21–30 of 169 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unexpected health issues? That's a little more tricky.
And what does an American employee do about unexpected (long term) health issues? (For short term issues there is insurance, whether in the form of savings or actual insurance.)
What are other promising businesses programmers in the US can start?
This is just the upside of running your own business. Summer food trucks have been a fixture in my city for decades around the state capitol. Some folks make a great living doing it. My favorite was an older couple operating a small hotdog stand... they made a ridiculously delicious meatsauce and basically worked a 35 hour week in the summer in the Northeast, and a similar schedule for a couple of months down South.…
The fact that even with all that they are better than a game programmer is really sad. Game programmers are the equivalent of children workers in a sweatshop.
More people need food than games.
More people want to make games than sell street food.
The food business is brutally hard work, and I have a lot of respect for anyone doing it (well). There's no a priori reason why game programmers should be rewarded more than street food vendors.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But... they faced all of the downside risks of small business owners. Rain == slow or no sales. Big vacation weeks for the workforce == slow sales. Get sick? No pay. That said, it's probably still a better gig than being a game programmer. Small business owners should be able to plan ahead for rainy days and the slow season. Squirrels can do it. Humans can too.
Normal weather you can plan for, but there are outlier events that can still wipe you out that's basically impossible to predict or prepare for. Sandy in NYC flooded a great deal of infrastructure and left buildings without power or communications for a long time. Large parts of downtown were completely depopulated for weeks on end - that sort of event takes out independent business owners, and you can't effectively…
I don't see how being a small business operator of something like this is different. The source of income is different, the wisdom is the same.
Hopefully they were able to set aside months worth of floating money, and even weeks due to a natural disaster wouldn't wreck them.
This is just the upside of running your own business. Summer food trucks have been a fixture in my city for decades around the state capitol. Some folks make a great living doing it. My favorite was an older couple operating a small hotdog stand... they made a ridiculously delicious meatsauce and basically worked a 35 hour week in the summer in the Northeast, and a similar schedule for a couple of months down South.…
The fact that even with all that they are better than a game programmer is really sad. Game programmers are the equivalent of children workers in a sweatshop.
Being a game programmer is a choice taken by people with good choices available to them. They could be working less hard and/or earning more elsewhere. They choose not to. I don't see why that's a travesty.
Sweatshop is working is horrible conditions that no one would choose if they had any decent options.
All these smart folks at Stanford are wasting their time studying IT, law or finance. Too much competition. Study agriculture, be rich. Farmers are going to drive Maserati's in the future not successful software developers or Wall Street crowd.
The guy should open more street food stalls and scale this business if it is so profitable.
Sounds like the parable of the mexican fisherman: An executive from America was standing at the pier of a Mexican village, taking a much needed vacation. It was his first in more than 10 years. He noticed a small boat docked with just one fisherman on board. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The executive complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took…
The parable of the fisherman is basically the Ant and the Grasshopper told up until some time before winter.
Exaggerated obviously, but then parables always are, that's why they are almost useless.
What are other promising businesses programmers in the US can start?
Not exactly traditional small businesses, but honestly, both options have much higher probability of success (or at least not losing all of your money like restaurants)