Live data from Hacker News

San Francisco Bubble

blog.larrold.com

121–130 of 393 posts

Re: San Francisco Bubble

#121
post #85
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have an engineering degree from an accredited program, you're an engineer. If you don't you're not. The US is very lax with usage of the word but in other countries it's classed in the same way "Doctor" is.

The funny thing being, most of the best "software engineers" are people without software engineering degrees. Because the practice has existed longer than the degree has.

That's not the reason. If that were the reason, death would swiftly make it so the best engineers are those with degrees.

The reason is because they learned out of innate curiosity and true passion. You always go farther with those.

However, you go even farther with curiosity, passion and a degree.

Re: San Francisco Bubble

#123
post #41

> Everything is too expensive. I’m from New York... I take issue with this one. It's entirely possible to live frugally while living IN San Francisco. I moved here about 7 months ago and expected it to be incredibly expensive but it hasn't been the case (beyond rent). The author mentions $15 crappy local IPAs but I've actually never found a beer for this price. There is no shortage of $7 craft beers you can buy at a…

$7 beer? Frugal? In Berlin a beer costs $1 from the shop and maybe $2-3 from a bar.

You'll pay $7 for a 20oz point of something nice at a bar.

You can buy 6 packs of good craft beer for $7/$8 at any grocery store.

Re: San Francisco Bubble

#124

Money has been close to free for years. As the interest rate ticks up everything will change. It's already starting to. More expensive borrowing, less leverage, and better places to put dollars than venture. The one thing I really agree with though is the funny thing that happens here with the word "engineer". If you can make a website you somehow qualify for the title software engineer. By Bay Area standards, I myse…

In Canada, you get sued if you call yourself an engineer when you're not part of an order of engineers. Even if you're a bona fide engineer, but not enrolled in the order, calling yourself one opens the floodgates of hell where spaghetti coders do the same and get hired by retarded HR departments to take the lead on some mission-critical software. I like this. I am a self-learned developer. When my peers call themsel…

I wish it were a protected word in the states, maybe an Engineering association sitting over it. Would help with things like H1B flooding

Re: San Francisco Bubble

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly? It isn't sustainable and its not a productive use of capital. This lifestyle is going to implode when the economy stumbles.

Yea, no. JM Keynes said eons ago that with increases in efficiency we will eventually be able to get to a 15-hour work week. So, a particular industry in a particular area was able to get to an approximation of that, and the counter-argument is that this is not a productive use of capital? Besides, TFA complains that all these people are working on silly startups, which is presumably not a productive use of capital e…

> a particular industry in a particular area was able to get to an approximation of that

On the backs of whom? How much are those Uber drivers, grocery deliverers, and artisanal salad chefs making?

It is good that one group of people is moving forward, we just have to be careful that we aren't doing it at the expense of other groups. The impression I get is that in the US today, it's not just that some people are getting richer, many others are getting poorer.

Re: San Francisco Bubble

#126
post #85
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have an engineering degree from an accredited program, you're an engineer. If you don't you're not. The US is very lax with usage of the word but in other countries it's classed in the same way "Doctor" is.

The funny thing being, most of the best "software engineers" are people without software engineering degrees. Because the practice has existed longer than the degree has.

I guess that the vast majority of "software engineers" of any kind (not just the best) don't have software engineering degrees. Maybe you were thinking computer science degrees?

Re: San Francisco Bubble

#127

"Engineers are particularly spoiled. They can take an arbitrary sabbatical from work..." (on the about page) "...Currently a principal engineer at AppNexus on sabbatical..." ???

Just your regular self-aware engineer.

There is nothing hypocritical about acknowledging one's self is spoiled.

Re: San Francisco Bubble

#128
post #41

> Everything is too expensive. I’m from New York... I take issue with this one. It's entirely possible to live frugally while living IN San Francisco. I moved here about 7 months ago and expected it to be incredibly expensive but it hasn't been the case (beyond rent). The author mentions $15 crappy local IPAs but I've actually never found a beer for this price. There is no shortage of $7 craft beers you can buy at a…

Agree,

I'm visiting from Australia and its maybe 10% to 30% more expensive, and alcohol is cheaper. Nothing like what we paid for stuff in new york.

Re: San Francisco Bubble

#130
Can we stop the whole "engineers make a lot of money" spiel? Most engineers make between 120 - 160k in SF, where the median household income is 104k. They don't make more than product managers, project managers or even many BART operators. See http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-area if you don't believe me. Sure, they make a bit more than average, but if that's the standard of "a lot of money", you have a totally skewed view of how capitalism works and the wealth gap in the US. Very few engineers are members of the capitalist class, commonly referred to as the 1% that own 40% of the country's assets. Making 50% more than the median is not a lot. Making 500% more is a lot.
Post reply on HN