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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

#121

Post by d23 »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #118

Yes, this. I've had jobs where I worked in the freezing rain, etc. etc. The people cutting your grass are likely better than you. I'll just come out and say it, they are, because their life SUCKS and they get up every day and just do it. They have heart. Many people in our community have a disgusting sense of superiority and entitlement. You just don't understand unless you've been there. What makes many people in th…

> Relatively speaking chances are you have absolutely nothing to whine about in your work. Nothing.

The problem with playing this game is that there are always bigger fish, and there are always smaller fish. Do back-breaking work 8 hours a day? At least it's not 10. Do it for 12 hours a day? At least you have a job. Don't have a job? At least you're alive in America. Not from America? Etc.

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

#122

Post by mcantelon »

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…

This is called relative deprivation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_deprivation) and Malcolm Gladwell's book "David and Goliath" has some interesting examples of its destructive power, such as when bright students enroll in STEM courses in top-tier schools, but end up dropping out from STEM because the amount of students smarter than them discourages them.

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

#123

Post by djb_hackernews »

ForHackernews wrote: post #104
Touche wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

True, and that's a fair point, but it's basically true of all employees anywhere in a capitalist economy. Even much-reviled Wall Street traders who receive million-dollar bonuses do so while bringing in many multiples of that in revenue for their firm.

However you don't see the politicians or those traders employers banging the drum to dilute the trader pool with foreign workers on extremely employer friendly worker visas.

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

#124

Post by JPKab »

djb_hackernews wrote: post #112
ForHackernews wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As a software developer with several years in Boston and DC each, I can tell you 100k does not allow for a mortgage on a SFH within a 20 minute commute to work in either place, which is basically the american dream. Boston is even worse, the available real estate is all older and smaller and nearly as expensive as SF. I'd say feature for feature your money probably goes further in SF than in Boston.

DC fucking blows on top of it. At least in other places, you have to be smart to make 6 figures. Here, every idiot that rides their desk long enough gets 6 figures and therefore you have to pay huge sums of money for a single family home within 90 minutes of DC.

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

#125

Post by Crito »

gohrt wrote: post #65
Touche wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. We enrich "business guys" with connections to billion dollar exits while we ourselves make middle-class or slightly upper-middle class wages. Meanwhile anyone willing to take out the loans to put themselves through Dental school will eventually make more than we do and if they have the motivation to open up their own practice, much more than we do.

You think dentistry is a luxury? Half the time is chasing down nonpying clients, the other half is doing disgusting physical labor.

I think that a dentist spending half of his time doing collections probably needs to learn how to contract things out.

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

#126

Post by ryanmarsh »

d23 wrote: post #121
ryanmarsh wrote: post #118

Yes, this. I've had jobs where I worked in the freezing rain, etc. etc. The people cutting your grass are likely better than you. I'll just come out and say it, they are, because their life SUCKS and they get up every day and just do it. They have heart. Many people in our community have a disgusting sense of superiority and entitlement. You just don't understand unless you've been there. What makes many people in th…

> Relatively speaking chances are you have absolutely nothing to whine about in your work. Nothing. The problem with playing this game is that there are always bigger fish, and there are always smaller fish. Do back-breaking work 8 hours a day? At least it's not 10. Do it for 12 hours a day? At least you have a job. Don't have a job? At least you're alive in America. Not from America? Etc.

It's called gratefulness, and we have none of it.

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

#127

Post by Crito »

Ntrails wrote: post #73
rjknight wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not trolling. I'm saying that software developer lifestyles only look good because of the terribly poor conditions many other people work in, both in developed economies and in more obviously poverty-stricken places. 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 thi…

> to me "luxury" implies either greed or wastefulness I would not read the same thing into that word, which may be a regional thing? To me luxury and comfort are not the same as excess.

To me, luxury and comfort are two separate things. Comfort is not having to worry about the things that you need. Luxury is having things that you don't need. Comfort is having one or two new reliable and safe cars for your family. Luxury is also having that convertible sports-car for the weekends.

It's context dependant too. My 2003 Accord is a luxury, despite being far less nice and older than what I could afford, because I really have no need for it. Everything I need is within easy walking or transit distance, so even that car is a luxury for me.

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

#128

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

edabobojr wrote: post #61
sergiotapia wrote: post #28

Yes we make more money, but we also take our work with us and the stress that comes along with mentally taxing work. It's 11pm and I might be thinking of a problem at work I've been tangling for for the past 4 days. A gardner or a construction worker leaves work and _leaves work_, you feel me?

As opposed to the nurse who lost a patient, the social worker who has to remove a child from their home, a teacher that gets to see all of problems kids bring from homes, many aspects of being a police officer, etc?

Talking to a one time girlfriend who is an obstetrician while she was at work one day she said "better go, I need to deliver this woman's baby".

"Hope it goes well", I replied.

"It won't" she said, "the baby is already dead".

That put every shitty day I've ever had at work in context.

Not saying we don't have bad days, we do, just there are some things that thankfully we'll never come face to face with.

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

#129

Post by ruhruh »

purplelobster wrote: post #6

I never complain about recruiters. The fact that I'm being contacted spontaneously is completely a positive for me, and it gives me some confidence that if I were to look for a job again, my skills are in demand enough that I will never starve.

On recruiters, I think people get a pass there for bitching about it.

It's all noise, no signal. It's just spam, and these poor recruiters are basically dialing for dollars (or [e]mailin' for money).

However, if people are whining about actual signed/sealed/delivered job OFFERS, then they definitely should shut up & count their blessings

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

#130

Post by countrybama24 »

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…

>So what is the hack that keeps us from constantly taking our luxuries for granted?

Meditation, traveling to developing countries, constantly reminding yourself how much you enjoy little things like music, coffee, talking to friends etc. Works for me at least.

Nothing like going without a hot shower or first world plumbing for several weeks can make you appreciate all the little luxuries we enjoy.

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