Ask HN: Are You a Failure? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#31

Post by giantg2 » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 4:46 PM UTC

I'm a failure. I didn't live up to my potential. I'm lazy. Nothing I do works anymore. My career is in jeopardy because I'm "slow".

My main cause would be naivete. I believed all the stuff you're taught about the world in schools, by parents, etc. I believed the company when they told me stuff like they don't outsource or layoff. I'm wasn't aggressive enough to go after promotions or switch jobs. This resulted in me (dev, masters, 10+ yoe) living in a med-high COL making close to $100k with a family to support.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#32

Post by giantg2 » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 4:49 PM UTC

ManlyBread wrote: post #9

Friend told me about Bitcoin in 2009 and I dismissed it as stupid. Tried to get into it in 2012, even mined it for a bit but ultimately stopped and used what I've mined to buy a bunch of useless stuff like Namecoin domains. Dismissed it again when it hit 800$ thinking it can never be be higher. Wrong again. Basically I tried to hop onto the train several times and each time it felt like I shouldn't (so I didn't), yet…

I mined .10 BTC around 2012. I lost it somehow (never properly transfered to the wallet). I was really trying hard to find it once it got over BTC hit $20k.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#33

Post by 226_ebro_treaty » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 4:59 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #31

I'm a failure. I didn't live up to my potential. I'm lazy. Nothing I do works anymore. My career is in jeopardy because I'm "slow". My main cause would be naivete. I believed all the stuff you're taught about the world in schools, by parents, etc. I believed the company when they told me stuff like they don't outsource or layoff. I'm wasn't aggressive enough to go after promotions or switch jobs. This resulted in me…

I'd love to fail into making $100k :-)

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#34

Post by giantg2 » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:08 PM UTC

226_ebro_treaty wrote: post #33

giantg2 wrote: post #31

I'm a failure. I didn't live up to my potential. I'm lazy. Nothing I do works anymore. My career is in jeopardy because I'm "slow". My main cause would be naivete. I believed all the stuff you're taught about the world in schools, by parents, etc. I believed the company when they told me stuff like they don't outsource or layoff. I'm wasn't aggressive enough to go after promotions or switch jobs. This resulted in me…

I'd love to fail into making $100k :-)

Well I might not be making it much longer with my bad ratings. Plus, it's not a lot for supporting a family (lower cost areas would be different).

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#35

Post by S_Bear » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:29 PM UTC

My wife and cats love me, I have fun and engaging hobbies, and we make enough each month to pay bills and have a little left over. After getting hammered in 09 during the recession, I gave up my ambitions and started living in the moment a bit more. Since then, I've been diagnosed with a degenerative joint disorder that limits my capabilities.

Every now and then I see a job posting that piques my interest, but I'm largely content with my life and plan to run out the last 12 years of work with as little stress as possible. I could buckle down and make more money and retire sooner, but it really isn't worth the stress.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#36

Post by 226_ebro_treaty » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:36 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #34

226_ebro_treaty wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to fail into making $100k :-)

Well I might not be making it much longer with my bad ratings. Plus, it's not a lot for supporting a family (lower cost areas would be different).

I understand. Hope you make it through your current difficult situation, and get to a better place. Wish you the best of luck!

I just wanted to point out that to consider yourself a failure because you're "only" making 100k is a bit ridiculous. Going by that metric, 99% of the world's population is a failure. You're not a failure. You've just fallen through some hard times. Try your best, and you'll be out of them soon enough.

Virtual hug.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#37

Post by 226_ebro_treaty » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:40 PM UTC

S_Bear wrote: post #35

My wife and cats love me, I have fun and engaging hobbies, and we make enough each month to pay bills and have a little left over. After getting hammered in 09 during the recession, I gave up my ambitions and started living in the moment a bit more. Since then, I've been diagnosed with a degenerative joint disorder that limits my capabilities. Every now and then I see a job posting that piques my interest, but I'm la…

What happened to you in the 2009 recession?

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#38

Post by 226_ebro_treaty » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:41 PM UTC

level87 wrote: post #8

matheusmoreira wrote: post #3

Career. I'm not a failure in general, I'm pretty successful. I consider myself a failure as a programmer though. I failed myself when I was a teenager by quitting and choosing another profession instead. I did it because at the time I thought I was gonna be miserable doing it for a living. These days... I don't know. I suppose I'll forever wonder what could have been.

I did something similar. I spent my 20's and early 30's working as a furniture maker, I loved parts of it but financially it was difficult. When I was younger I spent whole summers coding for fun, all the friends I had at that time are now working at Google and Facebook while I am just getting started again. I love making things and solving problems, and the medium isn't as important as I once thought. I wish I had r…

You've just described grass is always greener on the other side :-)

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#39

Post by aizyuval » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:44 PM UTC

Im 18 yo, trying to understand this world and myself. I started a venture last year, which I was crazy about as my first. A few months didn’t pass by until I got noticed that my so-called friend so-called “partner” has been cheating me and frauding me. The product sucked and I seemed to be (unintentionally) screwing my customers.

I should have checked my partners more closely and also the product.

Looking back, I don’t understand it - but I stopped it then. Since then I’ve been fighting to start a promising venture with no success. Yet. It’s been a year and a half.

Re: Ask HN: Are You a Failure?

#40

Post by giantg2 » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:29 PM UTC

226_ebro_treaty wrote: post #36

giantg2 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I might not be making it much longer with my bad ratings. Plus, it's not a lot for supporting a family (lower cost areas would be different).

I understand. Hope you make it through your current difficult situation, and get to a better place. Wish you the best of luck! I just wanted to point out that to consider yourself a failure because you're "only" making 100k is a bit ridiculous. Going by that metric, 99% of the world's population is a failure. You're not a failure. You've just fallen through some hard times. Try your best, and you'll be out of them so…

"you're "only" making 100k is a bit ridiculous. Going by that metric, 99% of the world's population is a failure."

Ok, I'll put it a different way - houshold income is below the 50th percentile for the area. So by that measure, 50% of the world population is doing better than I am on a location-based relative measure.