastically different(better). I then had a severe foot fracture that required surgery and 12-18 month recovery. Running has proven difficult even 5 years later. I am regaining some pudge, and notice that roya…

Can you swim instead?

I can- but I generally dislike it. Running was a meditation for me, and I loved how I would 1) count my steps for a while until I got in the zone and then 2) time and problems would fall away.

Ive not experienced that while swimming...

Re: In Silicon Valley, some men say cosmetic procedures are essential to a career

#170

Post by jelliclesfarm »

anon9001 wrote: post #168
jelliclesfarm wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started by growing vegetables. Money pit. Then I started growing lavender and aromatics for essential oil distillation. It’s for cosmetic purposes and perfumery. Much higher margin. Go figure..people would spend more for perfume than for their food. Why? Because. Markets. It’s ok. If you work with pigs, you have to roll in pig poop. It’s already established what we do the minute we start selling..it’s only a matter…

Just out of curiosity, how much do you have to grow to sell and where do you sell it? Is that the kind of thing you could do in your backyard for a side business, or do you have to have acres of property? Not sure if it's a farm->wholesaler or backyard->ebay or maybe backyard->shopify.

I lease land..I farm about 3 acres. You could..in theory..make $40k/acre gross if you have markets, capital and land. It’s tricky if you don’t own land, not enough start up capital and people to work for minimum wage. I could also buy 100 acres of orchard ..nuts or stone fruit or citrus and outsource management. I am still farming. It’s more stable. It’s still a farm and you get deductions and land appreciates and machinery depreciates etc.

For me, it wasn’t worth selling kale and lettuce(need a cooler) and find people to work. I paid more than minimum wage (15-25/hour), but that’s not a liveable wage and even that was eating into my margins. And food is plentiful and cheaper at super markets. So what’s the point? Consider this: insurance is same if you are one acre or 20 acres. CCOF certification costs the same. Machinery and capital costs are fixed. Even if farmers markets are profitable, you have two people working 8 hours at minimum wage and need set up equipment and fees etc.

Yes, it can be done in the backyard etc if you have enough space and you have to operate as a farm. Mostly to make sure you follow food safety rules(it is important), but it becomes too much when you are selling wholesale(less than at csa and farmers market) but at volume. You need different set of certifications and audits.

All in all, due to economies of scale, I think you’d need at least 20-40 acres for economies of scale to kick in and you want to do it in an environmentally safe way. Better if you own as you build equity and have land security.

But I also feel like it’s only worth it if you can automate labour ..at least partially. That’s why I feel farm automation and robotics should focus on small acreage farms where they need it and not in commercial large corporate owned farms or commodity crop producing farms that are already hyper optimized and scaled to capture every marginal gain.

Again. Where you are matters. Whether you own the property matters. Markets matter. Even if I had 40 acres, I won’t grow for market if I can’t automate. The numbers don’t add up. I am too old to be romantic about farming as rolling in the hay and yodeling to cows. Also, I studied to be an accountant. I am brutal with numbers crunching. It killed all the farm romance before it even sprouted.

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