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Ask HN: Had enough – a need for a new beginning

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31–40 of 41 posts

Re: Ask HN: Had enough – a need for a new beginning

#31
> I want to do something in my life that truly benefits humanity.

Please rethink your goals and how you will have impact. Unless you run a non-profit, people are in the business to make money. Let me tell you that I had the reverse experience earlier in my adulthood. I described a bit in a thread recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41598911

In my late teens and early 20s, I rejected big corps. I rejected standard job search and interview practices because people seemed fake. I wanted to stay away from making products that can do bad things (very broad!). I stayed away from business-y courses and topics because people with money seemed greedy. Fortunately, I found a workplace that satisfied my beliefs. I made an intern's salary in the area as a full time employee. Salary increase was almost non-existent. Work was very chill. I lived paycheque to paycheque and never travelled, but being poor was ok being in my 20s.

The last straw came when the company was sold. The early employees had a windfall. Some folks, who were in their 40s, retired or became an angel investor. Some kept their job and bought "adult toys" (Example: Classic cars). I got $0 because I had no stock. I turned 30. I had no money to replace even my personal computer and bought old parts to keep my computer going. That's my wake-up call.

I began to network and learned the reality of the industry. I learned to interview for jobs. I learned that a degree wasn't as valuable as my parents said in the 1980s. The company I ended with had some controversies, but there were a lot of smart folks who were eager to learn. There was no lacking of recruiters reaching out when and after working there. Start saving money in my 30s still wasn't too late!

If I had a sizable trust fund and just needed something to occupy my mind during the day, the non-evil-corp would be perfect.

Re: Ask HN: Had enough – a need for a new beginning

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree that this view is childish at all. Advertising itself often has no value, it is about the products and services it might support. And it is a broad field and evaluation of its worth is subjective. I think sponsoring events is a more constructive form of advertising than tracking users wants and pushing popups onto them. These are distinct spheres that can both be titled as advertising but are still very di…

Sorry, I'm not gonna comment your nonsensical and naive perspective. Yes, advertising is not something that directly helps cure cancer. But it is nothing but ignorant to downplay important role it plays in the economy. Many people use knives to kill, others make food with them. Yet knives are not even neutral - it is a major and valuable invention of a mankind.

It only plays a role for product discovery, which is almost trivial in todays information infrastructure.

It remains a bottle for attention but the amplitude of advertising is almost irrelevant. If we had less advertising tomorrow, no pop-ups, no billboards, no flyers and so on, very little would directly change and consumption would barely be affected.

And as I hinted at, there are of course different levels of advertising. If it consumes private information of its targets, it becomes a net loss for society and economy.

More or less the reality that OP doesn't want to be part of anymore and I believe it is for good reason and I wish him luck. That doesn't mean I don't like our advertising department or believe it is superfluous.

Re: Ask HN: Had enough – a need for a new beginning

#35

You might find academic or medical IT more rewarding. Academic will likely be lower pay but there are many jobs in the HPC space that could use your linux background.

e.g.

Linux/HPC Administrator position https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/160292

Excited to announce that Digital Research and Infrastructure at Oregon State University is seeking a skilled and dedicated Linux/HPC Administrator. This role involves managing and supporting our high-performance computing (HPC) systems, ensuring optimal performance and reliability for our research community.

Further details on this position and how to apply

https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/position_descriptions/20016

This position will have the opportunity to work closlely with the new Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex

https://leadership.oregonstate.edu/huang-cic

Re: Ask HN: Had enough – a need for a new beginning

#36
I felt the same way a few years ago and found that almost no non profits had any use for a computer programmer. I occasionally help one NGO that I'm passionate about update their website, but that gives me maybe 30mins of work per year. The reality is that the vast majority of technology doesn't make the world a better place, it just makes it a more efficient place. Software exists almost exclusively to cut costs and make more money. If you want to make the world a better place, you probably need to find a job doing something unrelated to technology and just do your coding on the weekends. Most tech doesn't make the world better

Re: Ask HN: Had enough – a need for a new beginning

#38

> I want to do something in my life that truly benefits humanity. > Something that helps save our planet. I would advise you to rethink setting such big goals and start really small. It looks like you're burned out working for an finance oriented industry that does not have such goals in mind, and trying to compensate that with a swing in completely different direction. Jump the whole scale so to say. And that might…

> If Elon with all his billions barely can make a dent in saving a planet

Huh? Is he even trying to? What gave you that impression?

Re: Ask HN: Had enough – a need for a new beginning

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course people are motivated by money but there is are difference on how you can achieve that goal. And in advertising it is mostly on the backs of the most naïve users. In contrast there are people that really improve software and products for everyone and there are countless examples of that.

that is a kinda childish view It's like saying that advertising bad, other cool things - good. Don't you know that if not because of advertising - we wouldn't had Google, amazon and thousands of other great products and companies?

> Don't you know that if not because of advertising - we wouldn't had Google, amazon...

You say that as if it were necessarily a bad thing.

> ...and thousands of other great products and companies?

For varying definitions of "great".

Re: Ask HN: Had enough – a need for a new beginning

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree that this view is childish at all. Advertising itself often has no value, it is about the products and services it might support. And it is a broad field and evaluation of its worth is subjective. I think sponsoring events is a more constructive form of advertising than tracking users wants and pushing popups onto them. These are distinct spheres that can both be titled as advertising but are still very di…

Sorry, I'm not gonna comment your nonsensical and naive perspective. Yes, advertising is not something that directly helps cure cancer. But it is nothing but ignorant to downplay important role it plays in the economy. Many people use knives to kill, others make food with them. Yet knives are not even neutral - it is a major and valuable invention of a mankind.

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