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We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

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Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#91

Post by markkanof »

spindritf wrote: post #5

Yes, working from home is great. It is a luxury. Working at your own pace is also nice. But working "on the Internet" means you're also comparing yourself to the best, brightest, and driven. Then it seems like you're achieving maybe 10% of what you seemingly could be, because you're setting your own goals based on what you see out there. It's like getting stuck in traffic. You can point out that I'm sitting in climat…

I'd add that not only are we comparing ourselves to actual people that are the "best and brightest", but also to a mental conglomeration of success stories that somehow feel like they are all done by a single super human even though rationally you know you are thinking of the small individual achievements of thousands or millions of other people.

In the face of that kind of comparison, it's hard not to a bit down occasionally, even though you know the reality does not match the perception.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#92

Post by ForHackernews »

rjknight wrote: post #57
vonmoltke wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're lucky not to be those people, but to me "luxury" implies either greed or wastefulness - that as software developers we're getting some kind of unreasonably good deal from the world. I don't agree with that definition of "luxury", and I think there are many others who also do not. Luxury is about comfort and choice, not greed and wastefulness.

Google[1] reckons that "luxury" is: the state of great comfort and extravagant living. "he lived a life of luxury" synonyms: opulence, luxuriousness, sumptuousness, grandeur, magnificence, splendor, lavishness, the lap of luxury, a bed of roses, (the land of) milk and honey This says that luxury is about great comfort, something beyond the ordinary. The aristocrats of Downton Abbey live in luxury, the average softwar…

> the average software developer does not.

No, that's the point of this article. The average developer does live in great comfort--beyond the ordinary--both in absolute terms worldwide (you have clean water and electricity), and relative terms within developed nations (you posess a well-paid skill that is in high demand and affords a flexible career).

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#93

Post by nwienert »

aasarava wrote: post #49
spindritf wrote: post #5

Yes, working from home is great. It is a luxury. Working at your own pace is also nice. But working "on the Internet" means you're also comparing yourself to the best, brightest, and driven. Then it seems like you're achieving maybe 10% of what you seemingly could be, because you're setting your own goals based on what you see out there. It's like getting stuck in traffic. You can point out that I'm sitting in climat…

So what is the hack that keeps us from constantly taking our luxuries for granted? Just as with the traffic situation, how often do we find ourselves complaining about having to do the laundry or the dishes or vacuuming or even heating up something for dinner -- all fairly small and easy tasks thanks to the help of technology, which took much more time and labor in a previous generation? Yes, it's true that the compl…

I think this is as good a time as any to share my favorite speech on this topic, This Is Water by David Foster Wallace[1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#94

Post by oinksoft »

allochthon wrote: post #46
throwaway812 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the sentiment, but I think your facts are a bit off and reflect HN insularity. The median 33% household income ("middle class") in the US is $30,000 to $62,500 ( household ). Even if you are the sole earner in your household, it is still unlikely that you make less than $62,500. If you do make less than that, ask for a raise. If you don't make less than that, or your combined household income is more tha…

By any reasonable definition, being well-off means being able to take out a mortgage on a house, afford occasional vacations to other parts of the world, invest in the stock market, support a family, put your kids through college, give to different charities, save for retirement, all in addition to helping family members in need, which one would do under any circumstances. A software developer might be able to do the…

  > A software developer might be able to do these things in
  > California, but only barely, unless they have a very cushy
  > arrangement or they've ridden an exit for a startup.
You can live in an affordable part of the state...there is a California outside of LA and the Bay.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#95

Post by MarkPNeyer »

jaimebuelta wrote: post #81
seanccox wrote: post #60

Let's be careful with that term, "luxury". You're a well-paid and comparatively comfortable wage slave, but just because you don't have to labor in a mine or a burger joint doesn't mean you are experiencing luxury. Luxury is what these people are living: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ We would all do well to remember that the first 85 people on that list have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people in t…

It is true that luxury is relative, but, from an external point of view, when I was a kid, I remembered commenting with people how everyone in American movies seemed to be rich, even when depicted as "low middle class" (huge houses, a couple of cars, tons of clothes, toys, etc) We are not talking about having an helicopter, but my family bought our first car when I had 15 years, and live in a relative small flat for…

The point parent is making, i think, is this:

The people running the show can't have everybody thinking 'wow i'm getting fucked' because then the show is over. they need a buffer; people who think they have it really well off because they look at how hard the people below them have it. when the people at the very bottom start to complain about their situation and say they're being screwed by the rich, the people who _think_ they have it well take offense because think they're being blamed. so they fight back.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#96

Post by Touche »

ForHackernews wrote: post #80
allochthon wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By any reasonable definition, being well-off means being able to take out a mortgage on a house, afford occasional vacations to other parts of the world, invest in the stock market, support a family, put your kids through college, give to different charities, save for retirement, all in addition to helping family members in need, which one would do under any circumstances. A software developer might be able to do the…

Hint: Don't live in California. There are plenty of well-paid software jobs in places like Boston, Chicago, Northern Virginia, Atlanta, Florida, Austin, etc. They might not have the glut of "hot" startups that Silicon Valley does, but they have much more reasonable cost of living.

What I was alluding to with my comment was that software developers create a tremendous amount of wealth while seeing little of it. That is as true outside SV as it is inside.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#97

Post by GregBuchholz »

seanccox wrote: post #60

Let's be careful with that term, "luxury". You're a well-paid and comparatively comfortable wage slave, but just because you don't have to labor in a mine or a burger joint doesn't mean you are experiencing luxury. Luxury is what these people are living: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ We would all do well to remember that the first 85 people on that list have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people in t…

>We would all do well to remember that the first 85 people on that list have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people in the world

Does anyone know where to get the raw wealth data for something like this? It might be interesting to know for example, if you have a net worth of $1, that you might have more wealth than the poorest 500 million combined (or whatever).

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#98

Post by rikkus »

Some of us are actually aware of this. It's good to point out what the world is like to people who may not have first hand knowledge, but then they're still not getting any by reading this article. I'd have liked to see the author encourage others to travel, perhaps, whether geographically or economically. It's difficult to have empathy with fellow humans without actual contact.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#100

Post by rikkus »

seanccox wrote: post #60

Let's be careful with that term, "luxury". You're a well-paid and comparatively comfortable wage slave, but just because you don't have to labor in a mine or a burger joint doesn't mean you are experiencing luxury. Luxury is what these people are living: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ We would all do well to remember that the first 85 people on that list have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people in t…

Comparative comfort _is_ luxury, compared to that which most of the people on the planet experience as their daily lives.
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