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We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

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Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#81

Post by jaimebuelta »

seanccox wrote: post #60

Let's be careful with that term, "luxury". You're a well-paid and comparatively comfortable wage slave, but just because you don't have to labor in a mine or a burger joint doesn't mean you are experiencing luxury. Luxury is what these people are living: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ We would all do well to remember that the first 85 people on that list have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people in t…

It is true that luxury is relative, but, from an external point of view, when I was a kid, I remembered commenting with people how everyone in American movies seemed to be rich, even when depicted as "low middle class" (huge houses, a couple of cars, tons of clothes, toys, etc) We are not talking about having an helicopter, but my family bought our first car when I had 15 years, and live in a relative small flat for 4 people. My father had a well paid job in IT industry and we considered ourselves middle class.

And I am not talking about a really poor country on the third world, but Europe.

As usual, we perceive as rich anyone "an income step above us" that can mean they'll go on holidays to a private island, that they'll go on holidays to Aruba, they'll go on holidays to a rural house, or that they simply go on holidays, period, depending on your income.

I think we focused too much on the "hyper rich" billionaires. A couples of steps down from that is also luxury...

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#82

Post by aestra »

raverbashing wrote: post #36

About working from home: I won't do it again, unless needed I will go somewhere else (rent a room/desk if needed) and I'll work there. Going from "work mode" to "home mode" is very important "Living in the bubble of Hacker News does distort the perspective. We tend to ignore how luxurious our jobs are. We shouldn’t forget that there is life outside our communities." Oh this applies to many more things than jobs.

>I will go somewhere else (rent a room/desk if needed) and I'll work there.

It is important when working from home to have a "work area" which is only for work and nothing else. When you work from your bed you get in trouble.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#83

Post by epaladin »

aasarava wrote: post #49
spindritf wrote: post #5

Yes, working from home is great. It is a luxury. Working at your own pace is also nice. But working "on the Internet" means you're also comparing yourself to the best, brightest, and driven. Then it seems like you're achieving maybe 10% of what you seemingly could be, because you're setting your own goals based on what you see out there. It's like getting stuck in traffic. You can point out that I'm sitting in climat…

So what is the hack that keeps us from constantly taking our luxuries for granted? Just as with the traffic situation, how often do we find ourselves complaining about having to do the laundry or the dishes or vacuuming or even heating up something for dinner -- all fairly small and easy tasks thanks to the help of technology, which took much more time and labor in a previous generation? Yes, it's true that the compl…

I think we'll really need to start treating mindfulness as a fundamental life skill. I've realized only recently how essential it will be to develop in order to get much of anything out of life, given my mindset up to this point. Maybe some cultures are better about this; I certainly don't have the information on which to base generalizations. I have seen an increasing number of resources focused on stress reduction via mindfulness (also see Google Trends), but the potential benefits go beyond just stress.

Awareness, without making comparisons. That should be the key. I can't validate that myself yet though...

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#84

Post by crpatino »

throwaway812 wrote: post #30
Touche wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. We enrich "business guys" with connections to billion dollar exits while we ourselves make middle-class or slightly upper-middle class wages. Meanwhile anyone willing to take out the loans to put themselves through Dental school will eventually make more than we do and if they have the motivation to open up their own practice, much more than we do.

I agree with the sentiment, but I think your facts are a bit off and reflect HN insularity. The median 33% household income ("middle class") in the US is $30,000 to $62,500 ( household ). Even if you are the sole earner in your household, it is still unlikely that you make less than $62,500. If you do make less than that, ask for a raise. If you don't make less than that, or your combined household income is more tha…

Sorry, but splitting "classes" in thirds is just ridiculous. The way the economy works is by concentrating wealth, so any class definition based on clustering according to income/net-worth cannot be linear. A logarithmic scale would make much more sense, by example: Poor:= 0-50%, Middle class:= 51%-75%, Upper class:=76-100%???

This model is extremely rough and inaccurate, but is a step in the right direction. The main problem it has is to assume that there has to be only 3 classes, which is arbitrary and does not describe the actual lives of real people. A second, related defect is that it does not recognize the existence of a small group of very vulnerable people below the "working poor".

For these reasons, I think it is best to model this clustering classification using a log-normal distribution, with at least five classes (Underclass < Working poor < Middle class < Upper-middle class < Upper class). Still, the "upper class" category lumps together the merely wealthy (smallish business owners, the most successful professionals) with the extremely rich, and all possibilities in-between.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#85

Post by mcv »

manuletroll wrote: post #32

While this might be true for a large portion of HN's audience, there are also developers stuck in shitty positions in countries where making $100K writing software is a pipe dream. I'd be happy if I was paid a third of that.

I don't make $100K either. But together with my wife's income, we've still got it pretty comfortable. You don't need $100K to live comfortably.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#86

Post by mikeash »

Speak for yourself. I sure as hell am aware of it.

If you want to talk about how ridiculously unaware you were about how good you have it, feel free. But please don't imply that I'm somehow equally dumb.

I do my share of complaining, but I understand that when it comes down to it, I am extremely fortunate when it comes to my job.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#87

Post by rckclmbr »

imjared wrote: post #11

I'm sitting at home with no commute, listening to music out of my computer speakers, in a house that's heated to my liking and I'm wearing sweatpants. For lunch I'll be baking a hot, fresh meal. At some point this afternoon I'll probably take a short nap to refresh myself. I'm pretty aware of it.

I had a bad commute this morning, because I stubbed my toe on the way to the computer room. Also, I'm not wearing any pants.

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#89

Post by josephjrobison »

aasarava wrote: post #49
spindritf wrote: post #5

Yes, working from home is great. It is a luxury. Working at your own pace is also nice. But working "on the Internet" means you're also comparing yourself to the best, brightest, and driven. Then it seems like you're achieving maybe 10% of what you seemingly could be, because you're setting your own goals based on what you see out there. It's like getting stuck in traffic. You can point out that I'm sitting in climat…

So what is the hack that keeps us from constantly taking our luxuries for granted? Just as with the traffic situation, how often do we find ourselves complaining about having to do the laundry or the dishes or vacuuming or even heating up something for dinner -- all fairly small and easy tasks thanks to the help of technology, which took much more time and labor in a previous generation? Yes, it's true that the compl…

Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: “Is this the condition that I feared?” - Seneca

Re: We Have Luxurious Jobs but We Are Not Aware of It

#90

Post by aestra »

sergiotapia wrote: post #28

Yes we make more money, but we also take our work with us and the stress that comes along with mentally taxing work. It's 11pm and I might be thinking of a problem at work I've been tangling for for the past 4 days. A gardner or a construction worker leaves work and _leaves work_, you feel me?

REALLY!?

Software engineering is one of the lowest stress jobs out there. I've worked some stressful jobs, and software engineering doesn't even compare. For example try getting yelled at and sworn at and personally attacked regularly. You really have it good if you find your job to be so stressful.

Believe it or not a LOT of people take work home with them, and its something you gotta work on not doing. Not job specific.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405274870472310...

http://careers.unc.edu/blogs/career-exploration/top-10-most-...

http://www.businessinsider.com/high-paying-jobs-for-people-w...

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