231–240 of 375 posts
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>My brother and I were from a normal middle class background but both went to fancy private schools. I find that people tend to either over or underestimate the "middle class"iness of their upbringing.
Seriously, these two things do not go in hand in my mind.
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>In fact, what we think of as "smart" does not correspond to "has high natural ability." "Smart people" are people who have decided to make their identities center around being smart. They've worked hard at it. I would also argue it's the combination of smart and naturally outgoing or extroversion. Being extroverted seems to be naturally correlated to being successful or being a successful leader for most people. It…
Not sure about that, at least in my workplace some of the people considered the smartest and best engineers are very quite, almost shy.
I'm sure there's something there to study, but I'm also sure I don't know what it is.
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>In fact, what we think of as "smart" does not correspond to "has high natural ability." "Smart people" are people who have decided to make their identities center around being smart. They've worked hard at it. I would also argue it's the combination of smart and naturally outgoing or extroversion. Being extroverted seems to be naturally correlated to being successful or being a successful leader for most people. It…
Not sure about that, at least in my workplace some of the people considered the smartest and best engineers are very quite, almost shy.
At some point, the top-tier IC positions are going to require the type of skills that are commonly associated with extroverts.
https://keavy.com/work/thriving-on-the-technical-leadership-...
>I’ve chosen to cultivate a path for myself that enables me to dig into complex technical and product problem spaces and help lead technical and strategic direction for my organization, as an engineer but not a manager.
Like it or not, if you ever want to escape the delivery trap, you're going to have to be able to effect change that cuts across multiple organizational entities in your workplace, and that's going to require selling yourself and your ideas.
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I prefer to focus on the virtues that bring happiness and joy to my life while I'm alive. Money is one of those things. I don't care about what people will say at my funeral because I won't be there. If being brave and honest makes you happy and brings joy to your life then go for it. If the challenges of becoming a billionaire is what makes you feel alive, then go for it.
I think Brooks would probably push back on the hedonic idea of "do whatever makes you happy" somewhat. He seems to advocate cultivating moral character over chasing "happiness". In The Road to Character he writes, "All human beings seek to lead lives not just of pleasure, but of purpose, righteousness, and virtue. As John Stuart Mill put it, people have a responsibility to become more moral over time. The best life i…
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Is this a joke? $350k annual income puts you in the top 1% of earners in the US. Surely you don't believe less than 1% of people in the US can live comfortably and have a safety net, do you?
Going through the realization right now that I need to go “FANG” or get out of the Bay Area right now. Just got engaged and I have been looking at costs. I thought I could make a small family work here on $170k. That’s dead wrong. I would need at least $300k to make a family of 4 comfortable here. My wife and I both want her to stay at home and focus on the kids and she makes non tech money anyway. Even at this amoun…
Also, Phoenix is pretty reasonable cost of living wise and they have a growing number of opportunities tech wise. June 15 - Oct 15 suck but you get used to it.
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>My brother and I were from a normal middle class background but both went to fancy private schools. I find that people tend to either over or underestimate the "middle class"iness of their upbringing.
My dad worked for city government as a planner for a small suburban town and my mom worked part time as a bookkeeper. My childhood home's estimated value is like $185k. My parents were smart and had a little extra cultural capital but yeah, we were pretty middle class. Maybe lower-upper-middle class.
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Frankly, a stupid quote. "What good is praise except to make your lifestyle a little more comfortable" That sounds pretty darn good to me. And the fact that your memory and work can be passed down and influence a theoretically infinite number of people.
What good will that influence do you?