On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings • Hacker News Board

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#81

Post by anamax » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 4:34 PM UTC

indiejade wrote: post #45

TomOfTTB wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social Security is (or is at least supposed to be) reimbursement of money you paid into the system. Welfare is a system in which society has chosen to give people money to live to prevent them from having no money at all so it's a gift not payment for any service.

Social Security is (or is at least supposed to be) reimbursement of money you paid into the system. This is true only to the extent that it reimburses/rewards/repays people who actually work. It isn't really based on how much you pay, but the taxable amount of your income. Also, how long you've been working. Interesting that this topic should come up; just this morning I received my yearly information statement from…

> Maybe people who spend all day in nice air-conditioned offices who complain about how "unfair" things like Social Security are should try ditching their suits for a construction belt in the Las Vegas sun for 3 or so years. That's what my dad did (construction), and he passed away before he ever saw a penny of his Social Security benefits. Of course. That's how the people in the air-conditioned offices like it, don't they?

A SS advocate would point out that your mother probably got something.

I'll point out that the fact that your dad got more screwed than someone else by SS does not imply that said someone else didn't get screwed as well.

I think that your dad sould have been able to keep the 15% that SS took, or at least give it to your mom and you. SS advocates think otherwise.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#82

Post by sophacles » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 4:45 PM UTC

teeja wrote: post #54

edw519 wrote: post #11

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Like OP, I busted my butt in pursuit of a better future, graduated with an BS in Math and an MBA just to work at Denny's for 18 months before finding my first programming job. But I can't imagine ever writing a piece like this. I have only one "understanding". No one is ever going to give me anything, so I just have to suck it up and get it for myself. If OP persev…

Me too, graduated with a degree in the hard sciences, 1974. (They're called that for a reason.) Then I worked as a fry cook, then a dishwasher, then a radio station librarian, then a DJ, then a lumberjack, then a carpenter. THEN I got a real job. Don't misunderstand: kids graduating right now landed in the shit. You're right: the greedy bastards have worked us over good. But guess what kid: we're all in it, and it's…

Except when we get our real job we will get the same starting pay you got. That's without adjusting for inflation. Seriously, My best offer out of college was for a programming job paying what my father was offered for an entry level sales job in 1979. However, we are paying 2000's prices on our college education. We'll be lucky if we get to have the inflation adjusted equivelent of 500K in retirement to lose.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#83

Post by californiaguy » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 4:52 PM UTC

AlisdairO wrote: post #56

californiaguy wrote: post #14

No, fuck this guy and his bullshit attitude. I'm 25 and I work over 12 hours a day in my technology services company and startup projects and I make a good god damn living for myself and so does everyone who puts in time for our company. It's his problem for believing the bullshit "adults" told him all his life. I knew from day one it was complete and utter nonsense. I bet he learned to blame others from them too. He…

Isn't it a bit sad that someone should have to work a 60 hour week (assuming you don't work weekends...), likely with no more than 2 weeks a year vacation, to earn a good living, though? Fair enough if you're doing what you love, but that is never, alas, going to be the case for most people. I'm lucky enough to get to work on what I love, but I still think that we should endeavour to restrict the 'normal' working wee…

I could easily earn a good living working 40 hours a week.

I'm trying to get rich so I don't have to answer to some clown barely half my age when I'm 40.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#84

Post by nostrademons » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 4:55 PM UTC

bartw wrote: post #71

nostrademons wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told if I worked hard I would get a job. I figured this was bullshit, so I slacked off. I never had problems finding a job. :-P The plural of anecdote is not data. ;-)

Mind if i put that piece of gold into my '.fortunes' ?

Sure, go for it.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#85

Post by shiranaihito » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 4:58 PM UTC

unlinkedlist wrote: post #49

krschultz wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not.

I'm perplexed by this. I pay $44/month for Blue Shield California health insurance. Prior to that I live in Washington state and paid only $37/month. Clearly, I'm a recent graduate, and I'm young and healthy, so lots of people won't be able to get that sort of policy. But the article specifically addresses young, healthy, recent graduates! For some reason the Blue Shield website isn't responding for me right now, but…

Doesn't sound bad, but you've probably heard of insurance companies trying to avoid paying for anything when you actually need something done.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#86

Post by nostrademons » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 5:07 PM UTC

wizard_2 wrote: post #76

presidentender wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could work while going to school, skip the partying, ride a bicycle, and keep your debt to a repayable level. I am 22 and I have a real job. During school, I washed a lot of dishes, picked up a lot of construction site refuse, drove a lot of nails, cut a lot of boards, and cleaned up a lot of spyware. Now I write software, for more than the spyware and dishwashing, but less than the construction. I'll still be…

You don't have to live like a monk. Save 20% of your income always (don't make much? don't worry you won't be saving much. That 20% is your money don't give it away.) and start practicing at networking early. You probably wont do it washing dishes, but maybe hammering nails. Construction is for a client who you can meet, washing dishes you're in the kitchen. Talk to the people who need your services, talk to people b…

"I hear my friends talk about not finding any work because of "the economy". I yell at them, I've never been busier."

Not to trivialize the value of, well, adding value, but there's a lot of luck involved too. It was an awakening recently when I tried to refer a bunch of HN people into Google - folks whose resumes and comments looked pretty good to me - and none of them even got past the prescreen. My own hiring process went remarkably smoothly, and my recruiter hustled me between the different phases with little delay. It was a surprise to me that so many people who I thought were otherwise good candidates didn't even make it to the initial phone screen.

I've never had trouble finding a job either, but maybe I'm just lucky. It's sorta hard to reconcile the ease of getting hired/doing the job vs. the difficulty of doing something like starting my own company (which I've also tried, and failed miserably at). Maybe for some people, those talents are just reversed...or worse, they're bad at both of them.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#87

Post by nostrademons » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 5:09 PM UTC

steveplace wrote: post #79

rsheridan6 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that happened to you now, you would be crushed by student loans that would be unpayable on Denny's wages, possibly going into default before you got your first real paycheck.

Can't default on student loans. It'll get pulled out of any paychecks.

Though if you can't get any paychecks, which is sorta the point of the parent post, then it's as good as a default. ;-)

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#88

Post by nostrademons » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 5:16 PM UTC

andreyf wrote: post #67

teeja wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too, graduated with a degree in the hard sciences, 1974. (They're called that for a reason.) Then I worked as a fry cook, then a dishwasher, then a radio station librarian, then a DJ, then a lumberjack, then a carpenter. THEN I got a real job. Don't misunderstand: kids graduating right now landed in the shit. You're right: the greedy bastards have worked us over good. But guess what kid: we're all in it, and it's…

Things are much better now, then. For every person complaining, there are a lot of people working quietly - I graduated a year ago, and I had no trouble finding a job (and then switching it a couple of months ago) - but that's just one example, maybe I got lucky. Still, I can't think of a single college friend whom I could honestly call smart who can't found a job. Yes, I'm sure the people that wasted their time in c…

That's what I see among my friends, but I wonder if that holds across all socioeconomic strata. It seems like this recession hit the upper reaches of society first - finance, consulting, lawyers, universities and venture capital - and then worked its way down to regular unemployment. The news now is that finance is recovering (thanks to government bailouts), but the consumer picture is getting worse. Retail and manufacturing are taking it in the chin now.

Edit: Actually, no, I can think of several friends in the class of 09 that graduated from a top college and still can't find jobs. They're in non-technical fields though; maybe tech is doing better, but non-tech is still in the dumps.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#89

Post by thetrumanshow » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 5:37 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #86

wizard_2 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to live like a monk. Save 20% of your income always (don't make much? don't worry you won't be saving much. That 20% is your money don't give it away.) and start practicing at networking early. You probably wont do it washing dishes, but maybe hammering nails. Construction is for a client who you can meet, washing dishes you're in the kitchen. Talk to the people who need your services, talk to people b…

"I hear my friends talk about not finding any work because of "the economy". I yell at them, I've never been busier." Not to trivialize the value of, well, adding value, but there's a lot of luck involved too. It was an awakening recently when I tried to refer a bunch of HN people into Google - folks whose resumes and comments looked pretty good to me - and none of them even got past the prescreen . My own hiring pro…

"Maybe for some people, those talents are just reversed...or worse, they're bad at both of them."

Oh man, being bad at both is my worst nightmare!

Fortunately, there are such variances in types of work, that surely you can find SOMETHING you can excell at.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#90

Post by pyre » Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 6:06 PM UTC

gehant wrote: post #59

pyre wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point that I took away is that there are plenty of people in their 20's that bust their butts. When the older generation is complaining about the '20-something whiners' the tone of those rants is usually about how little the '20-something whiners' do (i.e. they sit at home and watch tv/smoke pot/play videogames/etc rather than bettering themselves through education/etc).

Entitlement involves having an inflated view of oneself - based on what's said in the article, sounds about right. Just seems odd that the author complains about not being able to find a job, yet takes zero responsibility for his situation. When I graduated college (into a shitty job market) many job offers were delayed, rescinded, or simply unavailable - I don't remember blaming everyone else.

I don't know that he's necessarily blaming the older generation so much as he's pointing out that the older generation made all sorts of promises such as, "Unless you get a university degree, you'll never get a good job" and "Once you have a university degree the job market is smooth sailin'" which are obviously not true. And now the older generation is complaining that the younger generations -- raised on such 'truths' and promises -- are saying "Where's this cushy job I was supposed to get with my college degree?"