5 ms·

This article seems to posit that most people who are in this top quintile haven't had to work incredibly hard for it, or that they have worked no harder than an

This article seems to posit that most people who are in this top quintile haven't had to work incredibly hard for it, or that they have worked no harder than anyone else. From what I've seen the responsibilities I have for my salary are far greater and require a far greater amount of autonomy and personal responsibility for my work than most people making 30k/year.

bitwize 9y ago
Okay, now try getting where you are now while being black.
- IanDrake 9y ago
  In what way? IT is very diverse and some places are specifically looking to hire non-Asian minorities.
mgkimsal 9y ago
> a far greater amount of autonomy and personal responsibility for my work than most people making 30k/year. I see a lot of jobs at the ... $50k-$80k mark which have a lot of responsibility but not much autonomy, and that's where I always have trouble (that mismatch). The folks I know in the $50k-$80k range seem to work (measured perhaps by effort, stress and hours put in) at least as much as, often far more than, folks earning $100k-$200k. I don't have enough connections at the $300k and $30k ends to compare.
- coldpie 9y ago
  Many of my friends are in the $30k area, so I can put in a data point for you there. They work long hours, often on weekends, sometimes two part time jobs or one full time job and a side gig. The thing that's hard is there is more supply of unskilled workers than there is demand for them. If you don't put in the time and put up with your shitty boss and coworkers, someone else will, and now you're homeless because the US has no social safety structure. Coupled with our abysmal minimum wage, this results in working 60 hour weeks to acquire your barely-above-poverty wage. As someone with a very comfy job (hey, I'm posting on HN right now), it enrages me to see people who work harder than me paid less than half my salary. And I'm on the low end of the IT wage scale.
  - mgkimsal 9y ago
    Thanks. I perhaps should have said I don't have many folks on the $300k side of things to compare against the $30k folks. I do know people in the $30k area, and yeah... you're spot on. And... while a few I know are just sort of 'content'(?) where they're at, most I know are wanting to "get ahead" but seem stuck - family/kids, long work hours... it's not impossible to do more, but often physically... almost impossible. Go back to school and take more classes to hope to get a new degree in 2-3 years? With 3 little kids, two adults working 4 jobs, 1 car which breaks down a lot... yeah, it gets hard to see any easy way out of that. I tell that scenario and get people saying "doesn't matter, get out there, make it happen!" and... yeah - we all know some success stories who succeeded against the odds, but... we all know someone like that because it's still fairly remarkable in the first place.
zyx321 9y ago
You have greater responsibility and you create more value/profit for your company, but that does not necessarily mean you're working any harder than the people doing 60+ hours per week at minimum wage just to make rent.
fireflash38 9y ago
What a lot of people miss is what advantages they had to get to that point. People in a lower class still work hard. They might work harder than you. They just might not have had 2 dedicated parents, or a private school, or a good school system (because they were in a poorer area, so they get poor students, poor administration, poor fellow students). They don't have the freedom to take an unpaid internship to get college credits or a shot at a full-time job.
mnm1 9y ago
Median salary for a paramedic in the US is $40k a year (http://www1.salary.com/Paramedic-Salary.html http://www1.salary.com/Paramedic-Salary.html). You got more/more important autonomy/responsibilities than trying to save someone's life? Maybe you do, I don't know. But to claim you're making more money because you have more autonomy/responsibility is arrogant and plain wrong.

bitwize 9y ago

Okay, now try getting where you are now while being black.

IanDrake 9y ago
In what way? IT is very diverse and some places are specifically looking to hire non-Asian minorities.

mgkimsal 9y ago

> a far greater amount of autonomy and personal responsibility for my work than most people making 30k/year. I see a lot of jobs at the ... $50k-$80k mark which have a lot of responsibility but not much autonomy, and that's where I always have trouble (that mismatch). The folks I know in the $50k-$80k range seem to work (measured perhaps by effort, stress and hours put in) at least as much as, often far more than, folks earning $100k-$200k. I don't have enough connections at the $300k and $30k ends to compare.

coldpie 9y ago
Many of my friends are in the $30k area, so I can put in a data point for you there. They work long hours, often on weekends, sometimes two part time jobs or one full time job and a side gig. The thing that's hard is there is more supply of unskilled workers than there is demand for them. If you don't put in the time and put up with your shitty boss and coworkers, someone else will, and now you're homeless because the US has no social safety structure. Coupled with our abysmal minimum wage, this results in working 60 hour weeks to acquire your barely-above-poverty wage. As someone with a very comfy job (hey, I'm posting on HN right now), it enrages me to see people who work harder than me paid less than half my salary. And I'm on the low end of the IT wage scale.
- mgkimsal 9y ago
  Thanks. I perhaps should have said I don't have many folks on the $300k side of things to compare against the $30k folks. I do know people in the $30k area, and yeah... you're spot on. And... while a few I know are just sort of 'content'(?) where they're at, most I know are wanting to "get ahead" but seem stuck - family/kids, long work hours... it's not impossible to do more, but often physically... almost impossible. Go back to school and take more classes to hope to get a new degree in 2-3 years? With 3 little kids, two adults working 4 jobs, 1 car which breaks down a lot... yeah, it gets hard to see any easy way out of that. I tell that scenario and get people saying "doesn't matter, get out there, make it happen!" and... yeah - we all know some success stories who succeeded against the odds, but... we all know someone like that because it's still fairly remarkable in the first place.

zyx321 9y ago

You have greater responsibility and you create more value/profit for your company, but that does not necessarily mean you're working any harder than the people doing 60+ hours per week at minimum wage just to make rent.

fireflash38 9y ago

What a lot of people miss is what advantages they had to get to that point. People in a lower class still work hard. They might work harder than you. They just might not have had 2 dedicated parents, or a private school, or a good school system (because they were in a poorer area, so they get poor students, poor administration, poor fellow students). They don't have the freedom to take an unpaid internship to get college credits or a shot at a full-time job.

mnm1 9y ago

Median salary for a paramedic in the US is $40k a year (http://www1.salary.com/Paramedic-Salary.html http://www1.salary.com/Paramedic-Salary.html). You got more/more important autonomy/responsibilities than trying to save someone's life? Maybe you do, I don't know. But to claim you're making more money because you have more autonomy/responsibility is arrogant and plain wrong.