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Poor in Tech

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Re: Poor in Tech

#761

Post by nickd2001 »

giantg2 wrote: post #747
dack wrote: post #742

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, sorry to hear about your predicament. A lot of companies hire remotely these days, or are totally remote (Gitlab comes to mind). Two things I would recommend if you are open to advice: 1. Consider the possibility that you have some skills to grow to achieve more senior levels. Confidence helps, but it's not enough on it's own. 2. Interview at other companies that don't require you to relocate to see what you're…

1. I'm not posting for senior roles. I know I have more to learn about the new technologies since I'm switching stacks. It's not just confidence that makes me think I was performing at that level. The olny reason I wasn't officially given the title is because of politics and poor leadership by my superiors. I had people from other teams calling me a tech lead, a commendation letter from another team due to my involve…

IMHO, once you have child(ren) , the value of a senior role is questionable, especially since as you point out , more hours are expected which makes it not a real raise (besides "stealing" from quality time with your kid(s) ). Senior roles to me can be a poison chalice, more stress. IMHO when one feels a failure for not being a senior, one might need to emotionally detach, and disconnect self-worth from their job title. To those who say they can't get by on a mid-level salary, well , how does much of the rest of the workforce without tech salaries do it then? One other thought - internal promotions are often a lost cause anyway, (e:g reliant on playing politics). If you're dead set on becoming a senior, job-hopping often the best way. Good luck! :)

Re: Poor in Tech

#762

Post by kyawzazaw »

Haruiko wrote: post #612
kyawzazaw wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say hi only and came from a fairly well-off family. Every additional complaints about my life or happenings in my life that I would have would be unrelatable to the maids and the drivers at our house and it might make them feel uncomfortable.

And have you thought about finding out who your maids and drivers are? Talking to them about their lives? No interest in learning who they are? What they like? When they have birthday? If you have a bad day, for whatever reason, you think they couldn't relate to having a bad day?

I know who they are, of course. And birthday and their sons and daughters birthdays. That's how we give gifts. We know who they are and where they are as well - we wouldn't hire them without knowing that.

They couldn't relate - my bad day would be related to losing a few points on a foreign exam or if my favorite restaurant was overbooked.

Re: Poor in Tech

#763

Post by CountDrewku »

giantg2 wrote: post #549
CountDrewku wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>ost food deserts are in the poorer areas of the cities because nobody is bringing fresh produce in there to sell. Talking about things that simply aren't true.... Every major city in the US has a large farmer's market present and typically more than one happening in neighborhoods all over the city. These cities also have free/cheap public transportation to get people to the farmer's market. Additionally, you don't n…

"The is just trope along the same lines of black people can't get their own ID's or figure out the internet. It's an incredibly racist way of thinking." I never said black people. That's your own bias talking. I agree that people can travel to a supermarket (and that supermarkets have healthy food). It's much more difficult to take a weekly trip for a family's needs in public transportation as opposed to loading up a…

>I never said black people. That's your own bias talking.

I made a comparison to it being similar, I did not say it exclusively affected black people and this is why I used the terms "along the same lines". Reading comprehension please.

>It's much more difficult to take a weekly trip for a family's needs in public transportation as opposed to loading up a car. More frequent trips tend to incur higher opportunity cost due to the commute times.

I disagree. All the elites and hipsters in big cities live this way on purpose so it can't be that hard. I find it ironic that the same people who push for more public affordable transportation will turn around and say it's too hard to use and personal transportation is better when it comes to minorities. Additionally, if we follow your logic then rural people are vastly more affected by this than anyone living in the inner-city since they have to travel much longer distances and don't even have public transportation available.

Re: Poor in Tech

#764

Post by CountDrewku »

cestith wrote: post #659
CountDrewku wrote: post #501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explain how opposition to welfare programs is racism. Also, please explain why impoverished minority communities have not vastly improved regardless of the constantly increasing money tossed into welfare programs.

Have you heard of intergenerational wealth, which is one of the issues described in the OP article? Then, have you further heard of redlining, Jim Crow, slavery, sharecropping, lynchings, hiring discrimination, justice system discrimination, police discrimination, urban ghettoization, locally-funded school districts based on local property taxes, code switching speech, cultural discrimination on styles of dress and h…

What does that have to do with welfare being a good idea? You're straw-manning.

Re: Poor in Tech

#765

Post by CRConrad »

FriedrichN wrote: post #217
MattRix wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you grow up poor, as she did? If not, then you are missing the important context of what it’s like to grow up in a food scarce environment.

We never had much money, but we ate well. And I ate a lot, but I was also very active. Being active is free. I know this will upset people, but if poor people are fat, food is not scarce. The quality of food may be low, but low food quality does not make one fat, a surplus of calories does. To be absolutely clear, I know there is a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and obesity. It's much more complicate…

> The quality of food may be low, but low food quality does not make one fat, a surplus of calories does.

That low quality food is food with a surplus of calories. That's a large part of what makes it low quality.

Re: Poor in Tech

#766

Post by CRConrad »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #680

>> I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because people kept bragging their bodily purity based on what they would not eat or drink, and I could only feel pity for them. Is it common to use "bragging" in this way?

YM without an "about" or similar? Not very common IME, but seeing it now is probably a harbinger of more to come. Feels congruent with "because [something]" (without an "of" in between).

Re: Poor in Tech

#767

Post by CountDrewku »

watwut wrote: post #561
CountDrewku wrote: post #519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The comment wasn't that opposition to welfare programs was solely caused by racism, just that it was one motivation Ok so how would one oppose welfare programs and not be labeled racist? Do you believe there are no individuals taking advantage of the welfare system and that pointing out anyone who is would be racist?

I think that the above was comment abour welfare queen discussion that actually happened in USA around 1980 in presidential campaign.

My point was to try and get the poster to tell us how we can be critical of welfare programs without being racist. Since they never answered I'm going to assume, like most people with this stance, they think ANY criticism against it is racism and no discussion should happen. Assuming that every black single woman is a 'welfare queen' would be racist but the idea that there are individuals who take advantage of the system is not, especially since it's true. Focusing on a term that some find offensive seems like a waste of time and a distraction from real discussion on the issue.

Re: Poor in Tech

#768

Post by giantg2 »

nickd2001 wrote: post #761
giantg2 wrote: post #747

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. I'm not posting for senior roles. I know I have more to learn about the new technologies since I'm switching stacks. It's not just confidence that makes me think I was performing at that level. The olny reason I wasn't officially given the title is because of politics and poor leadership by my superiors. I had people from other teams calling me a tech lead, a commendation letter from another team due to my involve…

IMHO, once you have child(ren) , the value of a senior role is questionable, especially since as you point out , more hours are expected which makes it not a real raise (besides "stealing" from quality time with your kid(s) ). Senior roles to me can be a poison chalice, more stress. IMHO when one feels a failure for not being a senior, one might need to emotionally detach, and disconnect self-worth from their job tit…

That's pretty much how I see it. Except the company's policies do not state any change to the required hours. I feel this is a deceptive employer practice (one of several I've seen).

The bigger issue is that I can't see myself continuing to work here until I'm able to "retire". The work is shit. I've heard many managers will look to fire people or drive them out if they are moving up. I need the job to support my family, so that causes a lot of stress. If I were single, I would have quit years ago... or just stopped trying until they fire me.

Re: Poor in Tech

#769

Post by jjdin14 »

MattRix wrote: post #165
jjdin14 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Less likely”, “more at the mercy”, it still comes down to the individuals choices, it’s not that hard to not be obese when poor.

“it’s not that hard to not be obese when poor.” The statistics make it quite clear that it is hard, maybe your assumptions are wrong.

I'm not particularly interested in some "studies" that come out with statistics saying its hard not to be obese when poor. The fact of the matter is that it's possible to eat relatively healthy affordably (e.g. rice, potatoes, food on sale/discount), and that if you were truly poor you should be saving money by eating less food.

Re: Poor in Tech

#770

Post by webmaven »

mcherm wrote: post #2

I've seen this before. Not often, because the companies I have worked at have rarely hired someone from this social strata. But in the cases where we have, I have seen the alienation. Aside from the obvious "be genuinely friendly", does anyone have suggestions of what to do as a coworker to support someone suffering from this cultural barrier?

I don't have much in the way of general advice other than "try to be inclusive toward people whose experiences and circumstances may not be like yours", in much the same way as male allies should be aware of things that can make women feel unsafe, omnivores should be aware that some folks have dietary restrictions, and so on.

Money can pop up as an excluding factor pretty easily. So, for example, insist on a hard (and low, ideally ridiculously low) upper bound on any expenses associated with optional-but-not-really events like gift exchanges or potluck meals. A company-culture norm of spending higher amounts on such things can cause a lot of stress, even if the amounts are still affordable: ie. figuring out a $25 Secret Santa gift is easier than a $50, much less $75, one.

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