611–620 of 691 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you want to work together on a thing?
I'm into technical writing, too! What are you working on?
Also, you can look at my SO Story, for a fuller (and longer) picture: https://stackoverflow.com/story/chrismarshall
TL;DR. I stay busy.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like that. Thanks for sharing it. I'm 58. I spent over thirty years, writing and managing software projects that other people generally didn't use well (or mishandled while developing). It was frustrating, but they paid the bills, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. Since leaving my last job, I started to look at working, and immediately , and with extreme prejudice, slammed into the notorious ageism in t…
If you consider that almost every job in the tech industry is utterly useless, it makes sense why there is so much ageism. Tech jobs these days are not about adding value, so your additional experience is worthless... The things that are valuable to companies are youth, optimism, loyalty and self-delusion. Companies need a big headcount to give themselves leverage over governments and banks. Companies need a young wo…
I'm a cynical bastard, and must genuflect towards The Master.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given the market over the past 100 years, that seems like a fairly reasonable assumption?
It isn't going to go up every decade. Also Check markets in Japan and Europe which have been flat 30, 20 years.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like that. Thanks for sharing it. I'm 58. I spent over thirty years, writing and managing software projects that other people generally didn't use well (or mishandled while developing). It was frustrating, but they paid the bills, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. Since leaving my last job, I started to look at working, and immediately , and with extreme prejudice, slammed into the notorious ageism in t…
If you consider that almost every job in the tech industry is utterly useless, it makes sense why there is so much ageism. Tech jobs these days are not about adding value, so your additional experience is worthless... The things that are valuable to companies are youth, optimism, loyalty and self-delusion. Companies need a big headcount to give themselves leverage over governments and banks. Companies need a young wo…
I'd like to add on that everyone's retirement plans are held hostage by the same four groups that you were talking about. The 401(k) and IRA were both introduced in the 1970s, and now colossal amounts of money flow into those accounts, ensuring the financial future of Americans. They are low-risk investment plans for the future. Why are they low-risk? Because they invest in the "entire market" via mutual funds, and as we all know the market always goes up. Loosely- give your money to the banks, and they'll make sure the valuation of the companies that make up the index funds will always increase, thus giving you your year-on-year +10%, or whatever.
The corollary, of course, is that if you support any societal changes that would threaten the valuation of "the market", you'll tank everyone's investment accounts. Good luck reversing outsourcing trends, enacting progressive labor laws, or lowering the price of healthcare.
I don't even want to call it "investing" at this point. It's speculating. That's why I plan to buy land and live off of it as much as I can. I'd rather be poor and independent than rich and dependent.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like that. Thanks for sharing it. I'm 58. I spent over thirty years, writing and managing software projects that other people generally didn't use well (or mishandled while developing). It was frustrating, but they paid the bills, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. Since leaving my last job, I started to look at working, and immediately , and with extreme prejudice, slammed into the notorious ageism in t…
It's not just in tech. You hear responses from younger generations like "Ok Boomer" to their elders' opinions and it is so cringe-worthy. I don't think everything my parents taught me was perfect or even always correct but there's an irreplaceable amount of wisdom that comes from being alive twice as long.
https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-less-wealth-net-...
One key to a good life is low expectations. Most of the people I know who are unhappy thought they were going to be more than they are now, and some of them carried the naive arrogance around with them all their lives until reality smacked them upside the head.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You just made my case for me. The majority of people who live in cities in the US are not in the top 20 metropolitan areas, I think the majority will disagree with your idea of a city. Every city I've lived in was not in the top 20. And frankly, even looking at some of the top 20 areas, some of them have pretty decent traffic. I know people who live in Phoenix (ranked 10th) whose commute is definitely under half an h…
It's always amusing to me how stubborn and pedantic HN commenters are over basic things. I can't help but play the game this once. I don't doubt that plenty of people share your view and plenty will share mine. We're discussing a subjective interpretation after all. But to come in like you did and try to claim that our totally standard view of what a city is is "weird" is just so absurd. >If you get the right neighbo…
Your statement is true. And it's also true when we switch the pronouns. What's your point?
"Plenty" is not the same as "majority", which was your original claim.
> Okay, so one of your idealized cases and it's still closer
How is it one of my "idealized" cases? Putting words in my mouth isn't going to help this conversation.
> to the "1 hour by public transit" scenario than "10 minutes by driving" you originally chose.
1. I never claimed you will always find affordable houses within 10 minutes drive. I was countering the claim that it need be an hour or more. That it took 40 minutes is still in support of my claim. That it took more than 10 minutes doesn't refute my point.
2. It was fairly clear from my original comment that the point was one can move to a city where you can find sub-hour commutes. From that it's clear that I am not implying you'll find it with every employer or in every city. The whole comment was about choosing where you work.
> I'm curious where you get this, too. The top 5 MSAs already cover 25% of the population.
Simple: Look up a list of metro areas in the US. Add up the top 20. Then add up the rest.
Hint: A city of 100K is still a city. Trying to claim that this is a minority position will again get the same response: Given that most people who live in 100K (or even smaller) cities believe they live in a city, it would be incorrect to claim that the majority do not view such places as cities. There may far fewer employers for engineering in such cities, but I can assure you there are still plenty.
(And no, you don't need to go as low as 100K to get a cumulative greater than your top 20).
Your statement was:
> I'd wager most people think of something like the top 20 metropolitan statistical areas by population when they hear the term.
Baltimore is not in the top 20. Nor is San Antonio. Nor is Portland. Nor is Milwaukee. The list goes on and on. Do you think these people do not think of their own cities when using the word?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s the puzzling thing about the ageism. The folks practicing it are gonna get to be in this seat, before they know it. Hope that they are saving and investing, instead of splurging on Teslas and Mission District cribs.
What percentage of income do you think young people should be saving? Because from what I see, this is the age of freely available personal finance advice, and more people seem to be following it at whichever age they stumble into stable income. Sure, there would be splurges here and there, but as far as I can tell, people are saving well. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/20/why-young-people-are-saving-... https://www.vo…
As much as they possibly can. 16% is thin considering the salaries software developers commonly get.
The awareness that you don't have to tolerate the bad parts of your job one second longer than you feel like is the most liberating feeling in the world. It allows you to do the right thing instead of the most career-expedient thing at the workplace and to try out jobs you wouldn't dared to take a risk on before.
Aside from that, right now the money is good for developers but there is no guarantee that situation will last or your skills will continue to be valuable. Remember when COBOL was a ticket to a stable career? Remember when Flash development jobs were everywhere? A lot has changed over the past fifty years and there's no sign of that slowing down. If you zig when the job market zags, you may find yourself relying on your own savings earlier that you expected.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can in fact lose more than you own, in some cases, if a judge deems you liable for damages that you have caused (in their opinion).
> you liable for damages that you have caused only if you did something illegal. You cannot be sued for more than you own in a civil suit.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I've never observed the "feeling sick" issue myself in periods of greater productivity, but that could be because I wasn't paying attention - I have "evening sickness" like you described roughly 2-4 times a month, and I end up just popping some paracetamol and feeling fine the next day. My blood work comes out OK on checkups, so I (and my doctors) guess it's likely some mild allergy…
You mention irregular sleep as a factor here, did you ever try taking a nap every day to see if that helps? The only time I've had this sort of hyper-productivity feeling, I was working out consistently in the mornings, and always napping around noon, maybe thereby giving a boost in energy levels for "the next stretch" of the day. I also wish I could reproduce this sensation. For me, I think having clear overarching…
In my experience, a good nap could take me from 50% back to 90% but other times I'd wake up feeling queasy, dizzy, grumpy or low-mood. I stopped due to those unexpected side effects, but it seems worth trying again in the future.
Working out consistently may be an important part of the picture. One thing I've learned for certain about myself is that hard workouts will destroy my energy level for the next 1-2 days. So no heavy-weight lifting, 3-hour bouldering sessions or long heavy-breathing runs. Adding in light jogging every evening didn't make much of a difference in either direction.
I may try something like a 2-3 mile run each morning and see if the morning exercise makes a difference.