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Don’t Know What to Do with Your Life? Seek Bargains (2012)

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Re: Don’t Know What to Do with Your Life? Seek Bargains (2012)

#81

Post by jstarfish »

majormajor wrote: post #38
branchless wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People in their 20s don't remember before the banking coup. They think it has to be like this.

Shit, 85K as a college grad TODAY still puts you solidly into the upper ranges of your demographic. If you think that's "just cover rent and expenses" money, how do you think the people you buy coffee, food, or anything else from live?? The author also doesn't seem to discuss what he did the 8 following years , which seems baffling. > I didn’t know which traits I ultimately wanted in my career, but I appreciated that…

> If you think that's "just cover rent and expenses" money, how do you think the people you buy coffee, food, or anything else from live??

Since 2000, mostly through consumer debt. Wages have been stagnant in the face of increased cost of living; you can get financing for literally anything these days. Walmart dropped their layaway program in favor of pushing credit cards. Aaron's will rent you furniture for low monthly payments that add up to 5x the retail price. You can even take out a loan specifically to go on vacation.

$85k was worth a lot more in 2004 than it is now. It's still a king's ransom in rural/middle America but it doesn't get you far on either coast anymore if urban proximity is a requirement.

Re: Don’t Know What to Do with Your Life? Seek Bargains (2012)

#82

Post by BeetleB »

z-tech wrote: post #75
BeetleB wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, the whole blog is about trying to be the best you can be. To a small extent, it is targeting people who want to be high achievers. Second, how do you think it would sound if an MIT PhD started giving examples using underprivileged folks? I think many would equally dismiss him for being way out of touch. Third, I see nothing in the advice given that limits it to privileged folks.

My point is that I don't think he's given any advice that isn't painfully common sense. "Choose the path you think will be best for you." I read more intellectually stimulating bullsh*t on the back of a kumbucha bottle at lunch. But mix in the letters M, I and T and people suddenly think he's tall engineer Confucious. We as the tech community need to think really carefully about who we choose to idolize and what that…

>Choose the path you think will be best for you.

I'm not going to defend his phrasing, because it isn't clearly written. However, this is not what he is saying. He did not know if the job was a better or worse option than grad school. His point is to pick the option that provides for more flexibility. With a job, your options to change to something different 3-4 years down the road are limited. With a PhD, you have many more options open to you (or at least, the flexibility to create those options).

He took a gamble and is writing about how it worked out for him. If you have doubt, I can assure you I know people for whom taking that route ended up worse. Especially folks who went to a school like MIT for their undergrad.

>I read more intellectually stimulating bullsh*t on the back of a kumbucha bottle at lunch. But mix in the letters M, I and T and people suddenly think he's tall engineer Confucious. We as the tech community need to think really carefully about who we choose to idolize and what that says about us.

I see no indication that this is getting posted to HN due to his MIT affiliation, and you are essentially attributing intentions to people, which is almost never a good route to go. I do not see anyone here idolizing him. In fact, to be honest and blunt, most people I know who idolize him are non-achievers (sorry for the judgment!). Finally, and this may get me into trouble, the implication that the tech community should be uniform and consistent in who they idolize and who they don't is the most troublesome to me. I sincerely hope the tech community never becomes a community so easy to characterize.

Re: Don’t Know What to Do with Your Life? Seek Bargains (2012)

#83

Post by mundo »

bischofs wrote: post #28
z-tech wrote: post #15

What have I gained from reading this other than learn that the author is a high achieving person? I'm a software engineer in my late twenties in America. I would guess this blog is geared toward people like me, yet the author seems comedically unaware that very few, remarkably close to zero people, have opportunities like pursuing a PhD at MIT. So you chose MIT... I think most people would have. This is just a self c…

"My career choices were amazing, it was hard to pick between all the fantastic options. I made a decision to pick the better option and am happy with what I chose. You should do all these things too"

And "I'd like to share three lessons I learned while building my startup, which is called ___ and includes innovative features such as ___ and here's where you can sign up for the email list..."

Re: Don’t Know What to Do with Your Life? Seek Bargains (2012)

#85

Post by milesvp »

z-tech wrote: post #15

What have I gained from reading this other than learn that the author is a high achieving person? I'm a software engineer in my late twenties in America. I would guess this blog is geared toward people like me, yet the author seems comedically unaware that very few, remarkably close to zero people, have opportunities like pursuing a PhD at MIT. So you chose MIT... I think most people would have. This is just a self c…

While I agree that it's sort of self congratulatory, I have a similar anecdote where I chose poorly. I'd been offered an internship with a CS prof when I was an undergrad, after doing what I thought was trivial extra credit on an assignment. I never took him up on job because he was offering was only paying minimum wage, and I was already making more than that. It was extremely short sighted of me at the time. It would have opened way more doors and even way more salary if that was actually all I cared about. It was a decision that probably set me back a decade in my career alone, never mind the chance to work with an amazing researcher. I just couldn't see it at the time, because I wasn't thinking in terms of future potential. Which is sort of just saying I was young and foolish.

Re: Don’t Know What to Do with Your Life? Seek Bargains (2012)

#86

Post by erikb »

mkirklions wrote: post #40
erikb wrote: post #5

Completely agree with what is stated. Jobs where you can learn something are much more valuable than jobs that pay well from the beginning. I'd like to add that at least for me it was confusing how many valuable skills I need before I can really sell myself consistently. It's not enough to just develop in a programming language. You need to know how to QA your code, how to project manage, how to deploy your code to u…

Oh boy. I sold out and took the money to be a program manager. I use the money to pay for my pet projects that I hope one day will explode. Goal is to be a leader, not a laborer.

The thing is that a leader without labor experience is not a leader but an a*hole idiot boss, and not idiot because people don't like him. More like idiot in the traditional sense.

No, seriously. If you never went through producing anything, the trouble of actually making it happen, the difference between the nice university theory in contrast to the real life experience of working with people, too little time and resources, etc. The stuff you never learn in any school because no teacher has the experience either.

It's really hard to express, but you are completely unable to lead without productive experience, as in show the way forward, as in organize resources, as in understanding organizational problems.

The best laborers are what becomes the best leaders, if they learn to use their laboring skills to improve others' performance and make people work together in a similar direction.

Re: Don’t Know What to Do with Your Life? Seek Bargains (2012)

#87

Post by instaheat »

gamechangr wrote: post #77
instaheat wrote: post #65

I took my current job for the money vs. a low paying job into a new field I've been wanting to get into for 10 years. (Film/TV Production) ....I regret it.

What are you currently doing?

Mortgage Banking.
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