The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)

Ok, I did stay more than a year or two in every job, and I want to be in control of my work, and I was no way near of achieving this simple goal when I left. Job done, I move on.

This article states so many hypotheses the are unproven, and the author is making absolutely no attempts to prove them.

Also, I know that I am addressing the "tone" of the article[1], but there is simply so much of that self acclaimed witty know it all attitude that he claims is dominating HN.

What he fails to understand (which I believe is the core reason responsible for his post) is that life, is a very personal experience. So is work (any type of work, not just job-work).

Secondly, he is having a rant (call it what you want, but this is effectively a damn rant) about people (these are all people he is talking about) he knows nothing about.

I've known people (I did it myself too) who did things and lied about their motivation, because they were embarrassed, wanted support, etc. An example is my friend who lost her father at a very young age (15) and her life was upside down for a while, but she was better and everything was fine for a year or two, but it wasn't. She claimed she got "bored of physics" (which was her high school degree), but she was too embarrassed to admit that it was because it reminded her of her late dad every day, who was also a (retired) physicists.

A more personal example: I was ruining my life, I was perfectly aware of what I was doing, too. I didn't care, though. I had no power, no will, no motivation to do anything about it. My life was literally out of my control. I just didn't. I was driving my mum crazy with my "care free" facade, which was to protect her from something I couldn't explain, and I simply knew she'd blame it on herself (she is an overprotective single mum, just to draw a picture): On the inside I felt worthless, I wanted to drop out of university. I considered suicide many times, I even went as far as planning one that would look like an accident (thankfully a great friend saved my life without realising it). I'd go to "classes," but I was really just sitting in a park, I felt too tired to move. The sunlight felt like it was pushing me down, the shadows felt heavy (shadows one is not even a metaphot) . I had a friend for a very long time who realised it wasn't just a phase and forced me to seek help: turns out I was depressed since early childhood. Nobody realised it because child depression symptoms are different than adolescent or adult ones. Everyone thinks depression just makes you sad. Well, it's a way bigger clusterfuck that most, unless they've been through it, can even fathom. You can't be bothered to do things you are passionate about, doing something you don't like? Hello Purgatory.

Anyway, I'm a lot better now.

I also know that some people do fall into the HASHTAGIDGAFYOLO category the author is describing, but I sincerely doubt that (I might be biased about the following statement) someone of our intellect can plummet to such levels of stupid.

Yes, these people are running away, but he doesn't know why or what they are running away from, and it's fucking unjust to make such claims with no evidence to prove them.

Someone once said to me that "lazy" is more often a symptom than the cause itself. They also used a clever analogy: "Diagnosing someone with laziness is the same as diagnosing someone with a cough." You need to look deeper before you can make assumptions.

I was making up "cool" excuses rather than admitting that I am depressed. Internet gives me a thin cloak of anonymity, so I don't mind sharing my thoughts.

[1]: http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html

P. S: Sorry if the post is a bit incoherent, but I have a bit of a temper when I see insensitive swines saying bullshit. Sorry for the previous sentence, too. And yes: I might have taken the post a bit too personally because I was hurt by some of the things that were said. Anyway, this was longer than I intended it to be.

Yes, I agree. As someone who is clinically depressed, I get pissed right off when people talked about it like it's a bit of melancholy. Fuck no. Or when they talk about depression like it's something you can will yourself out of. The little fucker burns the will in you to live, what is your arsenal? Hallow words from people who are part of one of the biggest misconceived and stigmatised disease on the planet.

Hi, I'm the one who wrote the 'saddest most uninformed blog post on hacker news' [1] that inspired this post.

Just want to chime in with a quick update: two months in, still 'funemployed'. Currently working harder than I ever did at my job, on so many different levels. Possibly working harder than I ever have in my life. To stay at the job I was at would have been a huge cop out. I'd basically be showing up and collecting a check without pushing myself forward, stunting my growth as a developer and as a person.

[1] http://madebyloren.com/i-quit-my-job

I'm still a student, but I pulled through something similar (trying to get into college), and I thought harder work would get me there. After a couple of months of sleeping 4 hours a day, and way too much coffee and ramen (some cram nights, I'd down 4 cans of nescafé,2 starbucks mocha's and 4 redbulls just to stay working, along with a bowl of cheap ramen to top it off), I started getting frequent colds, eye infections, you name it. I started dozing off and not waking up. I felt giddy in my skin. It was downright terrible.

And the irony of it? After totaling my body, I totaled my grades. Bye,bye Ivy's, it was nice :).

So I don't entirely agree with the author that lack of hard work should be the usual suspect, and that burnouts are an euphemism for slackerism.