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> "If you work hard and save, one day you'll be a millionaire" I've always been surprised how much traction this saying gets. If you look around, not only is i

> "If you work hard and save, one day you'll be a millionaire" I've always been surprised how much traction this saying gets. If you look around, not only is it untrue, it's actually the opposite. The hardest, most boring, most unpleasant jobs are generally the lowest paid: custodian, service industry, tellers, cashiers, csr's, etc. The most fun, desirable and easiest jobs are generally the higher paying ones: management, tech, academia, etc. Optimizing life for hard work is misguided and reaps only coincidental benefits. It's more directly about value, moving up the value chain, which generally ends up reducing "hardness".

mattkrause 8y ago
Academia is high paying? I made more as an undergrad intern than as a postdoc with an Ivy League PhD.
- thinkloop 8y ago
  My buddy is a prof in finance with summers off, light weekly schedules, and generally the most relaxed lifestyle around, and he makes more per hour than a wall street hotshot (because they work many more hours). He's in a lucrative department (finance) but my understanding was that other disciplines are not far off. From what I've seen, finance prof may be the single best job in the world.
Jtsummers 8y ago
Management may be high paying, but it's often not fun or easy. Though it may be one of the easier careers to "fail up" in.
Reedx 8y ago
There's a lot more to it than that. They are hard and easy in different ways. For one thing, your hardest examples are easy to learn and execute. The barrier to entry is low and a lot of people can do it. Not so much with tech, for example. There's a lot of work you have to put in before anyone is going to pay you and you may be breaking new ground. The ongoing work is often very hard, very complex and not fun.
- thinkloop 8y ago
  Sure, but what's "harder", slogging mindlessly 8 hours a day dealing with the public for 10 years, or hanging out in a cafe with buddies memorizing text books for 5 years, then coming in at 11am and playing ping pong building software for 5 years?

mattkrause 8y ago

Academia is high paying? I made more as an undergrad intern than as a postdoc with an Ivy League PhD.

thinkloop 8y ago
My buddy is a prof in finance with summers off, light weekly schedules, and generally the most relaxed lifestyle around, and he makes more per hour than a wall street hotshot (because they work many more hours). He's in a lucrative department (finance) but my understanding was that other disciplines are not far off. From what I've seen, finance prof may be the single best job in the world.

Jtsummers 8y ago

Management may be high paying, but it's often not fun or easy. Though it may be one of the easier careers to "fail up" in.

Reedx 8y ago

There's a lot more to it than that. They are hard and easy in different ways. For one thing, your hardest examples are easy to learn and execute. The barrier to entry is low and a lot of people can do it. Not so much with tech, for example. There's a lot of work you have to put in before anyone is going to pay you and you may be breaking new ground. The ongoing work is often very hard, very complex and not fun.

thinkloop 8y ago
Sure, but what's "harder", slogging mindlessly 8 hours a day dealing with the public for 10 years, or hanging out in a cafe with buddies memorizing text books for 5 years, then coming in at 11am and playing ping pong building software for 5 years?