6 ms·

Many people are fooled by prestige. PG's elaboration on it changed my life: "Your opinions about what's admirable are always going to be slightly influenced by

by s3nnyy 11y ago

Many people are fooled by prestige. PG's elaboration on it changed my life: "Your opinions about what's admirable are always going to be slightly influenced by prestige, so if two options seem equal to you, you probably have more genuine admiration for the less prestigious one. [...] If you admire two kinds of work equally, but one is more prestigious, you should probably choose the other." (http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html) I went to a no-name company, I love the freedom that I have in a small team, and I leave work around 4-5 p.m., if I want. Also, I have still enough energy to do side-projects. That is something people working at more prestigious places probably lack. (I am based in Zurich and I love it; here a blogpost about living & working here: https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-to-switzerland-to-work-in-it-c7ac18af4f90 https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-t...)

fennecfoxen 11y ago
> Easy immigration (for EU citizens) The lucky schmucks. As far as I could tell from research, immigrating as a US citizen is not an operation they support at all.
- s3nnyy 11y ago
  A company can get you a work permit into Switzerland by showing that they can not find anyone else: An employer has to show a couple of EU/Swiss-resumes to the authorities and point out how they are not suited for the job and how you are. I know a company that has done that with Ukrainians and Russians. Shoot me a mail, if you are interested in moving here; I can try to help out.
nogridbag 11y ago
I chose a similar route because of perks and pay. My only fear is this choice hurting my future employment when I'll likely be discriminated due to age. I would imagine having Google or Facebook on my resume would surely make getting a job at age 50+ much easier.
- s3nnyy 11y ago
  That might sound crazy but on a software engineering salary, you can retire before 50 if you get used to spending little on food, transportation and shelter. My most favorite online resource on how to live frugally is this: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-became-financially-independent-in-5-years-part-i.html http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-became-financially-i....
  - Tloewald 11y ago
    I think that retiring before 50 is not the solution to unemployment after 50, although the idea of living frugally so you can retire early seems great until you try it.
    - s3nnyy 11y ago
      I think this is very subjective. I am living on less than a thousand Swiss-Francs per month in one of the most expensive cities in the world (Zurich) and I do not feel that I am missing anything. I know, things will be very different when I have kids, but still.
      - Tloewald 11y ago
        You can achieve financial independence in: 33 * Cost of Living / (Salary - Cost of Living) Assuming for simplicity 3% real interest on investments once you stop working (which is close enough if you're trying to get out of the rat race quickly), and potentially infinite lifespan. So if your cost of living is $10k and you earn $100k you get: 330,000 / 90,000 -> less than four years. Great theory. I don't want to live on oatmeal and tuna for the rest of my life. (I actually don't think we should be eating tuna at all and have stopped eating it although I love it.) Now aside from obvious (e.g. kids, as you state) there's also: * At some point you'll get a $500 optical bill or a $5000 dental bill (or a $50,000 medical bill if you live in the US) -- and let's not even get into chronic conditions. * You may want to travel. * At some point there will probably be a major economic shock and you may be utterly screwed. (But hey, so will a lot of people, and you'll be used to it.) Finally -- you may enjoy working. I do.

by s3nnyy 11y ago

fennecfoxen 11y ago

> Easy immigration (for EU citizens) The lucky schmucks. As far as I could tell from research, immigrating as a US citizen is not an operation they support at all.

s3nnyy 11y ago
A company can get you a work permit into Switzerland by showing that they can not find anyone else: An employer has to show a couple of EU/Swiss-resumes to the authorities and point out how they are not suited for the job and how you are. I know a company that has done that with Ukrainians and Russians. Shoot me a mail, if you are interested in moving here; I can try to help out.

nogridbag 11y ago

I chose a similar route because of perks and pay. My only fear is this choice hurting my future employment when I'll likely be discriminated due to age. I would imagine having Google or Facebook on my resume would surely make getting a job at age 50+ much easier.

s3nnyy 11y ago
That might sound crazy but on a software engineering salary, you can retire before 50 if you get used to spending little on food, transportation and shelter. My most favorite online resource on how to live frugally is this: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-became-financially-independent-in-5-years-part-i.html http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-became-financially-i....
- Tloewald 11y ago
  I think that retiring before 50 is not the solution to unemployment after 50, although the idea of living frugally so you can retire early seems great until you try it.
  - s3nnyy 11y ago
    I think this is very subjective. I am living on less than a thousand Swiss-Francs per month in one of the most expensive cities in the world (Zurich) and I do not feel that I am missing anything. I know, things will be very different when I have kids, but still.
    - Tloewald 11y ago
      You can achieve financial independence in: 33 * Cost of Living / (Salary - Cost of Living) Assuming for simplicity 3% real interest on investments once you stop working (which is close enough if you're trying to get out of the rat race quickly), and potentially infinite lifespan. So if your cost of living is $10k and you earn $100k you get: 330,000 / 90,000 -> less than four years. Great theory. I don't want to live on oatmeal and tuna for the rest of my life. (I actually don't think we should be eating tuna at all and have stopped eating it although I love it.) Now aside from obvious (e.g. kids, as you state) there's also: * At some point you'll get a $500 optical bill or a $5000 dental bill (or a $50,000 medical bill if you live in the US) -- and let's not even get into chronic conditions. * You may want to travel. * At some point there will probably be a major economic shock and you may be utterly screwed. (But hey, so will a lot of people, and you'll be used to it.) Finally -- you may enjoy working. I do.