We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by Tyr42 » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 6:54 PM UTC

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.

Here's the comic for that: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2314#comic

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

#162

Post by joshrotenberg » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:03 PM UTC

countrybama24 wrote: post #130

aasarava wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I like those things, and I'd add: walking/running/hiking, charity (in the form of time or money), and tacos.

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

#163

Post by dnr » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:06 PM UTC

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…

There's "negative visualization" and "voluntary discomfort", as described here: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/02/what-is-stoicism-a...

(I haven't really tried negative visualization, but I suppose I occasionally do some voluntary discomfort.)

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

#164

Post by Acen » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:14 PM UTC

cwaniak wrote: post #106

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.

97% of people want to work. Like to code. That's what they want to do. And they expect the other 3% to organize these jobs for them. Because they don't know/can't/aren't interested in organizing these jobs on their own. It really boils down to: do you want to be a craftsman or wealthy man. Because if you want to be in the 3% organizing jobs for others, you won't have any time to do coding. It's very easy to end up in…

This unfortunately reverberates with what happens at my workplace. Small company of 14, undeniably true re office manager/customer relations/ceo.

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

#165

Post by wnevets » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:17 PM UTC

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.

the problem is if you think about it for longer than a minute you realize the recruiters are simply doing keyword searches and blind spamming as many people as possible.

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

#166

Post by rjurney » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:17 PM UTC

Before I got paid to compute, I drove a forklift and unloaded floor-loaded ocean containers in 150F heat. I'm acutely aware that I'm spoiled to all hell.

Its too bad all students aren't required to perform 'real work' as part of their education.

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

#167

Post by jebus989 » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:18 PM UTC

homakov wrote: post #99

Why compare yourself to unsuccessful people? there are always plenty of them. Almost anyone who can read & do maths can say "i'm smarter than 50% of Earth population" so..

Only 50% of people can say that

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

#168

Post by qwerta » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:21 PM UTC

Yet another bullshit article.

IT has zero entrance barrier, anyone can pick up tutorial from internet and start software development. Many people give up after they find out that software development is actually very hard.

And work from home is not luxury. Even East Asia textile sweatshops offer work from home. It is just Californian startups who require total control over their minions.

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

#169

Post by nostrademons » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:22 PM UTC

Touche wrote: post #96

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.

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.

I'd encourage you to set up shop as an entrepreneur, consultant, or ISV. Then you will a.) get to keep all of the wealth you create (well, minus taxes - damn you Uncle Sam) and b.) get a true idea of how much wealth you actually create.

Personally, I've done both the entrepreneur and employee route, and I created and kept a whole lot more money as an employee. I may go back to being an entrepreneur in the future - I'm certainly a lot more skilled than the last time I tried it - but the experience of founding my own startup and working 5 years in a big company has taught me a whole lot about the value that other job functions create, like sales, design, management, finance, capital, etc. It's really easy to look at your output as a software developer and say "I built the thing that makes my company hundreds of millions of dollars, and I only get to see hundreds of thousands of it", without realizing that none of that hundreds of millions in value would've been created without marketing to understand what people want, product design to understand how to supply it, UX to make it usable, sales to let people know about it, management to make all these functions work together, or finance to pay for it.

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

#170

Post by nilkn » Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 7:24 PM UTC

Vigil wrote: post #155

nilkn wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luxury is relative, is it not? Working in a posh office with a very comfortable salary, very lenient management, and extensive benefits straight out of college is a hell of a lot nicer than laboring in a mine in your 40s, struggling to put food on the table, having no advancement opportunities whatsoever, and rather than getting health care benefits actually suffering health-wise due to the intensity of the labor. Of…

I don't know if you lucked out. You chose a market-friendly position which you are mentally equipped to do. You might have lucked out in being born in America and being in a stable enough financial position to pursue that career - but after that, it is as much careful planning and work as it is anything else. Poets choose to be poets knowing that they will most likely never be on stable financial ground. That is not…

> Poets choose to be poets knowing that they will most likely never be on stable financial ground.

I chose to major in math without the expectation of ever having some great financial payoff for the choice. I was so ignorant of money at the time that when I made that decision I probably would have considered $40k a huge salary. I was interested in programming when I was 12 and didn't have the slightest care in the world about money.

I feel pretty lucky that interests that I've cultivated since a young age happened to turn into a high-paying comfortable career. I easily could have been like most of my friends and instead had interests that fulfilled me intellectually but didn't pay much at all.