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Quitting the rat race

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Re: Quitting the rat race

#141

Post by [deleted] »

sudoit wrote: post #112
lapcat wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think I'm old enough now to confidently say that, yes: Happiness really does start from within. What does age have to do with it? You're one person. It's anecdotal data. I'm old enough now (5 years later) to confidently say that, yes: Quitting my last job really did make me happier.

Same in my case. I quit my first software job because it made me feel so meaningless and depressed. I was immediately happier. I quit my second job because they overworked me. Same result. I have less money now, but I don’t care. I’m much happier being where I am now. People underestimate just how much work life affects your entire life.

[deleted]

Re: Quitting the rat race

#142

Post by throwaway_au_1 »

borski wrote: post #105
throwaway_au_1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different strokes for different folks. At least the author of the OP had the humility not to call anyone else's perspective 'crap'.

I mean, he did call them rats, which isn’t that far off.

I'm not so sure that the meaning behind The Rat Race is that a human being participating in a rat race is a rat.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#143

Post by throwaway1851 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #106
fsckboy wrote: post #35

You being unhappy in your life does not mean that there is anything wrong with the world. Looking to pin the blame on society at large and other people's choices is a convenient escape from looking at yourself and your own fears, disappointments, choices made, etc. I grew up in a rural place, no mountains but we substituted beaches, marshes, and ocean. When I go back to visit I can't believe how beautiful it is. But,…

>Looking to pin the blame on society at large and other people's choices is a convenient escape In reality it's the opposite. Coming to terms with the fact that the world is screwed up rather than you is a much scarier prospect given the implications. If you blame yourself you can hit the gym, lawyer up, buy some meditation apps, everyone will applaud you on your great self-help journey etc. Of course a student of ec…

The world doesn’t need to be unfucked for you to be happy, I believe is the point. And that’s a good thing, because the world always has had and always will have its problems.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#144

Post by justatdotin »

lapcat wrote: post #82
BaseballPhysics wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bluntly, every person I know who's expressed these kinds of sentiments is guilty of the same mistake: externalizing their happiness. They inevitably move, only to find the new place they're in sucks, just in different ways. Or they find another job, but just discover more things they hate there. Or they find a new partner, only to discover a new set of annoyances. The same psychology leads people to think they'll be…

> I think I'm old enough now to confidently say that, yes: Happiness really does start from within. What does age have to do with it? You're one person. It's anecdotal data. I'm old enough now (5 years later) to confidently say that, yes: Quitting my last job really did make me happier.

I think the thing about aging is that you have less energy, so you're less likely to make energetic mistakes, and more likely to take some calm moments to think things thru.

also, if you have moderate ambitions and desires, with time you may reach a point where you've met them. Then you are less focused on those for happiness.

so I do think age has something to do with it

Re: Quitting the rat race

#145

Post by borski »

throwaway_au_1 wrote: post #142
borski wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, he did call them rats, which isn’t that far off.

I'm not so sure that the meaning behind The Rat Race is that a human being participating in a rat race is a rat.

> Around the 30 second mark is a scene where the protaganist rat is waiting for a train to arrive at a packed platform. I recently had a sobering realisation while standing waiting at the platform for the Waterloo & City Line: this had become my life.

He calls himself, and by implication those around him, rats in the rat race. Whether you agree with him or not, the clear implication is a negative one.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#146

Post by TranquilMarmot »

ablatt89 wrote: post #24

It's a rat race if you never enjoyed software engineering and computer science from the start, and joined due to the growing SWE hype in the 2010s. Most people in the world have to work 40+ hours a week, and on weekends. It's kinda crazy to not take your career choice in perspective, which is relatively cushy, good perks, good pay, often wfh or decent offices, and call it a rat race because... you think you deserve t…

I love writing code and solving problems with it. Even if this job didn't pay well and didn't come with all the amazing benefits, I would still do it.

I think a lot of software engineers need to hang out with more people who are less well off than them. Befriend the grocery store clerk, talk to the mechanic fixing your car. If you're in a bubble of wealthy people, it gets really hard to appreciate the benefits that you have simply because you stop seeing them as benefits and see them instead as the status quo.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#147

Post by jefftk »

simplotek wrote: post #129
BaseballPhysics wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bluntly, every person I know who's expressed these kinds of sentiments is guilty of the same mistake: externalizing their happiness. They inevitably move, only to find the new place they're in sucks, just in different ways. Or they find another job, but just discover more things they hate there. Or they find a new partner, only to discover a new set of annoyances. The same psychology leads people to think they'll be…

> Bluntly, every person I know who's expressed these kinds of sentiments is guilty of the same mistake: externalizing their happiness. I don't believe this take is fair or correct. FANG-like jobs are designed to depersonalize workers, compell them to work extremely long hours, force them to be constantly on and available, and basically live for the company, only to be pushed out of the company by design and get fired…

> FANG-like jobs are designed to depersonalize workers, compell them to work extremely long hours, force them to be constantly on and available, and basically live for the company, only to be pushed out of the company by design and get fired as disposable canon fodder at the slightest bump on the calendar.

That mostly doesn't match my experience in two ~5y stints at a FANG:

* Depersonalize: maybe; not sure what you mean by it here.

* Extremely long hours: not at all. Most people worked ~45hr/wk counting ~1hr/d of lunch. I averaged a bit less than that.

* Force them to be constantly on and available: no. One of my roles had an explicit oncall rotation where you were primary for about one week a quarter and secondary for another week. The other role had no oncall. When you were off no one expected you to be in contact, and several team members had configured their phones so that their work profile was completely deactivated outside of work hours. At times when I was excited enough about what I was doing that I wanted to work extra my manager pushed back hard, getting me to think about the impact on team culture. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34329670

* Be pushed out of the company by design and get fired as disposable canon fodder at the slightest bump on the calendar: I worked closely with ~50 people and didn't see anyone fired. The people who got somewhat close to getting fired were ones who were having trouble getting things done, but in a sustained low output sort of way that was clear to everyone they worked with and not a "slight calendar bump" sort of way.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#148

Post by birken »

simplotek wrote: post #129
BaseballPhysics wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bluntly, every person I know who's expressed these kinds of sentiments is guilty of the same mistake: externalizing their happiness. They inevitably move, only to find the new place they're in sucks, just in different ways. Or they find another job, but just discover more things they hate there. Or they find a new partner, only to discover a new set of annoyances. The same psychology leads people to think they'll be…

> Bluntly, every person I know who's expressed these kinds of sentiments is guilty of the same mistake: externalizing their happiness. I don't believe this take is fair or correct. FANG-like jobs are designed to depersonalize workers, compell them to work extremely long hours, force them to be constantly on and available, and basically live for the company, only to be pushed out of the company by design and get fired…

I don't know if all FAANG companies are the same, but your description of the job does not match my FAANG experience at all.

It was dehumanizing in its own way because you are such a small cog in a large machine, but nobody worked long hours, nobody was forced to be available all the time, nobody really needed to sacrifice for the company (because everybody was such a small cog) and even the lowest performers I worked with could basically not do anything to get fired. Many people there were also "lifers" because the job was so easy.

Most people left due to having ambitions for more impact, not due to being burnt out.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#149

Post by lapcat »

fsckboy wrote: post #35

You being unhappy in your life does not mean that there is anything wrong with the world. Looking to pin the blame on society at large and other people's choices is a convenient escape from looking at yourself and your own fears, disappointments, choices made, etc. I grew up in a rural place, no mountains but we substituted beaches, marshes, and ocean. When I go back to visit I can't believe how beautiful it is. But,…

> Looking to pin the blame on society at large and other people's choices is a convenient escape

Could you point to exactly where you think the author did that? I didn't see it.

At most there was, "Every storefront specifically engineered to attract me inside with gimics like flashing lights." Which may be true of London, though I can't say personally.

> don't call your fellow city dwellers rats

"The rat race" is a well-known, long-standing metaphor. "The term is commonly associated with an exhausting, repetitive lifestyle that leaves no time for relaxation or enjoyment." "The earliest known occurrence is 1934." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_race

Re: Quitting the rat race

#150

Post by paulpauper »

The rat race and BS jobs' are not that bad. You get paid good money to not have to expend much effort .many people would love such a privilege. Look how many applicants white collar companies get. Low paid jobs are just as tedious or worse, but obviously lower pay...having to death with 'Karen' customers and such. There are many stories of people on reddit (such as investing and 'FIRE' subs) and here doing their '4 & 10' and having a large nest egg to show for it,
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