Gen Z does not dream of labor

American boomers grew up in lot of privilege after winning world war 2. Now is a different time where the world is more competitive. A lot of jobs in manufacturing have gone to China, in the services sector to India. Dancing off on Tiktok and working at Starbucks won't give you a comfortable life like your parents had. So better start grinding those leetcode questions like the rest of the world does. American hegemony is all but over.

> American workers across various ages, industries, and income brackets have experienced heightened levels of fatigue, burnout, and general dissatisfaction toward their jobs since the pandemic’s start. The difference is, more young people are airing these indignations and jaded attitudes on the internet, often to viral acclaim.

I left Amazon after a 10+ year career.

I was encouraged to hire foreign nationals from specific countries, because their visa situation makes it harder for them to leave Amazon without having to leave the country.

When my own people were being let go for no reason at all, I was told not to interfere. I was directly mentored on disconnecting myself from individuals in my organization, because it would help me do what’s “right for Amazon”.

I sat in an off site with various leaders from the broader company. American workers just won’t work as hard, I was told. We need to expand our engineering pool to other markets, to cut costs and because those people have a lower standard of living and will work harder. I am quoting multiple Amazon L10s.

Those 10 years, I was miserable. I cut off from my family. My friends eventually stopped calling. I became more and more isolated. I put on excess body weight. My mental health suffered.

To be clear, I’m immensely privileged and left Amazon with a boatload of money and assets. In retrospect, I was part of a machine that exploited people. That’s where my money came from.

Gen Z needs to realize that being smart about this and simply “dreaming” isn’t enough. My former Amazon bosses are ready to replace Americans with workers on the global market. They have no empathy, and they openly view it as a weakness. It is LITERALLY a rat race.

I think you're on to something, but there is one thing that I question:

> As far as I can tell, the difference was that by the time they reached mid 20s they were quickly running out of peers who would tell them it was a good idea to embrace such a lifestyle forever. The real world catches up and you notice that your real-world friends who work normal jobs and “settle down” are actually having a good time (on average) while the vagabonding lifestyle gets progressively less glamorous as you get older.

ARE the people working normal jobs and settling down having a good time?

Interestingly, my sister and I, who now live together, took very different paths in our 20s and therefore ended up with different social circles. I was more of the studious, behave, responsible sort and so most of my friends/network is as well. My sister was a party girl (lots of raves, drugs, etc. - very much the vagabonding type of lifestyle).

Now we're in our 30s and while my friends might have slightly nicer apartments, their situations aren't that different.

My proper middle-class friends can't afford houses, can't afford kids (or they have to give up their career/take a huge standard of living cut), can't afford healthcare, are buried under student loans, and can't save enough for retirement.

My sister's vagabonding friends can't afford houses, can't afford kids, can't afford healthcare, and can't save for retirement, but at least they got to have some fun.

I'd say that the reward for behaving is much less than it used to be.

> I can’t understand why the market isn’t flooded with coders

I was able to excel at CS in college because my parents shoved a DOS computer in front of me when I was 5 and challenged me with math and general problem solving at every opportunity. My whole childhood was basically debugging and critical thinking. If you didn't have that growing up, it's really hard to start learning the skills when you're 30.

If all of this is true, then I am with you guys. Don't give up your _one and only_ life to make someone else richer.

Given the stories I've heard, and things I've myself seen, I'm not convinced it is true — not for _most_ millennials. I do hope I'm wrong though.