Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

jasonshen.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 352 posts

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#231

Post by Existenceblinks »

symlinkk wrote: post #35
avgDev wrote: post #9

"The experience was physically taxing, he was diagnosed with tendonitis after moving hundreds of boxes a day, but it pulled him out of his depression and helped him gain perspective and a deeper sense of meaning"....... I have mixed feelings about this. What this has proven is working at amazon warehouse sucks, and is not sustainable. I've had many physical shitty jobs in my 20's. Then, I had some health issue and co…

Software development is taxing on your brain the same way physical labor is taxing on your body. It’s depressing, soul sucking work. You’re stuck inside, staring at a screen for 8+ hours a day.

Also being forced to use inferior tech just because of hiring reason is like getting waterboarding.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#232

Post by Existenceblinks »

Aperocky wrote: post #193
cheeze wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It almost feels like... tourism? to me? Hard to explain, but I get what you mean.

Tourism is good though. Instead of moving geographically, the author moved social-economically to experience something different. I think it's great, we crave authentic experiences on the road, this should also be something more common. If more people (on the top) do this, we'll have a lot less of those out of touch just eat cake stories.

It has some extra sense to tourism it's like taking photo smiled with poor villager to pretend you are kind. "Human zoo tourism" is close to what this sense means.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#233

Post by nharada »

svnt wrote: post #178

“You will never understand how it feels to live your life with no meaning or control, and with nowhere left to go. You’re amazed that they exist, and they burn so bright that you can only wonder why?” —- Pulp, Common People The Shatner cover is something special: https://youtu.be/ainyK6fXku0

Came here to post the same song:

> Pretend you never went to school

> But still you'll never get it right

> 'Cause when you're laid in bed at night

> Watching roaches climb the wall

> If you called your dad he could stop it all, yeah

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#234

Post by kamaal »

mancerayder wrote: post #229
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What this has proven is working at amazon warehouse sucks, and is not sustainable. This person went from a 23-year career sitting at a desk to doing physical labor all day. Any physical labor is going to take a toll on someone in their 40s who hasn't been doing physical labor. I have a lot of people in my extended social circle who are in physical labor jobs. Amazon Warehouse jobs are always viewed as the "easy" fa…

Perhaps, but the epidemic of sedentary lifestyle has lead to a large suite of problems, ranging from miserable back pain to cardiovascular problems to diabetes. The average office worker can barely run a mile, do a pullup, squat below parallel with their bodyweight, or climb a flight of stairs without panting. Some of us spend hours a week compensating for this. If lifting boxes and carrying them around all day long…

Its one thing to do hard physical exercise, like gym work, cycling, swimming, running etc for like and hour or two everyday, and then get good rest- Work in the time there is in between. This is actually far healthier than a full time job doing hard physical labor. There is certain thing call physical wear-and-tear which is real, together with injuries, and you won't be getting paid nearly as well or with the same benefits and perks. Eventually your mind will find a job repulsive that doesn't pay as much.

I also heard some where at some point nearly every one working these hard labor jobs indulges in after work drinking as a means of pain relief analgesic.

The thing that you describe about the average working job Joe, is really physical abuse in the exact opposite direction to the extreme physical labor. Both are bad. Balance is how you enjoy life.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#235

Post by Barrin92 »

eckza wrote: post #192
nathanaldensr wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why deny his experience, though? Not everything needs to be viewed through a lens of privilege. I hope the author gained an appreciation for those less fortunate or less ambitious. At least they have experienced the "other side," so to speak.

> Why deny his experience, though? Because it was an option. He treated it like poverty tourism, like a middle-class youth group "missions trip" to build huts for third-world natives. Good on him for having an epiphany, but I'd wager that he'd have a different perspective if he had to do that job long past his soft-handed tendonitis episode in order to feed his family that he barely mentioned in his interview. Imagin…

>He treated it like poverty tourism, like a middle-class youth group "missions trip" to build huts for third-world natives.

He literally didn't though if you read the piece, he's very aware of the nature of a rich guy going to work a manual job

>"I am not going to bill an Amazon job as some sort of upper-middle-class panacea, something you go do just like you go enroll in survivalist camps or silent retreats. The job can be dehumanizing, physically wearing if not outright painful, and mind-numbingly boring if you can’t invent little games for yourself while lifting 300 boxes an hour for eleven hours straight. The job has been incredibly rewarding to me, far beyond what I had expected. It saved me from a downward spiral that I just could not get myself out of. But it’s no dream job. I want out of there as soon as Peak ends; I do not want to stay a minute longer."

I grew up blue collar, I'm not offended by this at all. Is he supposed to be categorically excluded from ordinary jobs just because he lucked out in life, like some reverse class segregation? This isn't Jack Dorsey meditating in Myanmar while there's riots on the streets or Zuckerberg touring Middle America, it's just some dude who felt depressed and changed his job up to get a different experience.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#236

Post by Bakary »

ninkendo wrote: post #191
Bakary wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are an American SWE or have a corresponding salary, you pretty much only have to work for 10 or so years before retiring, assuming you learn how personal finance works and learn to live without a fancy car or any status-related possessions. Heck you could do it in 5 years if you are a FAANG employee.

I’m not sure you could do it in 5 years at a FAANG even if you saved every penny (literally zero living expenses.) Because if you start a career at 22, that means you retire at 27, and have to have enough saved up for something like 40 years before social security kicks in. That’s a long time to be living off of savings. Can you have enough that you can live off the interest in your investments? Depends. You’d need n…

I'll admit 5 years was hyperbolic and unrealistic, perhaps something reserved for the most promising workers at those FAANGs. But if you are 10 years into your FAANG career, you should be earning at minimum in the 300K net/210k take home range, and have done so for years. At this point you must be trading freedom for creature comforts or status goods if you are not financially independent.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#238

Post by spoonjim »

themitigating wrote: post #96
spoonjim wrote: post #26

Working in an Amazon warehouse can be refreshing and restorative when you can quit after 10 weeks and have millions of dollars in the bank. Not so much when you get tendonitis after 6 weeks but have to stare down another 30 years of this and still won’t have any savings.

Yes and we are all aware of that. Are you saying that his experience and blog cause harm to those people who have to do it? There's been countless posts about Amazon warehouse conditions on Hackernews and other news sources.

"Harm"? Not really. But this guy is not much different from a millionaire pretending to be homeless and bumming quarters at the train station. Might he find it an interesting experience? Sure. But it's fundamentally just a form of "class vacation" as rich people often do.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#239

Post by Bakary »

symlinkk wrote: post #179
Bakary wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are an American SWE or have a corresponding salary, you pretty much only have to work for 10 or so years before retiring, assuming you learn how personal finance works and learn to live without a fancy car or any status-related possessions. Heck you could do it in 5 years if you are a FAANG employee.

Genuinely wondering how you came up with that. How much do you think Americans have left after taxes and living expenses?

I'll walk back on the five years FAANG claim as I was venting a bit. But let's say you earn $200K (you'd start with less but end up with more at the 5 year mark), $135-165K take home, $105K if you save 70% of your salary. If we count compound interest, investments, stocks, healthcare savings due to generous SWE contracts, you could definitely achieve freedom if you wanted to with the 4% rule. It would require abandoning some luxury, but even on 30% of your take home salary you would have a decent lifestyle, more than most make total. And then you'd be in a position to do what you want, be as healthy as you need to be, no longer a need to buy things to make you forget about your servitude. You could travel on the cheap with longer flights because you would have time to do so.

Let's say I'm wrong, and it's more like 15-18 years. Well, that's still much much much better than what most people get. You can have decades of your life back. How much of your freedom are toys and consumption worth?

Post reply on HN