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When you're poor and want to get out you choose interests that make you more wealthy. You choose majors in college that make you more money with better financia

When you're poor and want to get out you choose interests that make you more wealthy. You choose majors in college that make you more money with better financial security. The starving artist routine is nearly entirely played out by middle to upper middle class people.

nickpsecurity 11y ago
Heck no on thd last part. There's tons of poor and working class people that think they'll get rich with music or something. They get reinforcement from the media and pop artists themselves that brag about getting richer than everyone with just a song or two. I run into them all the time in my area.
- WalterBright 11y ago
  There are tons of documentaries on TV of rags to riches musicians, actors, etc. It does make it seem straightforward. There aren't so many documentaries on the more mundane and much more likely paths to a better life.
  - nickpsecurity 11y ago
    That could be part of the reinforcement. Plus, the celebrity status is fun and makes you matter to many people. Whereas sweating it out in a factory or cubicle for a souless corporation to make others rich doesnt have same appeal.
    - WalterBright 11y ago
      I worked in a cubicle for 10 years. It's not a bad life, but I wanted more and started my own business.
      - nickpsecurity 11y ago
        Exactly. That urge is in most of us. Finding a way to tap it to improve our odds of success I think is one of main takeaways of article.
- hackuser 11y ago
  > There's tons of poor and working class people that think they'll get rich with music or something Maybe a major difference is that if you try that path and you are poor, you're out of options. If you try it and you are wealthy, then you change majors in college.
  - nickpsecurity 11y ago
    Many of these people are intelligent and in college. Others have options but think riches are better. Soms have no options as you said. Common denominator is they love their art, do it constantly, had a dream of being paid for it, and sonething reinforces that.
nommm-nommm 11y ago
At the very least you need both opportunity (access to a computer, which was a luxury 15 years ago) and you have to have the aptitude to be able to learn programming. (Remember a lot of these kids in Baltimore have lead poisoning). As well as the free time to do so. (I knew kids in my neighborhood who had to quit school to work full time [and overtime] to help their parents pay rent). Not to mention I don't think that you can really "force" yourself to have the "correct" interests.
- nostrebored 11y ago
  You can force yourself to have any interest. This idea of people as immutable things is completely absurd. My partner worked full time and was homeless and got a degree in CS. You don't need to have any special computer talents to get into CS, a large section of it is just theory. This idea that programmers have that we must be special or that you have to be smart to be a programmer is ridiculous. I know plenty of dumb people, absurdly illogical dumb people who make it in this industry.
hackuser 11y ago
> You choose majors in college that make you more money I wonder how many poor kids ever have the opportunity to choose a major in college?
- nostrebored 11y ago
  Seeing as I grew up in a poor place with poor people and a large segment of my friends had parents who had never gone to college: a lot of them.
cheez 11y ago
This is obviously someone who has never dealt with actual poverty. Can you imagine... Not even knowing you can have interests. Not that you can choose interests. Not even believing that you can have something to be interested in. Let that sink in
- nostrebored 11y ago
  I grew up in a family of 4 (3 adults) who lived off of a single unemployment check and food stamps for 3 years. Multiple people I knew in high school have been shot in gang related activities. I was friends with people who sold drugs to pay their parent's rent. You really have no idea what you're talking about. When you're poor and you don't want to be poor anymore, you choose to do things that give you financial security. Drug dealers turn into accountants. Kids who want to get in and out of college in 4 years choose to go into computer science. People who's 'natural' (which is a completely irrelevant factor) interests are reading books get into graph theory. Interests being innate is a huge fallacy that people who have not had to handle situations like this believe.
  - cheez 11y ago
    You made it out. Great. For every one of you, how many of them?

nickpsecurity 11y ago

Heck no on thd last part. There's tons of poor and working class people that think they'll get rich with music or something. They get reinforcement from the media and pop artists themselves that brag about getting richer than everyone with just a song or two. I run into them all the time in my area.

WalterBright 11y ago
There are tons of documentaries on TV of rags to riches musicians, actors, etc. It does make it seem straightforward. There aren't so many documentaries on the more mundane and much more likely paths to a better life.
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  That could be part of the reinforcement. Plus, the celebrity status is fun and makes you matter to many people. Whereas sweating it out in a factory or cubicle for a souless corporation to make others rich doesnt have same appeal.
  - WalterBright 11y ago
    I worked in a cubicle for 10 years. It's not a bad life, but I wanted more and started my own business.
    - nickpsecurity 11y ago
      Exactly. That urge is in most of us. Finding a way to tap it to improve our odds of success I think is one of main takeaways of article.
hackuser 11y ago
> There's tons of poor and working class people that think they'll get rich with music or something Maybe a major difference is that if you try that path and you are poor, you're out of options. If you try it and you are wealthy, then you change majors in college.
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  Many of these people are intelligent and in college. Others have options but think riches are better. Soms have no options as you said. Common denominator is they love their art, do it constantly, had a dream of being paid for it, and sonething reinforces that.

nommm-nommm 11y ago

At the very least you need both opportunity (access to a computer, which was a luxury 15 years ago) and you have to have the aptitude to be able to learn programming. (Remember a lot of these kids in Baltimore have lead poisoning). As well as the free time to do so. (I knew kids in my neighborhood who had to quit school to work full time [and overtime] to help their parents pay rent). Not to mention I don't think that you can really "force" yourself to have the "correct" interests.

nostrebored 11y ago
You can force yourself to have any interest. This idea of people as immutable things is completely absurd. My partner worked full time and was homeless and got a degree in CS. You don't need to have any special computer talents to get into CS, a large section of it is just theory. This idea that programmers have that we must be special or that you have to be smart to be a programmer is ridiculous. I know plenty of dumb people, absurdly illogical dumb people who make it in this industry.

hackuser 11y ago

> You choose majors in college that make you more money I wonder how many poor kids ever have the opportunity to choose a major in college?

nostrebored 11y ago
Seeing as I grew up in a poor place with poor people and a large segment of my friends had parents who had never gone to college: a lot of them.

cheez 11y ago

This is obviously someone who has never dealt with actual poverty. Can you imagine... Not even knowing you can have interests. Not that you can choose interests. Not even believing that you can have something to be interested in. Let that sink in

nostrebored 11y ago
I grew up in a family of 4 (3 adults) who lived off of a single unemployment check and food stamps for 3 years. Multiple people I knew in high school have been shot in gang related activities. I was friends with people who sold drugs to pay their parent's rent. You really have no idea what you're talking about. When you're poor and you don't want to be poor anymore, you choose to do things that give you financial security. Drug dealers turn into accountants. Kids who want to get in and out of college in 4 years choose to go into computer science. People who's 'natural' (which is a completely irrelevant factor) interests are reading books get into graph theory. Interests being innate is a huge fallacy that people who have not had to handle situations like this believe.
- cheez 11y ago
  You made it out. Great. For every one of you, how many of them?