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Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

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Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#321

Post by otisfunkmeyer »

Endy wrote: post #259
hackits wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to disagree with you there. You're taking the passive approach. Go out make a name for yourself in the market place in the field you work in. Do some volunteer work as a example to build up a client base and contact list. Advertise your services to other businesses and go to business functions. Get some offers on the table, and then you know where you stand within the organisation. You cannot do it if you're a…

Here's the problem - I don't work in a "field". I work in whatever office will have me, being another faceless drone, more grist for the mill of half-secretarial and half-self-taught patchwork IT people. No matter what the exact role is, there's someone who's either got better qualifications or training than me if it gets technical. I'm "discount office guy" - they don't want me to be anything other than passive.

then spend your time taking advantage of the billions of available free resources to increase your qualifications.

i was once where you are now. i am no longer there. it took time and a lot of work. it was worth it. you can do it too.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#322

Post by rustynails »

researcher11 wrote: post #198
alphonsegaston wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This response is so stereotypical and contrary to the facts of the conditions of young people today, I have to thank you for demonstrating both my and the parent's points. Thanks for that!

It is so perfectly stereotypical and dicorced from reality part of me thought it was a joke.

Life is far too simple to flippantly dismiss all those points.

In some ways, life was simpler. The pace of life was slower. A good illustration of this is comparing the suicide rates of today. The pressure is much higher today and so are the suicide rates.

I also see a lot more bullying and viciousness, especially in the media today. By comparison, newspapers of 50 years ago were much more relaxed and easy going (I studied a years worth of papers recently). There was also more social cohesion, albeit in smaller communities. That feeling of caring makes a huge difference to people's mental well being.

I'm inclined to believe that life was generally easier for many boomers (at least from about 1960 onward) than it is today for younger people.

When I run a search and find that almost all media outlets still insist that only males do domestic violence, or, boys are (in the last few decades) falling way behind in education because they're suddenly lazy and stupid, I recognise just how collectively nasty we've become. These appalling attitudes must wear the younger generation down.

As an older guy, I'm inclined to agree the younger generation have a lot of issues that older people didn't need to worry about. Access to technology not withstanding.

However, I totally accept my view is mostly anecdotal (except for suicide rates, domestic violence prejudice and snarky education comments directed at boys by many media outlets).

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#323

Post by coliveira »

otisfunkmeyer wrote: post #317
coliveira wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enough with this. People who have money are not investing in productive things. They are mostly investing in hedge funds to play the market for the short term as a lottery, or in merger/acquisitions, which kills more jobs than creates. They also put money in assets like real estate that have their prices inflated because of the big rise in money looking for safe investments. When investors do something productive, it…

alternate theory. people who have money are desperately looking for things with potential for big returns. if you are one of those things or create one of those things there is more money looking for you than has ever looked for anyone in the history of the world.

i.e., they're looking for something that will concentrate wealth in their hands even more. This just exemplifies my point.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#324

Post by p1esk »

dragonwriter wrote: post #310
zxcvvcxz wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, we've never had Real Marxism (TM) , we just have to try a little harder next time. > Capitalism (according to Marxist theory) can no longer sustain the living standards of the population due to its need to compensate for falling rates of profit by driving down wages, cutting social benefits and pursuing military aggression. The socialist system would succeed capitalism as humanity's mode of production t…

> Do they mean that same capitalism that brings >1,000,000 Chinese people out poverty every month? No, they mean the dominant economic system of the developed West in the mid-19th through early-20th century (since replaced in the developed west by the modern mixed economy which is an unstable form with a danger of reverting back to capitalism because it retains central features of capitalism.) What China has is a tra…

A word of advice: avoid the word "Marxism" like a plague. If you believe there are some good ideas hidden in it, present those ideas directly, without assigning historical credit to anyone.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#325

Post by wallace_f »

Endy wrote: post #237
wallace_f wrote: post #12

As a teenager and early-20-something I was video-game obsessed, dropping out of sports and university, and wondering why anyone would want to devote their life to anything as pedestrian as a realistic career. At 30 I've realized how harsh and cruel the world and its people (not everyone, but many) can be, which is the primary motivation for making some big changes in my life away from video games.

As a counterpoint: When I was 20, I had a great job and was happy with my lot in life, certain that everything was going to be okay. I was going to continue working in the public library, get the Assistant job, spin that into my MLS, and take up a Reference Librarian position. I just turned 30 last week. The bottom dropped out of my world when the budget focus shifted to a strongly anti-education agenda when I was 23…

Hope you feel better.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#326

Post by lacampbell »

api wrote: post #318
hkmurakami wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like the world is catching up to Japan and its problems: slow growth, deep government debt, ballooning social entitlement spending, and un/under-employed youth. This is just like the Japanese Neets.

I've been predicting "planet Japan" for years due to slowing population growth, resource constraints, and market saturation.

Well at least I can look forward to better customer service and lower crime rates.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#327

Post by iopq »

I'm in a similar spot right now. There is nothing as satisfying to me as playing StarCraft and honing my skills. When I worked as a software developer I didn't feel like I was improving my skills past a few months at each company. It was more like doing the same boring work over and over again.

Even when I do the same builds in StarCraft over and over again there's always an element of the other player trying to mess you up. It adds an unpredictability element. You can ALWAYS do better by playing faster and more accurately. There is always more skills to work on.

Work pales in comparison. It's just not exciting.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#328

Post by lacampbell »

dragonwriter wrote: post #287
Turing_Machine wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It should be respected and fought for. " Sorry, 100 million dead bodies is more than enough to convince me that Marxism doesn't work.

If you think Leninism is Marxism, you are a dupe of Leninist propaganda.

I sometimes wonder if there are Neo-Nazis out there who argue that Hitlers regime was not real National Socialism.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#329

Post by iopq »

Aeolun wrote: post #283
chillacy wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, CS is one thing but I have played and know people who still play MMOs (EVE, WoW, FF, etc) and those tend to be a different beast. It's not hard to see why: the same desires and rewards that drive you forward in life can be instead applied in-game for a mere $15 a month. Actually in many regards WoW is more fun than real life, and when your friends are all playing the game.. yea that becomes life. I know what…

I dunno, after playing EVE for even a month I think you could easily get a job in administration based on that experience alone.

I mean, just think of how much Excel experience you'll have

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#330

Post by hackits »

Endy wrote: post #259
hackits wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to disagree with you there. You're taking the passive approach. Go out make a name for yourself in the market place in the field you work in. Do some volunteer work as a example to build up a client base and contact list. Advertise your services to other businesses and go to business functions. Get some offers on the table, and then you know where you stand within the organisation. You cannot do it if you're a…

Here's the problem - I don't work in a "field". I work in whatever office will have me, being another faceless drone, more grist for the mill of half-secretarial and half-self-taught patchwork IT people. No matter what the exact role is, there's someone who's either got better qualifications or training than me if it gets technical. I'm "discount office guy" - they don't want me to be anything other than passive.

Your mindset is too stuck in the victim mentality. Yes, people are going to better than you, BUT there are also people who are LESS qualified than you! I will tell you a secret most people wont tell you. People with less qualifications than you get paid more than you.

So drop the `Technical qualification` bull####. If you need qualifications, like other people have recommended open up a text book and start reading. Start building web-sites. Start development with Postgresql. Go out and market yourself and your products. See WHAT people want to buy. See what people are willing to pay for products. Go and take night classes in business management/business skills.

You're a discount office guy because you let them treat you like a discount office guy. If you're worried about failure let me tell you now you're going to fail in amazing screwed up ways, but that is part of the fun. You're going to find your own style, you're going to fall in love and be walked over, you're going to get shit but you're not going to grow as a individual, person, and be a human if you are that `Discount Office Guy`

## I will end on this.

Honestly to dear &&&& god. You've got some of the most friendliest, supportive, happy go people on this community web site who I believe would love to give you pointers and critique your work. Leverage what you have, leverage your network.

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