Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Harvard Diploma for Sale

golliher.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 31 posts

Re: Harvard Diploma for Sale

#11

Post by shubik22 »

albntomat0 wrote: post #9

I appreciate the author's point, but it's not like selling the diploma prevents him from saying he went to Harvard, nor does it allow the purchaser to claim that they did themselves..

I had the same reaction. Yes, it’s good to try to find meaningful work (a point well made my the author). Selling your Harvard diploma doesn’t seem to have any relationship to that point, other than giving an excuse to repeatedly remind the reader that you went to Harvard. Which seems contrary to the message of the piece.

Re: Harvard Diploma for Sale

#12

Post by walrus01 »

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #3

Meta HN question: How does something with 5 points, 1 comment and was posted an hour ago make it to the front page? Just curious.

I have a theory, without any knowledge one way or the other, that the admins have the ability to temporarily push an essay they find interesting to the middle of the 1st or 2nd page for a temporary period of time, and then let it naturally gather points from the users who see it.

Re: Harvard Diploma for Sale

#13

Post by redis_mlc »

walrus01 wrote: post #8

I have to admit that I only skimmed this, but the core message seems to be it's a publicity stunt to publish the message that you should do work you truly enjoy and find rewarding, and not keep putting off to another day the chance to find personal satisfaction in your career. And that perhaps one's gross yearly income is not the ultimate and best measure of personal success.

That's the message, but it's usually not good advice, and it's condescending to tell other people how to fund their life.

We'd all rather be rock stars (full-time musicians), but the market only supports a small number.

Asking random strangers, "What's your mission in life?" will mostly get you weird stares.

Programmers are fortunate to earn enough money to have options, but most people don't - their goal is survival on an average of about $50,000/year in the US.

Occasionally programmers post on here asking about alternate careers, and I haven't seen a good answer that doesn't involve earning a fraction of their IT salary.

Re: Harvard Diploma for Sale

#15

Post by walrus01 »

nuisance-bear wrote: post #10
walrus01 wrote: post #8

I have to admit that I only skimmed this, but the core message seems to be it's a publicity stunt to publish the message that you should do work you truly enjoy and find rewarding, and not keep putting off to another day the chance to find personal satisfaction in your career. And that perhaps one's gross yearly income is not the ultimate and best measure of personal success.

Clay Christensen used to tell a story about the atmosphere at HBS reunions over time. It sounds like this person learned early on the lesson that HBS graduates learn by their 25th reunion. Edit: https://youtu.be/tvos4nORf_Y?t=470

This makes me wonder if the whole North American cultural phenomenon of the age 40+ male "mid-life crisis" is the result of people independently discovering the same thing, from their own experiences and perspectives.

Re: Harvard Diploma for Sale

#16

Post by sgpl »

albntomat0 wrote: post #9

I appreciate the author's point, but it's not like selling the diploma prevents him from saying he went to Harvard, nor does it allow the purchaser to claim that they did themselves..

I think that wasn't the point. "I'm selling my Harvard diploma", in my opinion, fits under the category of clickbait because it makes you (me anyway) curious to find out more - why is the author selling his diploma?

If the author had just shredded the document and written a generic article about prestige without mentioning his associations, I fear that title would do less well.

But yeah I agree with your point that buying/selling a piece of paper doesn't transfer the knowledge, friendships, networks that one can build in college.

Re: Harvard Diploma for Sale

#18

Post by memoryfault »

> And once you’ve realized this, the diploma starts to resemble Monopoly money. You have to start evaluating people on a case-by-case basis, instead of using the degree as a reliable proxy.

I’ve found this to be true of job titles, too.

Re: Harvard Diploma for Sale

#19

Post by albntomat0 »

sgpl wrote: post #16
albntomat0 wrote: post #9

I appreciate the author's point, but it's not like selling the diploma prevents him from saying he went to Harvard, nor does it allow the purchaser to claim that they did themselves..

I think that wasn't the point. "I'm selling my Harvard diploma", in my opinion, fits under the category of clickbait because it makes you (me anyway) curious to find out more - why is the author selling his diploma? If the author had just shredded the document and written a generic article about prestige without mentioning his associations, I fear that title would do less well. But yeah I agree with your point that b…

I think we agree, that it solely serves as clickbait to the rest of his point. My initial impression was that there was the implication that something significant is being given up, which is not the case.
Post reply on HN