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Poor in Tech

megelison.com

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Re: Poor in Tech

#521

Post by tenpoundhammer »

olingern wrote: post #68

I grew up poor and now live and work around "never been poor" folks. Classism 100% exists. The thing that I noticed most folks can't grasp is the appreciation for the small things and the security they have. I find that people who have never experienced being poor are often lacking in both humility and "can do" attitudes. For me, not being wealthy is a feature, not a bug. I realize I'm speaking from a place of privil…

I didn't grow up poor but we didn't have extra of anything and we sure couldn't afford to lose a paycheck. The thing I find absolutely unbelievable and will never understand is when people quit their job and just plan to relax for a while. What ??? You have a job you are making money, why would you give that up? I feel so lucky to have a job and to do something that isn't back breaking labor, I will never understand this and firmly feel like this is rich people stuff.

Re: Poor in Tech

#522

Post by bluecalm »

elzbardico wrote: post #450
lawn wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an absolutely dumb comment.

Yes. The author of the comment seems not the understand simple concepts like averages and normal distributions. Additionally, he/her seems to assume a causal relationship where if you're poor it is because you're dumb, and not the other way around, or even a mix of those two things. Yeah, on average, poor people score a few points low than the average for rich people. true. But this is not an absolute as the post's a…

The society would benefit the most from policies that encourage smart and successful people to have more children.

Re: Poor in Tech

#524

Post by ljm »

I feel like I can relate to many of the things here. It reminds me of the few times I got into enough of a pickle that I needed an advance on my salary. Just a lot of chickens that came home to roost.

At the same time, I recognise my own privilege in that I managed to escape that and get to a place of comfort, and also that there were other things I was fortunate to not experience.

To that extent, I could tell by my reaction sometimes that me-with-success was the one speaking, and not me-with-empathy.

Re: Poor in Tech

#525

Post by tasuki »

machello13 wrote: post #419
tasuki wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true too, the point I wanted to make is that in many places, poor people can't afford any cars.

That's what you literally said, but why bring it up?

I'm just trying to put into perspective "poor people around the world" vs "poor people in the US". From my pov, if one can afford a car, it's a little rich to call oneself poor when compared to all the people who can't afford basic necessities. And no, a car isn't a basic necessity, not even in the US.

Re: Poor in Tech

#526

Post by onlyfortoday2 »

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 /…

duh this is hacker news LOL

Re: Poor in Tech

#527

Post by maury91 »

bzzzt wrote: post #453
maury91 wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it depends on the value of the object and the chances of getting caught. If you steal a macbook in an office full of cameras is a bad deal. If you steal a macbook every other day in an office without any camera is a good deal. And the second option is exactly what happened in an office I worked on, at some point enough people complained that their macbook was stolen and they installed cameras. Funny thing i…

Didn't anyone bother to set up the MacBook activation locks? Or did people steal MacBooks anyway just to throw them away later when they turn out to be unusable?

> Didn't anyone bother to set up the MacBook activation locks?

The macbooks were handled by the IT department, everyone was just using them, so I don't know if such a function was enabled, the only security measures I know there were are remote login and disk encryption.

I don't know what the person that stole the macbooks did with them, but because he/she stole more than one I believe he/she was able to make a profit

Re: Poor in Tech

#528

Post by WeedRamen »

Billionaire CEO of a startup? Are there many? I imagine most billionairses are running established companies. Including the fact the OP says she is in oakland and can commute there faster than the other employees who get in from other places, anyone care to take a guess at who the company is?

Re: Poor in Tech

#529

Post by bumby »

zozbot234 wrote: post #420
domador wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only other implicit criticism toward her coworkers was ignoring and not greeting the cleaning staff. For the most part, her coworkers come across as privileged, rather than mean or otherwise morally deficient.

I'm not sure I see anything wrong with not bothering the cleaning staff while they're at work. The whole reason they've been hired is to spare everyone else the time and effort involved in cleaning, so to have everyone waste time on greetings would just be demeaning their work.

>The whole reason they've been hired is to spare everyone else the time

Do you extend this to other jobs as well? Is it demeaning to say hello to your boss because she's been hired to spare you the time of managerial decisions? What about the QA folks who've been hired to save you the time of executing tests?

Re: Poor in Tech

#530

Post by gonehome »

zozbot234 wrote: post #489
jmt_ wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But poor people hate feeling like they have to change their appearance to get the approval of the privileged classes. Feeling like you have to visually and verbally code switch to get "better" people to respect you just feels bad. Spending precious money on the cheapest formal wear you can find just so people will take you seriously further cements the divide poor people feel.

> But poor people hate feeling like they have to change their appearance to get the approval of the privileged classes. You say that like everyone else isn't doing the exact same thing. Being privileged is all about playing the "get everyone else's approval" game. But coming from a different social context it's even more basically a way of showing others respect and earning their trust, so it's not without consequenc…

It loops back around at the top. It’s why there’s an eccentric rich person trope and why it’s called “fuck you” money.

If you’re totally financially independent you’re more free to do what you want, independent of class behavior expectations (or even in contradiction of them). They no longer matter that much (unless you’re doing something that requires politics or people).

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