Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis • Hacker News Board

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#31

Post by potatolicious » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 8:49 AM UTC

planck wrote: post #4

Newsflash: Twenty-somethings with no ambition will eventually realize that they have no ambition and will get sad. :-( There, I just saved you 10 minutes of reading the article.

More correctly I think that 20-somethings with ambition, but no passion, will eventually realize they have no passion and will get sad.

I know lots of fellow recent-grads who are ambitious (in the "I want to be successful!" sense), but have no idea what success really entails for them personally. I've been blessed with a love for hacking, and I don't think what I want to be good at was ever a really big question. For many people, though, it is.

I know fellows who've graduated from engineering or computer science, yet despise code. These are the guys who are truly stuck in a quarter-life crisis: a job they don't care for, and lack of passion to succeed. For most of them their only direction is to try and make management - they don't care about the code anyways, and the financial success will numb their sadness a little bit. I don't think they will find the solution to their "quarterlife crisis" there though.

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#32

Post by edu » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 9:28 AM UTC

arakyd wrote: post #11

mhb wrote: post #9

For a much more entertaining version, rent "Vicky Christina Barcelona" by Woody Allen.

It's funny you say that, because I watched that this weekend, and liked it so much that I got a bunch of his movies. I enjoyed one or two more, then realized that they're all the same: guy gets married, guy is unsatisfied, guy cheats on his wife, guy decides not to leave his wife. That's the way all of his "best" movies go, at least. But you're right, it's the same sort of thing: permanent, vague dissatisfaction with…

I recommend you 'Manhattan Murder Mystery'

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#33

Post by sneakums » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 9:48 AM UTC

ShardPhoenix wrote: post #28

heed wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just that, but there is so much social pressure and expectation that pushes you along through highschool, through college without much promotion toward the alternatives. Never once did I think or hear that I didn't have to go to college, that I could learn some sort of trade or technical skill instead. I blindly followed my nicely laid out path with little objection, and in a way feel robbed, though realize it ul…

The fact that someone else has it worse doesn't make your feelings any less real.

Group hug!

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#34

Post by csbartus » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 10:06 AM UTC

arram wrote: post #14

Durkheim wrote about this more than a hundred years ago. It's called Anomie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomie

So it seems the Quarterlife Crisis is nothing new, it was with generations before and it will be in the future. The good news are if others solved we will handle too.

In plus, in a similar way we both had a childhood crisis too, I can sharply remember when I was 10 I had the very sad feeling something very good ended and will never come back.

More, as the article says we are heading to the Midlife Crisis after we will solve the Quartelife.

So there is no crisis at all, it's just the human nature, the way life goes on. I'm firmly convinced we are not living just one life but many-lives-in-one separated by such crises. The only common thing in these lives -- even the body changes! -- is the presence of the same Observer accounting all life periods.

Personally I'm enjoying these crises: there are so many things out there no one should stick to just one lifeform. Yes you are free to do whatever you want unless you are constraining yourself with the TIME.

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#35

Post by Quarrelsome » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 10:46 AM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #13

branden wrote: post #2

This article is a treasure trove of narcissism and self-pity. I don't mean that to be criticism; I think it's an accurate depiction of the malaise that comes from having nothing truly important to worry about. I recognize a bit of myself in it.

I'm sorry but that is nothing but a bunch of ignorant hand-waving. Whenever something like the quarterlife crisis is brought up, there is a strong current of thinking that goes something like "These people should just get over themselves" Fact is, there are a number of huge factors working against young people these days. Consider the following: - You can't get a decent job without a decent education. It used to be t…

"- You can't get a decent job without a decent education. "

Fibs. I have no "proper" or "decent" education and work as a tech lead. You just gotta work hard and find a way to stick out from the crowd. Thankfully with all the dossers in low rung jobs that isn't hard.

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#36

Post by gnaritas » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 11:32 AM UTC

whatusername wrote: post #26

gnaritas wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can't get a decent job without a decent education. So, what makes you think a decent job is a right, because it isn't. Most people don't go to college, most people get low paying and/or manual labor or service jobs. Welcome to the real world. > Kids these days are finishing school much later than their parents, and they don't have a choice. They have every choice, they can choose to not bury themselves in debt…

I think the point is comparison to parents/grandparents. Most of our parents never went to college - but could still have Dad work a blue-collar job - and still have a nice (small) house in the suburbs with a picket fence. I think part of the issue/trend is the fact that this generation might end up worse off than their parents.. that hasn't happened all that much historically (that I can think of at least)

Yea, but in most parts of the country, one still can. Plenty of blue collar jobs pay pretty well, especially unionized ones like plumbing and welding and you make enough to do the little house and wife thing.

I'm not sure the problem is times changing so much as kids expectation changing, they all think they'll grow up white collar and rich now instead of accepting the obvious. They may not overall be doing as well as their parents as a generation, but they aren't doing that much worse either.

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#37

Post by gnaritas » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 11:35 AM UTC

JanezStupar wrote: post #29

pushingbits wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only similiarities between the Quarterlife Crisis people the article talks about and rioting muslims in France or protesters in Iran is that they are young and unhappy. The reasons for their discontent are completely different. This is hardly a global phenomenon. You can maybe see a weaker version of it in other developed western countries. But even young people in Europe... well, they don't have the debt when gr…

Maybe that proves it has nothing to do with "You're special" meme OR debt. I'm 26 year old from central Europe. And these feelings are all to familiar with me - especially from observing what's going on with my peers. What I see is that generation of our parents - the boomers took all and everything they could - it feels like they didn't leave anything to us. Except the task of cleaning up leftovers of their broken d…

> my GF is one of those educated young people who cant get work.

Can't get work, or won't accept work she considers beneath her, there's a big difference. I'm fairly sure finding a job as a waitress just about anywhere is rather easy.

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#38

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 1:17 PM UTC

mr_luc wrote: post #20

martythemaniak wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind if I ask what exactly you volunteer to do? I tired of my current life and have been wanting to go away, but have not thought of what to actually do if I do go away.

Heh. Well. I realize that I am going to immediately accrue a massively un-hackerly stigma by posting this, but what the heck, it's true: I'm a missionary for a small and fairly unpopular religion. The what to do part is the most personal part of escaping, and the part that determines if it'll be an episode or a part of your life going forward. So it shouldn't be surprising if there's very little transference between…

[deleted]

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#39

Post by anamax » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 1:19 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #13

branden wrote: post #2

This article is a treasure trove of narcissism and self-pity. I don't mean that to be criticism; I think it's an accurate depiction of the malaise that comes from having nothing truly important to worry about. I recognize a bit of myself in it.

I'm sorry but that is nothing but a bunch of ignorant hand-waving. Whenever something like the quarterlife crisis is brought up, there is a strong current of thinking that goes something like "These people should just get over themselves" Fact is, there are a number of huge factors working against young people these days. Consider the following: - You can't get a decent job without a decent education. It used to be t…

> A rapid climb in income inequality over the last generation (check the historical gini index for reference) means that there aren't very many quality, well paying jobs available to young people.

Inequality doesn't mean that there aren't quality, well paying jobs and equality doesn't mean that there are.

Inequality is a ratio. Ratios tell you something about the relationship between things, but don't tell you anyting about their absolute values.

Do you really want to say that you'd be better off if everyone was starving (gini=1.0) than you are with plenty of food, a computer, apartment, and so on because someone else can fly to Maui on a whim?

Envy is stupid. If you're unhappy, greed is your friend because it's not about what someone else has, it's about what you have. (Disagree? Compare the gini coefficient in any hell-hole to the coefficient in any place that you'd be willing to live.)

And, frankly, you've got it pretty peachy. Stop whining.

Oh, and another thing. Most jobs are shit and always have been. Dilbert has a better job than most folks. If you're looking for something to give your life meaning, get a pet.

Re: Welcome to Your Quarter Life Crisis

#40

Post by ido » Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 2:03 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #23

patio11 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that there are two audiences for the quarterlife crisis, and they're largely determined by selection of college major. If you majored in something in Arts & Sciences which doesn't have a career attached, and then went to grad school in it (maybe a PhD) before figuring out that you have no marketable skills, you are now in your mid-to-late twenties, have a mountain of debt, and have no particular employ…

You are partially right, but gainful employment isn't the end-all, be-all. I finished engineering without debt and with plenty of excellent experience, and had no problem finding a great job at a great company. Yet, I can sympathize with much of what the article talks about and see plenty of it in my peers, including those who graduated from engineering with me. I happened to choose an interesting and well-paying car…

> the so-called "Mileuristas" in Spain (that is, people living on 1000 euros a month)

As a side note - is that considered an unlivable low wage?

Although I now have a comfy programmer job that pays a lot more than what I spend, I have for many years lived on less than 1000 Euros a month (sometimes significantly so, and in Vienna, Austria - which is probably more expansive than most of Spain).

Also, I'm pretty sure the Spanish parents of the current generation of late 20's/early 30's earned less on average than 1000 Euros a month (even adjusted to inflation) when they were their age.