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The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

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Re: The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

#11

Post by websitescenes »

leephillips wrote: post #5
websitescenes wrote: post #2

Sounds like this author has some angst against those that are willing to go above and beyond in pursuit of a goal or accomplishment. This generation has been forced to be very entrepreneurial because of a lack of jobs. We learn fast, test our assumptions and make adjustments. This is a big contrast to the way AlexeyBrin thinks the world works. From his cushy and comfortable desk job, he thinks the same avenues availa…

It doesn't seem as if AlexeyBrin is the author of the article, just the submitter.

Seems you are correct. I had assumed.

Re: The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

#12

Post by sliverstorm »

leephillips wrote: post #5
websitescenes wrote: post #2

Sounds like this author has some angst against those that are willing to go above and beyond in pursuit of a goal or accomplishment. This generation has been forced to be very entrepreneurial because of a lack of jobs. We learn fast, test our assumptions and make adjustments. This is a big contrast to the way AlexeyBrin thinks the world works. From his cushy and comfortable desk job, he thinks the same avenues availa…

It doesn't seem as if AlexeyBrin is the author of the article, just the submitter.

I like how you have to point that out. Has it become so strange for an article to be posted by someone other than the author?

Re: The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

#14

Post by menssen »

Hard work. Boring work. Unfulfilling work.

There is no relationship between these three things, but the author keeps saying "hard, boring work."

I don't feel particularly bad about insisting that hard work doesn't have to be boring, and that boring, easy work is not hard.

"The HN Generation doesn't want to put in their time doing boring, unfulfilling work" doesn't sound nearly as damning as "The HN Generation doesn't want to put in their time doing hard work."

Anecdotally, programmers tend to work pretty damn hard.

Re: The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

#15

Post by craigyk »

I am one of the people this article talks about, and I agree heartily. Fortunately I've long since identified this personal issue and have been working to improve myself. In all those years I spent watching peers working hard and struggling with things I did not, I had a nagging suspicion there were hidden benefits to their struggle.

Now I know. Today they are better at getting shit done. They can grind through the menial day to day minutiae real world projects are burdened with whereas I tend to obsess over the pockets that are "interesting". Working on it though...

Re: The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

#17

Post by md224 »

> nothing of any worth is obtained by any means except for good old honest hard work

This sounds nice as a slogan on a motivational poster, but is it actually true? On the one hand, I sort of understand what he's trying to say: many things in life require significant effort. But the phrase "nothing of any worth" is a little extreme... worth is pretty subjective, after all.

Re: The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

#18

Post by RyanZAG »

I feel sorry for the author of this post - he actually believes hard, boring work is the only way to accomplish anything. I've done both hard, boring work, and easy, efficient and enjoyable work. The easy work was both more enjoyable, more profitable and far better for my life as a whole.

Life is not fair, there are no points awarded for working harder or being more diligent - there are only 'points' awarded for accomplishing things. Make sure you accomplish the right things in the right way. Nobody is interesting that you slaved away coding for 6 months to develop something when someone launches something with 6 hours of work that solves the right problem.

Re: The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

#20

Post by Artistry121 »

websitescenes wrote: post #2

Sounds like this author has some angst against those that are willing to go above and beyond in pursuit of a goal or accomplishment. This generation has been forced to be very entrepreneurial because of a lack of jobs. We learn fast, test our assumptions and make adjustments. This is a big contrast to the way AlexeyBrin thinks the world works. From his cushy and comfortable desk job, he thinks the same avenues availa…

This hasn't been my experience. For me and my classmates graduating college all have jobs in traditional companies much like my parents and (some) of their parents had. In fact many of us are going to make more inflation adjusted dollars out of college than our parents did.

It may be true in certain parts of the country but mobility for young people should be high anyways. For those around me it's not whether or not we will get a job but whether or not we will be prepared to work hard and smart for 40+ hour workweeks. In Texas in any major city a college degree and some experience is highly valued and job opportunities are plentiful.

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