Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status • Hacker News Board

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#121

Post by im3w1l » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:46 PM UTC

purple-again wrote: post #50

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't you actually asking for a grant to be an installation artist working in the field of pretty moving machines. I don't think society should fund research into the flatness of the earth or perpetual motion, but I do think there is plenty of scope for making beautiful things. Especially if you explain it gleefully when you unveil your latest :-)

I’m afraid no one would define any of my attempts so far as pretty except to call them pretty bad! That’s actually a great idea though, I could probably reduce the money sink a bit by trying to them some of my projects into art work. Thanks for sharing that idea!

There is serious work happening on building perpetual motion machines of the third kind (one that moves forever but does not produce energy). But to contribute to that work takes years of serious study. It's probably a good idea to do that study in a formal setting to avoid fooling yourself into thinking you understand when you don't.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#122

Post by germinalphrase » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

_qulr wrote: post #9

This is nothing more than a month old tweet from some random person with generic advice and zero empirical evidence to back it up. Why is this even on Hacker News?

Sometimes things rise on HN because of the conversation rather than the linked content itself.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#123

Post by ck425 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:49 PM UTC

laurent92 wrote: post #90

m_eiman wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such as "the right parents", which in many cases is a pretty efficient gate keeper.

The social elevator can take 2 generations. And that is ok. There is a lot of things to learn. It gives hope to one’s dad. Sadly inheritance is looked down upon, and people would like every citizen to be born with the same information, and this information being delivered by public education. Sadly, parents teach much better than teachers when it is about the little things that make a life successful. There will neve…

My impression, and indeed my personal issue with inheritance, is financial inheritance. I have far less issues with other forms of inheritance. Sure I'm occasionally jealous of the opportunities or skills others learnt from a young age but overall I'm just glad there are more talented, thoughtful, considerate people out there. The only part that ticks me off is arrogant people who claim to have gotten far only on their own backs and who refuse to acknowledge any good fortune (what you could call non-financial inheritance) on their part. Admittedly that pisses me off more because I used to do it a lot myself.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#124

Post by adwn » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

pengstrom wrote: post #98

esperent wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if it doesn't that is okay too. So for people who find themselves going into dept slavery, unable to feed themselves and their children well, unable to afford healthcare, and so on, you're saying it's all good, just a bad roll of the dice, nothing to worry about? Seems to me more like the system is fundamentally broken if pure chance is all that seperates a millionaire and the destitute and downtrodden.

Yes, hence the widespread criticism of capitalism.

> Yes, hence the widespread criticism of capitalism.

Social classes and social immobility are millenia-old phenomena and are completely independent of capitalism.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#125

Post by username90 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

asciimov wrote: post #104

It takes some kind of privilege to believe that being low-status is a status onto itself.

It is about putting off rewards. If you are fine with living low status for a while you will probably do better than someone who refuses to do it. For example a senior software engineer who refuses to do whiteboard coding since it is "beneath him" only hurts himself, he cares more about his current status than future earnings and status.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#126

Post by sunshinerag » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

pengstrom wrote: post #98

esperent wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if it doesn't that is okay too. So for people who find themselves going into dept slavery, unable to feed themselves and their children well, unable to afford healthcare, and so on, you're saying it's all good, just a bad roll of the dice, nothing to worry about? Seems to me more like the system is fundamentally broken if pure chance is all that seperates a millionaire and the destitute and downtrodden.

Yes, hence the widespread criticism of capitalism.

capitalism? you mean socialism?

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#127

Post by username90 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:54 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #52

I'm low-status. I work on stuff that may never payoff. I will never be successful, and that's ok. I was even told by a manager in my 1-on-1 that not everyone has the potential to be more than a midlevel dev. Also, this low-staus thing is not a great predictor. The hard work that is mentioned is prevalent in many of the studies looking at success. Of course this is part of a matrix of qualities.

How is being a midlevel dev low status?

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#128

Post by K0balt » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:55 PM UTC

nlh wrote: post #118

paulsutter wrote: post #84

Folks in the status professions (banking, law,..) often tell me they want to become an entrepreneur. I always tell them, you wont do it. They attended the right school, joined the right firm, attained that corner office. As a founder they would give up all that, and their family and friends will tell them that they've made a massive mistake, for years, while it appears that nothing is happening. Then they sheepishly…

> People considered me to be quasi-unemployed On a related note, this is a mindset that I think is probably the biggest blocker to entrepreneurial success (and perhaps happiness?) I have a friend (you know who you are since you’ll probably read this ;) who is by ALL measures a massively successful and brilliant person. Ran his own startup for 10+ years, just had a great exit. And during his post-sale victory lap in w…

I prefer "gainfully unemployed" or "willfully unemployable". Those are the labels I have become comfortable with.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#129

Post by bluedino » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:55 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #51

Udo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this. Since any path to becoming high status attracts heavy gate keeping quickly (essentially clearing that path for people who have high status to begin with) it seems reasonable that people try to "hide" in low status niches where there are way fewer predators. I think success here is somewhat incidental. No doubt the vast majority of niche workers are pursuing non-viable careers, a minority can just a…

It's striking just how few billionaires come from genuinely low-status backgrounds. Gates, Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Buffet, and so on were not born dirt poor. And those that do invariably either had a scene they could grow into - like Steve Jobs orbiting around HP and landing at Atari in his earliest days, which wouldn't have happened if he'd been living in (say) Idaho. Or they have some questionable connections and…

To be fair, Idaho Jobs would have hopped into the first VW bus going to California.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#130

Post by UK-Al05 » Fri, Oct 23, 2020, 2:56 PM UTC

username90 wrote: post #127

giantg2 wrote: post #52

I'm low-status. I work on stuff that may never payoff. I will never be successful, and that's ok. I was even told by a manager in my 1-on-1 that not everyone has the potential to be more than a midlevel dev. Also, this low-staus thing is not a great predictor. The hard work that is mentioned is prevalent in many of the studies looking at success. Of course this is part of a matrix of qualities.

How is being a midlevel dev low status?

It's pretty much 1 above the bottom rung in tech companies.