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Poor in Tech

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Re: Poor in Tech

#311

Post by istjohn »

darkerside wrote: post #78
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…

This one was odd. And why didn't she "belong" to the gym? This woman has impostor syndrome on steroids.

She states that she was made to feel unwelcome at the gym.

Re: Poor in Tech

#312

Post by throwaway0a5e »

Everyone blue collar is going to have about the majority of the same experiences of being out of place in tech or any other big money white collar industry that the author did. You could write the same thing about being the son of a plumber working at an investment bank.

Re: Poor in Tech

#313

Post by watwut »

strken wrote: post #176
isomorph wrote: post #116

Many of the comments on this article are so cold. I can’t believe it. When I read the original article I was imagining all the constructive ways HN readers would interpret it and hold a mirror up to their own behaviour. Some commenters are doing this. But it surprises and depresses me how many people are commenting saying “no, this list isn’t what it says it is, it’s a list showing the author has a negative mindset /…

In some ways it's a laundry list of ways rich people in the Bay Area act like wankers, which is interesting, but also quite irritatingly stereotypical. There are plenty who don't refuse to talk to the cleaning staff, lecture others on their choice of tampon, or snob fat people at the gym. I don't want people from outside the bubble (e.g. me, three years ago) to read this and think they'll be surrounded by wall-to-wal…

> In some ways it's a laundry list of ways rich people in the Bay Area act like wankers, which is interesting, but also quite irritatingly stereotypical.

I dont think this is true about article at all. Quite a few points are not complains about other peoples behavior nor do they contain anything bad. I do indoor climbing, it does cost money, we talked about climbing in the work a lot. I would really have to work hard to perceive myself being criticizes by that point.

Many are about authors own behavior.

The thing with tampons was that rich person would not think of that tampon as "save me money" resource the way poor person did. Telling you not to use this or that for bogus health reasons is not something exlusive to rich people and author does not claim so. It just made the encounter more annoying.

Re: Poor in Tech

#314

Post by Kharvok »

Why is it always people in tech-adjacent roles that trot this out? This kind of reads like someone falsely attributing class as a barrier when actually it's their cognitive abilities compared to peers.

It always seems like the majority of the writer's woes would be solved if they were themselves more competent at what they do.

Re: Poor in Tech

#315

Post by jpseawell »

I’m from the Midwest/South and a lot of the author’s behavior would be considered normal here regardless of income.

Although I’m not sure if stealing the head phones was a good call? (Unless they had a policy stating they were fair game)

Re: Poor in Tech

#316

Post by dcx »

phone8675309 wrote: post #183
gonehome wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even without the race element - there’s definitely a class thing. I noticed it when I moved to the Bay Area after growing up in western New York. The types of foods people ate or didn’t eat, the restaurants people would or would not go to. The shows people would or would not watch, even the way people talked. I think I hadn’t really seen the difference in class behavior before in America. Now it’s easy to see it. A l…

> You can be poor and still act more “upper class” and you can be rich and still act “working class”. You are stunningly naive if you think that a poor person acting more "upper class" isn't reminded that they're "out of their lane" more than someone rich acting "working class".

No need to go for the throat there. And especially not when you're not totally correct.

Paul Fussell's Class documents the exact phenomenon OP describes. Wealth is not class [1]; class is much more complex. For example, poor academics are higher class than rich blue-collar workers. Donald Trump is crazy rich but affects many of the working-class behaviours described in said book (technically "high prole"). Barack Obama has much less money but most would view him as upper-middle class. Nobody would accuse the above of being "out of their lane".

My very rough approximation: class is something like the integral of wealth over very long periods of time. Being rich and well-connected for long periods gives you a chance to accumulate high-status behaviours and preferences, which can persist even when the wealth doesn't, and continue to confer benefits. Preferring golf or tennis to say, bowling, doesn't necessarily come with a major difference in affordability. But being good at golf might help your career more than bowling. Reading more helps in tons of ways, and most people only pick up this habit if they grow up with access to good education and parental cognitive surplus.

[1] https://resourcegeneration.org/breakdown-of-class-characteri...

Re: Poor in Tech

#317

Post by tomnipotent »

mcherm wrote: post #2

I've seen this before. Not often, because the companies I have worked at have rarely hired someone from this social strata. But in the cases where we have, I have seen the alienation. Aside from the obvious "be genuinely friendly", does anyone have suggestions of what to do as a coworker to support someone suffering from this cultural barrier?

Include them. Invite them to lunch, introduce them to other coworkers, make sure they know about happy hour events or other after-work activities. A few people doing this for me in my early 20s made the world of difference in my life.

Re: Poor in Tech

#318

Post by colinmhayes »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #40
creshal wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking a 3 day vacation overseas definitely is a joke. You'll spend as much time sitting in a plane or waiting at the airport as you'll spend at your destination, how's that supposed to be relaxing?

I'm sure it's a much better experience if you fly first class.

The part that's the worst isn't being on the plane. It's going to and being at the airport. First class doesn't fix the god awful experience that is flying.

Re: Poor in Tech

#319

Post by hocuspocus »

wdb wrote: post #61
creshal wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking a 3 day vacation overseas definitely is a joke. You'll spend as much time sitting in a plane or waiting at the airport as you'll spend at your destination, how's that supposed to be relaxing?

Plenty of people fly to New York or Vegas for a long weekend from Europe

Bullshit. I know my share of wealthy people and nobody does that. Especially when you have plenty of vacation days to use anyway.

Las Vegas is 14-15h away from most European hubs. NYC is 8h. Even the best case scenario (first class and the airline staff walks you through immigration) means 10h door-to-door.

Re: Poor in Tech

#320

Post by colinmhayes »

sidlls wrote: post #285
MattGaiser wrote: post #15

> > I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I made more there than I’d ever made before; a daring amount I had been afraid to ask for during the offer process. I discovered through misadventure that I still made less than any of the executive assistants, or the receptionist. I was, in fact, the lowest-paid person in the building including the interns. I hadn’t known what was possible, so I couldn…

This person is writing from a lifetime of being poor, not being cash poor in-the-moment because of a salary. This article resonates strongly with me. I grew up poor, too, and even though I have a 7 figure net worth now one of the first things I consider for anything is the cost. I don't have to, but I still do. I eat the low rent snacks and I use the company's daily cafeteria allowance to eat a sensible lunch and the…

I grew up upper middle class and do the same thing. I know generationally wealthy people that do too.
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