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Author is 22 years old, and was not laid off. But, because some peers were – from Snap, a boom-times high-flyer – he's now facing a crisis-of-confidence, first
by gojomo 9y ago
Author is 22 years old, and was not laid off. But, because some peers were – from Snap, a boom-times high-flyer – he's now facing a crisis-of-confidence, first in himself, and then in what feelings of security might be available from reaching "[t]he upper middle-class, the professional class, that venerable example of American wealth and mobility".
Well, of course working for a single hot company at 22 doesn't mean your career is set for life. What, did he think he was going to retire at Snap?
There were idiosyncratically high expectations here... and now there's an idiosyncratically low mood, concluding "you do not have power. Remember that, always... being a well-ground cog is exactly what sustains our machine of systemic oppression, benefiting no one but those above."
That reads more like personal depression than an accurate extrapolation of lessons from his recent experience. Wait until he sees a dot-com crash, or a 2008-recession – then some broad despair might be (temporarily) justifiable. But even then, people with skills and creativity bounce back, and thrive. Not just in tech, but other sectors, too.
But to do so, you can't let a disappointment like a layoff (of yourself or, as here, others) send you into maudlin rumination about your own inherent powerlessness, and the 'systemic oppression' that sometimes paying gigs end sooner than you'd hoped. At least you can't stay in that mindset for very long.
You can look at the same facts and instead focus on what power you do have – the time and ability to build skills, relationships and savings that can deliver security across many possible futures and industry cycles, without reliance on any single employer's choices.
The people actually laid-off here may handle things better than this author – because they have no choice but to dust themselves off and engage with a broader world. And when a few months or a year later, they realize they're in a better place than Snap, they'll have less of the "woe-is-us" hopelessness expressed by this author.
- lucio 9y agoexcellent comment
- pm90 9y agoI kinda agree. The author does sound like he's basically still living in the school mentality: I do X amount of work and expect Y benefits, no matter what the economy or market is like. This seems to be his first experience with external factors almost getting to him which made him think that the world may not be so fair after all. Surprise, surprise...
- DubiousPusher 9y agoSeems to be the author's awakening to that reality. I think that makes sense. Money provides you guardrails akin to the guardrails institutions like school provide.
- bb88 9y ago> Well, of course working for a single hot company at 22 doesn't mean your career is set for life. What, did he think he was going to retire at Snap? Isn't that the promise of silicon valley? That there's so much money to be made that it turns engineers into entrepreneurs in their 20's? Or has silicon valley now gone the way the rest of society has where huge corporate profits no longer get passed to the people who make it happen on a day to day basis?
- ericd 9y agoTechnically, Snap is in LA, not SV. And engineers still get much more equity in SV than is true elsewhere, and so have a shot at becoming wealthy.
- bb88 9y agoAre you saying he would have been better accepting a job in SV instead of LA? Is the culture difference between the two places that big?
- ericd 9y agoThe culture difference is huge. I would venture to say that Silicon Valley is probably closer to NYC culturally (at least nowadays) than it is to LA. But the reason I mentioned it was that you were talking about SV in the context of this article, and I just wanted to make sure that you knew he wasn't actually in SV. But yeah, I guess that's mostly relevant because they're very different areas.
- bb88 9y agoThanks, I appreciate that. I will avoid the LA area when finding my next gig.
- pm90 9y agoWell hold on now :). I was recently job hunting and got a great job offer from a startup in Culver City. Their compensation was competitive (for LA at least) and my impression of the team was extremely good. I also liked LA the last time I was there (strangely enough, for an Onsite at SNAP) so was really excited about it. I chose a competing offer from an SF based company in the end. But It wasn't an easy decision. So don't rule out LA without at least giving it a chance.
- tomsthumb 9y agoYour opening paragraph on its own makes me wonder how this is not the top comment.
- rconti 9y agoIt was an incredibly well-written piece, and I really enjoyed it, but I share the same misgivings you do. It just all felt so incredibly naïve- although, in fairness, we all have to start somewhere. To most people, the idea of expecting to have a job waiting for you upon graduation because you interviewed in the fall of your senior year is mind-boggling. Most people, I venture to say, are lucky to have a job by graduation. I'd think it's far more normal to start looking around that time and hope to find something by summer. The proscribed promotion and 'levels' and 'staff software engineer' titles that apparently make one impossible to fire (?) feel like something out of a fantasy. Something, by the way, this piece shares with a piece posted a few days ago about climbing the latter at FaceGoog or something to that effect, and how you're either up or out. It all feels like something out of a foreign country or planet to most of us, I venture to say.
- wrs 9y agoDespite the skewed expectations of tech workers due to their high starting salaries, pretty much by definition a 22-year-old cannot be upper-middle class. The most important thing about the "upper class" (in society in general) is not the money, it's the personal networking with the rest of the class. Within the tech industry, the path to security is not chasing salary. It is doing great work, making strong connections to your peers, and aspiring to enter what he calls the "protected class" of Staff Software Engineers who just need to call some friends to find a job. That doesn't happen when you're 22.
- bdcravens 9y ago> What, did he think he was going to retire at Snap? In a sense. Probably believed the (almost) fairy tale: work a few years, cash out big, do your own thing.
- DubiousPusher 9y agoI don't exactly see a crisis of confidence. This just seems to be the first time this kid has bumped up against the real world. We were all young and naive once and sooner or later got a gut punch or two from the universe. Some people take whatever they get and use it to reinforce their world view. This person seems to have used a new realization to adjust their world view. Maybe their a little older than normal to be groking this for the first time but that's no reason to condescend.