211–220 of 275 posts
Because I'm not nearly as good at any hobbies as much as I'm good at my job and being good at something is what gives me day-to-day satisfaction. Having a high wage but not enough stored wealth to feel invincible against an increasingly uncertain future, I'm spending more time feeling good about work than finding and investing in a hobby that'll make me truly happy.
Because I'm not nearly as good at any hobbies as much as I'm good at my job and being good at something is what gives me day-to-day satisfaction. Having a high wage but not enough stored wealth to feel invincible against an increasingly uncertain future, I'm spending more time feeling good about work than finding and investing in a hobby that'll make me truly happy.
This sounds like an unhealthy dependence on work to me. I enjoy my work but have far more fulfilling and enjoyable activities outside work. But hey, to each their own I suppose.
the bureaucratic bullshit, the HR bullshit, the "team building" exercises - i don't care if it's bowling or drinking alcohol, asshole managers, toxic co-workers, at-work politics in all it's wonderful forms.
i say this for large companies that pay well but treat you more like a number, for the small places that expect everything from you but treat you like family (at times), the startups, the regional companies, the tech companies, the non-tech companies, the customer facing roles, the backend roles.
it's all life sucking and life draining and there's no such thing, on a long enough time line (this is variable to people) that keeps it fulfilling. even changing it up all the time once oyu approach burn out.. .has it's breaking point where even that doesn't do shit for you.
work is a thing you do so you can live when you're done.
work sucks.
best job i ever had was working a kitchen of a BBQ restaurant. 2nd best was building walls and door frames for new houses as a teen. everything else i've ever done, blows and I'm 40.
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Not really. Work is just a way to enrich your employer. I don't really find that all that fulfilling unless I was in an exceptional position, such as upper management in an R&D company developing revolutionary technology. But no, I'm a guy who develops insurance software for a wage. It's not bad, but it's not hard to find far more fulfilling things on my own time.
> Work is just a way to enrich your employer. That's an awful way to look at life. Work already occupies your most productive working hours, why wouldn't you try to make it the most interesting and fulfilling activity in your life?
the most interesting job gets grinded down by process, by toxic co-workers, bully bosses, unrealistic expecatations and pressures, dealing with shitty "customers" (be them internal employees or external to the company).
my wife, my kid, hiking, camping, hitting the beach, listening to music, going to a concert, watching a movie, reading a book, gardening, yard/house projects, having my cat sit on my lap ..are all infinitely more rewarding than any piece of shit job could ever be.
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> You come home, home cooked meal, wife happy to hang out go on a walk do whatever That also feels outdated. I don't know many people who are happy to sit at home, prepare meals for their absent spouse, and then smile and be happy to do whatever that spouse wants to do when they get home. That feels like an image from the 50s, not 2021.
> happy to sit at home Believe it or not, even 50s housewives did not sit idly, staring at the clock.
Granted it's not for everyone. But I can see why it would be appealing.
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The country is already at the point where a single natural disaster can cause regional short-term fuel shortages and price spikes because refineries are located in geographies susceptible to natural disasters. It is not unreasonable to work under the assumption that temporary petrol shortages become a annual or semi-annual event in a future where the gulf coast is hammered with ever more frequent and powerful hurrica…
Harvey was parked over Houston for several days, and I don't really remember fuel prices being affected that much. The bigger thing to worry about is something like the pipeline hack (which will assuredly happen again).
This is an area where small, distributed solar panel arrays and batteries (like on your house) can be much more robust. It's a lot harder to destroy thousands of small solar power systems than it is to take out a pipeline feeding an entire city.
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I empathize with your sentiment.. I checked out of IT-related work in my 20's, and the moment I checked back in was sitting on the floor of a production welding shop, impact drilling holes through plate steel. I had this moment of clarity when I realized that however "unhappy" IT made me, it wasn't nearly as miserable as the alternative I had stumbled into. Or as my dad put it: better to work with your head than your…
This all still skirts the main issue. Why does the janitor get paid so much less for a shitty job almost no one wants to do? Why do we have damn near minimum wage construction jobs? Many jobs are important, all should be paid accordingly. Failing that, shouldn't the most labor intensive jobs therefore pay the best? The incentives are so skewed in society now. And I say that as someone who has done all kinds of crazy…
What % of software engineers could competently perform a janitorial job, preferences aside? What % of janitors could competently perform a software engineering job?
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I wonder what the EV RV industry is looking like..
Near nonexistent. Battery size requirements and battery charging rates make EV RVS either really expensive and really impractical for distance travel. You would need to put a huge battery (say, 300 KwH, which would cost $60,000 just for the battery), to get a reasonable range of 200-300 miles between charges, depending upon the efficiency of your RV. And then, even at a level 3 DCFC Charging station (providing 50 KW)…
Also, there will undoubtably be hybrid options where you can have a multi fuel generator charging your batteries.
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I empathize with your sentiment.. I checked out of IT-related work in my 20's, and the moment I checked back in was sitting on the floor of a production welding shop, impact drilling holes through plate steel. I had this moment of clarity when I realized that however "unhappy" IT made me, it wasn't nearly as miserable as the alternative I had stumbled into. Or as my dad put it: better to work with your head than your…
This all still skirts the main issue. Why does the janitor get paid so much less for a shitty job almost no one wants to do? Why do we have damn near minimum wage construction jobs? Many jobs are important, all should be paid accordingly. Failing that, shouldn't the most labor intensive jobs therefore pay the best? The incentives are so skewed in society now. And I say that as someone who has done all kinds of crazy…
Where supply is much larger than demand -- that is, where many people can easily replace the person doing the job and perform similar work -- wages are low. When not many people can do a demanded job, wages are high.
Note that I am not making any moral claims about this fact being good or bad; just pointing out that it is indeed an objective fact.
This dynamic notably holds true even in non-capitalist economic systems, such as in Communist countries where the rate of pay is legally fixed at the same level for all jobs: people simply barter out of band with non-monetary forms of value transfer (блат) instead, to compensate for the inability to use money to find the supply/demand intersection.
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> Having a high wage but not enough stored wealth to feel invincible against an increasingly uncertain future Hate to be the one to tell you this, but there is no guarantee on what the future may bring, money can't fix everything, and true security is a lie. Live your life in the here and now, before you regret wasting it.
People say money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a jet ski. Have you ever seen an unhappy person on a jet ski?
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Realistically though, 1.5MM brings in much more than $60k a year most of the time (an aggressive portfolio could return that much in a month, on occasion). So one could buy a place in a cool area with a cheap 30 year loan immediately before quitting. Live there for as long as you want, then sell it if you get the urge for a cheaper, less exciting lifestyle. Even if one overspends a little extra in those initial years…
> Realistically though, 1.5MM brings in much more than $60k a year most of the time. How are you employing it? [personal details removed]
"Where to get private health insurance?" Google it? I think pretty much every state has a BlueCross insurance company you can call up to ask. You'll probably spend between $500 and $1000/month, per person in your family, depending on state and age.
I despise employer-provided insurance - we have an entire culture of people who feel extra-dependent on 'employers' and who don't seem to know how to find out basic information.
You have a more than comfortable nest egg. Go pursue your passion before it's too late.