People Who Are Obsessed with Success and Prestige • Hacker News Board

Re: People Who Are Obsessed with Success and Prestige

#371

Post by titzer » Thu, Jan 09, 2020, 5:23 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #353

toomuchtodo wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Following your heart is a virtue. Writing about it bluntly, doubly so. Is one not free to leave a spouse for someone else? Regardless of age (assuming everyone is a consenting adult!)? I give credit to those who live their life intentionally. You only get one. If you’re unhappy, pull the sails and head towards happiness. Valid point to not be a dick about it though (I haven’t read to know if these articles you mentio…

> Following your heart is a virtue. No, that's a modern misconception. "Following your heart" is just an action with no moral value in itself. Whether it's a virtue depends on the contents of your heart. All kinds of scumbags and horrible people who hurt others "followed their heart" in doing so.

Who cares about virtue? All we should really measure is destructiveness. If following your heart isn't destructive, then go for it. Make your own virtues out of something else.

Re: People Who Are Obsessed with Success and Prestige

#372

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 10, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

Consultant32452 wrote: post #344

bsanr2 wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*after you're paid enough to make financial decisions of any sort.

When I was making $35k/yr I was putting 10% in my retirement plan. I just had cheaper vacations, older cars, and fewer luxuries. People don't like to hear it but most financial problems are a character problem more than they are an income problem. The good news is that character flaws are not permanent. We all have them and if we can be self aware enough to acknowledge them, we can address them.

[deleted]

Re: People Who Are Obsessed with Success and Prestige

#373

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 10, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

Consultant32452 wrote: post #260

bsanr2 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on where the home is. With admonishments from every corner for my not squirreling away $100/month out of my ~$1800 take-home pay, someone making $250k a year should be able to easily put away the linear equivalent of $10k a year. 5 years of that is a down payment on something decent, somewhere decent. Of course, my bread costs about as much as their bread, so they could probably getaway with a bit more. It's…

Just to toss out another example. I make about $150k. I'm a single father. I put the legal maximum into my retirement account every year, which I think is $19k this year. I have 6 months of expenses saved up in my emergency fund. We take a nice vacation every year and have luxuries like season passes to Broadway. Yes, I think it's all about making good financial decisions.

[deleted]

Re: People Who Are Obsessed with Success and Prestige

#374

Post by oarabbus_ » Sat, Jan 11, 2020, 1:04 AM UTC

akhilcacharya wrote: post #349

oarabbus_ wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>To be fair my calculation is if you’re not at near peak TC band when you enter top tech companies it’s hard to impossible to catch up I'm not sure I understand. What is the point you're making? Why is it hard to catch up? What's stopping someone in a mid or low TC band from switching to another company and increasing their TC?

Switching usually means a downlevel or a lateral level transition (extremely rare that someone uplevels from a switch) which limits the upside. You'd always be tied to your prior TC in some way and the effects compound.

So? Is the point you're making that you won't be the highest paid employee in a company?

Your TC is tied to your prior TC, which is tied to your internships and college, which is tied to your high school performance. Might as well take it down to kindergarten.

If you're not a child prodigy, then you won't be the most talented, highest-paid employee.

I'll never understand this mindset.

Re: People Who Are Obsessed with Success and Prestige

#375

Post by MaxBarraclough » Sun, Jan 12, 2020, 10:07 PM UTC

cr0sh wrote: post #221

collyw wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the idea that developers should have blogs. I see the advantage in using it to market yourself, but I write code for a living not blogs. There isn't that much information that I feel the need to share with the world, and for the things I do (that would be career related), I don't usually have the time and motivation to write them up properly.

> I hate the idea that developers should have blogs. I hate the reality that developers can't easily develop a portfolio of work because generally their work is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the companies they work for, and can't be legally shared outside of those places. So we have github, but even that is suspect and many potential employers don't look at it, unless you are some well known contributor or founder…

> their work is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the companies

As benhurmarcel says, this isn't unique to software development. It's the norm.

The most obvious exception that occurs to me is research, where your life's work is published (albeit often paywalled).

> we have github, but even that is suspect and many potential employers don't look at it

I'm not sure it's really 'suspect', is it? I suppose it's subject to Goodhart's law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

As for employers not looking at it, I think that's a separate issue.

> I've read on more than one occasion somewhat famous developers of tools being turned down for positions at companies that use the very tools they developed. It is somewhat maddenning.

Yep. Here's the one that springs to mind: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15713801