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I am stunned - astounded - at the overwhelming negative response to this article. Touched a nerve, did it? The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Are you re

I am stunned - astounded - at the overwhelming negative response to this article. Touched a nerve, did it? The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Are you really (already) at the termination point you dreamed of growing up? Have some coworkers, have some family, die? I, for one, found this deeply profound. Today I wake from my dream, get back on my ship, and start rowing. Go then, there are other worlds than these.

eckza 7y ago
> The lady doth protest too much, methinks. https://literarydevices.net/lady-doth-protest-too-much/ https://literarydevices.net/lady-doth-protest-too-much/ Learn how to use the phrase before you use the phrase. For my part, a lifetime of contemptuous outrage at being part of a privileged class sounds exhausting, unfulfilling, and miserable. Yeah, it touched a goddamn nerve. Listening to entitled people complain about how easy they have it, and then subsequently making a pithy attempt at virtue-signaling by trying to put themselves on a pedestal for surface-level attempts at austerity - and then projecting those values onto others as if they're flaws of character - has a habit of doing that.
munk-a 7y ago
I actually just reject the premise that our lives need to be defined by work - I am quite able to find fulfillment in my life outside of the labour I do for others and think it's a bit grandiose and self-harming to strive for this sort of work.
freeone3000 7y ago
Yes. I wanted to make enough money that I'd be able to buy a place to live, have meaningful connections with people I cared about, and have enough so I can follow my hobbies and passions in my off-time. I actually do get a great degree of personal fulfillment that results from having a stable, high-paying job. The lotus-eaters spent the rest of their days in happiness where Odysseus saw all of his friends die to return to a rock full of goats.
fragmede 7y ago
The protestations are because it reads like the author only half-paid attention in Greek Mythology class and the writing is inane. Odysseus had left home to dutifully go to war (the Iliad) and was trying to get home (the Odyssey). Odysseus' goal in the Odyssey was to get home to reunite with his family and have one of his own. Any notions of a future career after he got home aren't central to the epic. The author sounds more like Jason, searching for the Golden Fleece, or perhaps on the quest for their Holy Grail than someone simply trying to return home. Also, the examples used were not chosen or described by a sympathetic narrator so the writer comes off as the sanctimonious coworker who's silently judging everyone as being dumber or less-pious than he for daring to enjoy a company offsite. Don't accept a free $350 jacket if you don't want it, but if it's because you're too good for it and that anyone who accepts one is a "lotus-eater", don't be too surprised when that attitude doesn't win you any friends. It's not the (rejected) entitlement that's tone-deaf coming from the author, its the condemnation that we're all sheeple. It's extremely fair to point out that life at a FAANG is lavish and certainly, there are some that have chosen to stay and enjoy a comfortable life there, rather than push themselves harder (elsewhere or while there). That the phrase "rest and vest" exists says that this practice is quite common. Fight against it (if you want), but this is not the piece I would use to try an poach someone away from Google, trying to convince them to join my start-up.
dexan 7y ago
Looks like the author found their post on HN. If they didn't post it themselves, that is.

eckza 7y ago

> The lady doth protest too much, methinks. https://literarydevices.net/lady-doth-protest-too-much/ https://literarydevices.net/lady-doth-protest-too-much/ Learn how to use the phrase before you use the phrase. For my part, a lifetime of contemptuous outrage at being part of a privileged class sounds exhausting, unfulfilling, and miserable. Yeah, it touched a goddamn nerve. Listening to entitled people complain about how easy they have it, and then subsequently making a pithy attempt at virtue-signaling by trying to put themselves on a pedestal for surface-level attempts at austerity - and then projecting those values onto others as if they're flaws of character - has a habit of doing that.

munk-a 7y ago

I actually just reject the premise that our lives need to be defined by work - I am quite able to find fulfillment in my life outside of the labour I do for others and think it's a bit grandiose and self-harming to strive for this sort of work.

freeone3000 7y ago

Yes. I wanted to make enough money that I'd be able to buy a place to live, have meaningful connections with people I cared about, and have enough so I can follow my hobbies and passions in my off-time. I actually do get a great degree of personal fulfillment that results from having a stable, high-paying job. The lotus-eaters spent the rest of their days in happiness where Odysseus saw all of his friends die to return to a rock full of goats.

fragmede 7y ago

The protestations are because it reads like the author only half-paid attention in Greek Mythology class and the writing is inane. Odysseus had left home to dutifully go to war (the Iliad) and was trying to get home (the Odyssey). Odysseus' goal in the Odyssey was to get home to reunite with his family and have one of his own. Any notions of a future career after he got home aren't central to the epic. The author sounds more like Jason, searching for the Golden Fleece, or perhaps on the quest for their Holy Grail than someone simply trying to return home. Also, the examples used were not chosen or described by a sympathetic narrator so the writer comes off as the sanctimonious coworker who's silently judging everyone as being dumber or less-pious than he for daring to enjoy a company offsite. Don't accept a free $350 jacket if you don't want it, but if it's because you're too good for it and that anyone who accepts one is a "lotus-eater", don't be too surprised when that attitude doesn't win you any friends. It's not the (rejected) entitlement that's tone-deaf coming from the author, its the condemnation that we're all sheeple. It's extremely fair to point out that life at a FAANG is lavish and certainly, there are some that have chosen to stay and enjoy a comfortable life there, rather than push themselves harder (elsewhere or while there). That the phrase "rest and vest" exists says that this practice is quite common. Fight against it (if you want), but this is not the piece I would use to try an poach someone away from Google, trying to convince them to join my start-up.

dexan 7y ago

Looks like the author found their post on HN. If they didn't post it themselves, that is.