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Every job I've worked in my adult life has involved being judged by standards the boomers doing the judging could never live up to, and then covering for their

Every job I've worked in my adult life has involved being judged by standards the boomers doing the judging could never live up to, and then covering for their incompetence with technical skills(because I'm young, so I can just do that stuff). It would be such a sad joke if it weren't for the fact that they squat in every opportunity young people have for their futures (real estate, higher positions, etc) while the young themselves drown in debt and exploitation.

Declanomous 10y ago
It's even better when they don't like the fact that you are doing the job in a way they can't understand. I swear some people think they are paying you to suffer, and if you do something in a way that doesn't require enough suffering they feel ripped off.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- hackits 10y ago
  Lets be clear here. What-ever the persons opinion of you should have absolutely no bearing on your professional work, and your relationship between then. I have rude clients, I have smart ass clients. Something is very clear I make it to them when I do the job, I'm doing it for money. If they think $1000 per hour is too much then they're not a client I really want to be working with. I have found you need to make it very clear to clients why you're there, and what the ROI will be for them. After you've done the work, you move onto the next client. They may be a wealthy business man, they may be a boomer. They may be a startup. You're there to get a job done.
  - Endy 10y ago
    That works fine when they're "clients" and you have a business - they naturally accept B2B situations as equals. But when you're the employee, that doesn't work. If you make it clear that you're only in the job for the paycheck, you're going to get fired - you have to make it seem to management like you have some psychopathic desire to be there busting your ass for nine hours on their inane and unfulfilling tasks.
    - hackits 10y ago
      I have to disagree with you there. You're taking the passive approach. Go out make a name for yourself in the market place in the field you work in. Do some volunteer work as a example to build up a client base and contact list. Advertise your services to other businesses and go to business functions. Get some offers on the table, and then you know where you stand within the organisation. You cannot do it if you're a slave to your job and you're literally working 10 to 12 hours a day. Cut back, turn off the phone after work. Go for a jog and go and have a beer with competing businesses or colleges.
      - Endy 10y ago
        Here's the problem - I don't work in a "field". I work in whatever office will have me, being another faceless drone, more grist for the mill of half-secretarial and half-self-taught patchwork IT people. No matter what the exact role is, there's someone who's either got better qualifications or training than me if it gets technical. I'm "discount office guy" - they don't want me to be anything other than passive.
        otisfunkmeyer 10y ago
        then spend your time taking advantage of the billions of available free resources to increase your qualifications. i was once where you are now. i am no longer there. it took time and a lot of work. it was worth it. you can do it too.
        hackits 10y ago
        Your mindset is too stuck in the victim mentality. Yes, people are going to better than you, BUT there are also people who are LESS qualified than you! I will tell you a secret most people wont tell you. People with less qualifications than you get paid more than you. So drop the `Technical qualification` bull####. If you need qualifications, like other people have recommended open up a text book and start reading. Start building web-sites. Start development with Postgresql. Go out and market yourself and your products. See WHAT people want to buy. See what people are willing to pay for products. Go and take night classes in business management/business skills. You're a discount office guy because you let them treat you like a discount office guy. If you're worried about failure let me tell you now you're going to fail in amazing screwed up ways, but that is part of the fun. You're going to find your own style, you're going to fall in love and be walked over, you're going to get shit but you're not going to grow as a individual, person, and be a human if you are that `Discount Office Guy` ## I will end on this. Honestly to dear &&&& god. You've got some of the most friendliest, supportive, happy go people on this community web site who I believe would love to give you pointers and critique your work. Leverage what you have, leverage your network.
glangdale 10y ago
Very true. I have seen this in Australian academia: Boomer academics who were permitted to publish a paper every 2-3 years during the first 10+ years of their academic life, and/or defer getting a PhD to ludicrously late in their careers, are now elevated to senior positions supervising students and junior faculty who will not have reasonable careers unless they publish a paper every 2-3 months or better.
- petre 10y ago
  Well, the world just got a lot more competitive and there are a lot more people trying to get a PhD.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - glangdale 10y ago
    I'm not salty about that. More just salty at the experience of dealing with people who were teleported to the top of a hierarchy, throwing their weight around as if they'd climbed it.
edblarney 10y ago
Utter and complete rubbish. The 'boomers' invented most of the 'computer stuff' you use, most 'developers' today are hacks (granted, some are amazing). Boomers had difficult upbringing, brought real social change, lived through - and ended the Cold War. Female boomers were expected to be secretaries - and had to fight for the right just to do normal jobs in the workplace. Even the boys - were expected to do the same jobs their fathers did, mostly boring labour - and only a fraction of them got to go to University. There was no such thing as 'startups' back in the day - there were zero opportunities for middle class young people to generate wealth or do globally impactful things. They lived during the draft, and 50 000 of them died in Vietnam. Millenials are born into massive entitlement, wealth , privilege and opportunity. You get bored easily, and don't want to do the same job for more than a year - but expect loyalty and long term employment? Yes - boomers had steadier work - but it was also incredibly boring, stagnant - and in real wages, pay was crap. Boomers could own a small, shoddy home in the suburbs, and were able to have 'a fridge' and 'an oven' and 'a car' - even though they were all crap by today's standards - that was 'The American Dream' and they were generally happy. If you are born past the fall of the Berlin wall in America - unless you are from a ghetto - you do not know hardship. As for real estate: the average home price in the US is about $200K. You can afford a home. You just can't be 'Instagram baller'. As for 'higher positions' - do you think the 'Greatest Generation' just handed over their choice positions to the 'Boomers'? Or do you think it took mostly a lifetime of work and loyalty? If you don't like your job make yourself CEO of your own company. What's stopping you? American Millenials have more opportunity than any group of people in the entirety of history - enough with your complaining.
- pravda 10y ago
  And let's think about what the boomers didn't have. No cell phones. No GPS. No soft contact lenses. No electronic fuel injection (carburetors! yay!) No Google I can keep on going with this for a long time LIFE WAS A LIVING HELL FOR BOOMERS! BE SO HAPPY YOU WERE NOT ONE!
  - Aeolun 10y ago
    Not having all of those probably makes live a lot better in a purely professional sense.
dang 10y ago
Generational flamewars are one of the circles of hell that we're hoping to avoid here. Please don't do this again. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13891018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13891018 and marked it off-topic.
- alphonsegaston 10y ago
  Okay, apologies. Wasn't intentionally trying to stir up trouble, just share my experiences along the lines of the parent. I can see from some of the responses I solicited why this is problematic and will try to be more measured in my comments

Declanomous 10y ago

It's even better when they don't like the fact that you are doing the job in a way they can't understand. I swear some people think they are paying you to suffer, and if you do something in a way that doesn't require enough suffering they feel ripped off.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
hackits 10y ago
Lets be clear here. What-ever the persons opinion of you should have absolutely no bearing on your professional work, and your relationship between then. I have rude clients, I have smart ass clients. Something is very clear I make it to them when I do the job, I'm doing it for money. If they think $1000 per hour is too much then they're not a client I really want to be working with. I have found you need to make it very clear to clients why you're there, and what the ROI will be for them. After you've done the work, you move onto the next client. They may be a wealthy business man, they may be a boomer. They may be a startup. You're there to get a job done.
- Endy 10y ago
  That works fine when they're "clients" and you have a business - they naturally accept B2B situations as equals. But when you're the employee, that doesn't work. If you make it clear that you're only in the job for the paycheck, you're going to get fired - you have to make it seem to management like you have some psychopathic desire to be there busting your ass for nine hours on their inane and unfulfilling tasks.
  - hackits 10y ago
    I have to disagree with you there. You're taking the passive approach. Go out make a name for yourself in the market place in the field you work in. Do some volunteer work as a example to build up a client base and contact list. Advertise your services to other businesses and go to business functions. Get some offers on the table, and then you know where you stand within the organisation. You cannot do it if you're a slave to your job and you're literally working 10 to 12 hours a day. Cut back, turn off the phone after work. Go for a jog and go and have a beer with competing businesses or colleges.
    - Endy 10y ago
      Here's the problem - I don't work in a "field". I work in whatever office will have me, being another faceless drone, more grist for the mill of half-secretarial and half-self-taught patchwork IT people. No matter what the exact role is, there's someone who's either got better qualifications or training than me if it gets technical. I'm "discount office guy" - they don't want me to be anything other than passive.
      - otisfunkmeyer 10y ago
        then spend your time taking advantage of the billions of available free resources to increase your qualifications. i was once where you are now. i am no longer there. it took time and a lot of work. it was worth it. you can do it too.
      - hackits 10y ago
        Your mindset is too stuck in the victim mentality. Yes, people are going to better than you, BUT there are also people who are LESS qualified than you! I will tell you a secret most people wont tell you. People with less qualifications than you get paid more than you. So drop the `Technical qualification` bull####. If you need qualifications, like other people have recommended open up a text book and start reading. Start building web-sites. Start development with Postgresql. Go out and market yourself and your products. See WHAT people want to buy. See what people are willing to pay for products. Go and take night classes in business management/business skills. You're a discount office guy because you let them treat you like a discount office guy. If you're worried about failure let me tell you now you're going to fail in amazing screwed up ways, but that is part of the fun. You're going to find your own style, you're going to fall in love and be walked over, you're going to get shit but you're not going to grow as a individual, person, and be a human if you are that `Discount Office Guy` ## I will end on this. Honestly to dear &&&& god. You've got some of the most friendliest, supportive, happy go people on this community web site who I believe would love to give you pointers and critique your work. Leverage what you have, leverage your network.

glangdale 10y ago

Very true. I have seen this in Australian academia: Boomer academics who were permitted to publish a paper every 2-3 years during the first 10+ years of their academic life, and/or defer getting a PhD to ludicrously late in their careers, are now elevated to senior positions supervising students and junior faculty who will not have reasonable careers unless they publish a paper every 2-3 months or better.

petre 10y ago
Well, the world just got a lot more competitive and there are a lot more people trying to get a PhD.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- glangdale 10y ago
  I'm not salty about that. More just salty at the experience of dealing with people who were teleported to the top of a hierarchy, throwing their weight around as if they'd climbed it.

edblarney 10y ago

Utter and complete rubbish. The 'boomers' invented most of the 'computer stuff' you use, most 'developers' today are hacks (granted, some are amazing). Boomers had difficult upbringing, brought real social change, lived through - and ended the Cold War. Female boomers were expected to be secretaries - and had to fight for the right just to do normal jobs in the workplace. Even the boys - were expected to do the same jobs their fathers did, mostly boring labour - and only a fraction of them got to go to University. There was no such thing as 'startups' back in the day - there were zero opportunities for middle class young people to generate wealth or do globally impactful things. They lived during the draft, and 50 000 of them died in Vietnam. Millenials are born into massive entitlement, wealth , privilege and opportunity. You get bored easily, and don't want to do the same job for more than a year - but expect loyalty and long term employment? Yes - boomers had steadier work - but it was also incredibly boring, stagnant - and in real wages, pay was crap. Boomers could own a small, shoddy home in the suburbs, and were able to have 'a fridge' and 'an oven' and 'a car' - even though they were all crap by today's standards - that was 'The American Dream' and they were generally happy. If you are born past the fall of the Berlin wall in America - unless you are from a ghetto - you do not know hardship. As for real estate: the average home price in the US is about $200K. You can afford a home. You just can't be 'Instagram baller'. As for 'higher positions' - do you think the 'Greatest Generation' just handed over their choice positions to the 'Boomers'? Or do you think it took mostly a lifetime of work and loyalty? If you don't like your job make yourself CEO of your own company. What's stopping you? American Millenials have more opportunity than any group of people in the entirety of history - enough with your complaining.

pravda 10y ago
And let's think about what the boomers didn't have. No cell phones. No GPS. No soft contact lenses. No electronic fuel injection (carburetors! yay!) No Google I can keep on going with this for a long time LIFE WAS A LIVING HELL FOR BOOMERS! BE SO HAPPY YOU WERE NOT ONE!
- Aeolun 10y ago
  Not having all of those probably makes live a lot better in a purely professional sense.

dang 10y ago

Generational flamewars are one of the circles of hell that we're hoping to avoid here. Please don't do this again. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13891018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13891018 and marked it off-topic.

alphonsegaston 10y ago
Okay, apologies. Wasn't intentionally trying to stir up trouble, just share my experiences along the lines of the parent. I can see from some of the responses I solicited why this is problematic and will try to be more measured in my comments