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Poor in Tech

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Re: Poor in Tech

#41

Post by rasfincher »

sol_invictus wrote: post #26
protomyth wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would imagine you got it right with the "get out of the gym if you are not already fit". It's amazing how badly people act towards people starting out on their fitness.

Literally never seen this happen. 98% guarantee the stigma is in the obese person’s own head more than anything. It’s just easier to transfer the responsibility to ”an unfriendly environment” than taking responsibility & control of your own feelings and actions

I've never seen it happen in person either. As someone who used to be terrified of going to the gym because I didn't want to look like the new person at the gym, I can say for myself that it was all in my head.

"..you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do." - David Foster Wallace

Re: Poor in Tech

#42

Post by Cthulhu_ »

domano wrote: post #32
kstenerud wrote: post #14

The trick to being the only poor person is to not let on. Once people know, they exploit the hell out of you. They don't seem to do it consciously; somehow it just happens. I made that mistake a few times during my time in SF.

How does this exploitation look like?

Underpaying but still making the other person happy because it's more than they earned before.

Giving them the shit jobs, unpaid overtime, etc.

Remarks behind the back about things like weight, eating habits, and being ashamed about things they take for granted.

Having your existence denied completely (e.g. the cleaners mentioned)

Re: Poor in Tech

#43

Post by Cthulhu_ »

avancemos wrote: post #7

Instead of seeing the bright side of life, in which this person clearly vastly improved their situation in life, all they can see is what they don’t have. “I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I had the only fat body in the building.” I’m sorry, but no, being poor doesn’t make you fat. Your eating choices make you fat. Poor people have agency too. Agency is not something you buy. This is comin…

wow never thought about it like that thanks im cured

Re: Poor in Tech

#44

Post by jasode »

est31 wrote: post #10

> I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I was the only person who would say hello to the cleaning lady as she meekly made her rounds around us when we worked late. Everyone else had a long habit of ignoring anyone like her. That's IMO the worst behaviour of the rich listed in this article. I've heard stories that at Google, the non-engineering workers at campus may not socialize with engineers…

>What kind of society is this that Google is building? Aren't you even allowed to acknowledge someone else's humanity?

The social interaction dynamics that happens at the Google building is a reflection of society at large. As another example, I've worked at the offices of charity institutions where the higher level white collar workers ignore the cleaning people. The common theme is that humans in general (and not Google employees specifically) like to stratify people.

I recently flipped through a high school yearbook (these books were more popular before the era of Facebook) and noticed that the cafeteria ladies were relegated to a tiny group photo. However, the teachers got individual portraits. So a public institution funded by taxpayer money implicitly stratified 2 different types of workers. Each page of printing a hardcopy yearbook costs money and the food workers are not the same value to the yearbook staff. See the common pattern across humanity?

Re: Poor in Tech

#45

Post by bsenftner »

watwut wrote: post #12

> Gym membership was included in my benefits. I went half a dozen times before it was made crystal clear to me that I did not belong. I would be curious about this one. What did happened in the gym? Not really doubting, some people in gyms are quite unfriendly when you dont look fit. But I am still curious what happened there.

I used to be a "gym rat" but the general "guy culture" at most gyms is thinly veiled bully behavior. I can not count the number of times I interrupted normal, buff, and outright fat guys giving less-than-babe-status women grief. I finally found myself getting prepared for anger when going to the gym, and after switching gyms a number of times I gave up and now work out in parks and at home, away from the public assholes that ruin it for all but the beautiful.

Re: Poor in Tech

#46

Post by DigitalSea »

avancemos wrote: post #7

Instead of seeing the bright side of life, in which this person clearly vastly improved their situation in life, all they can see is what they don’t have. “I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I had the only fat body in the building.” I’m sorry, but no, being poor doesn’t make you fat. Your eating choices make you fat. Poor people have agency too. Agency is not something you buy. This is comin…

There are quite a few papers out there on the subject. As someone who has studied a little bit of sociology, I can tell you there are numerous sociological factors which basically determine that wealthier people have access to better food, better medical care and live healthier lives in comparison to lower-socioeconomic people. Where you live alone determines your health equity, if you live in a remote area or small town away from a large city, your access to fresh and non-processed foods is heavily reduced.

This is a great paper I suggest you read: https://academic.oup.com/epirev/article/29/1/29/433380 -- this is a good starting point, there are others spanning back the last three decades or so.

It is also worth noting that it's not necessarily how much money you have that is the contributing factor, it can be other factors. The lack of green areas or pathways to walk/exercise (especially prevalent in remote Australian communities), the number of hospitals or doctors close by. But, ultimately, lack of health services and fresh food are correlated to obesity both of which are determined by your location which, in turn, is determined by your financial status.

Re: Poor in Tech

#47

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

That was great! Thanks for sharing it.

> I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because they thought I was kidding when I said I had a GED.

I feel that. I have almost no formal training at all. I have a GED, and attended a redneck tech school. Everything since, has been OJT.

As a manager, one of the things that I looked for, was minimal formal training, yet experience doing things that required it.

Good sign.

Re: Poor in Tech

#48

Post by dkersten »

Ekaros wrote: post #38
ideamotor wrote: post #19

Assuming the trip to Greece was a joke was pretty good, as was the comment about hearing other people’s hobbies and just thinking about the expense. There are definitely cultural signifiers from wealth. Discussing housing endlessly is the biggest one.

Found that bit surprising one. For European startup long weekend in Greece isn't that special. The flights can be quite cheap and Greece generally isn't that expensive country. A few hundred all together could probably be done.

Sure, but it’s quite a flight from San Francisco

Re: Poor in Tech

#49

Post by cosmodisk »

avancemos wrote: post #7

Instead of seeing the bright side of life, in which this person clearly vastly improved their situation in life, all they can see is what they don’t have. “I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I had the only fat body in the building.” I’m sorry, but no, being poor doesn’t make you fat. Your eating choices make you fat. Poor people have agency too. Agency is not something you buy. This is comin…

Being poor doesn't make you fat per se, but if you look at most stats, higher social levels(whatever that means in each country) usually means less obesity. When I worked in construction, most people were eating an absolute crap and were often overweight. Then I joined a professional services company and I literally walked into an office of 50 or so people, where everybody was slim and most people ate pretty healthy, home made food.

There are lots of factors why that's the case,but to say it's not happening like this wouldn't be right either.

Re: Poor in Tech

#50

Post by fnord77 »

est31 wrote: post #10

> I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I was the only person who would say hello to the cleaning lady as she meekly made her rounds around us when we worked late. Everyone else had a long habit of ignoring anyone like her. That's IMO the worst behaviour of the rich listed in this article. I've heard stories that at Google, the non-engineering workers at campus may not socialize with engineers…

I don't think that's rich vs. poor. I think that's sociopath vs. non-sociopath. Maybe she was the only non-sociopath at her company?
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