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> What do you do if you find yourself inside a maze? > Quit. Seriously. Go do something else. Ideally, do it today. That's it, right there. The whole article
by knzhou 7y ago
> What do you do if you find yourself inside a maze?
> Quit. Seriously. Go do something else. Ideally, do it today.
That's it, right there. The whole article could have been replaced with just that.
I've heard people express the opinion that they have absolutely "no choice" but to work at McKinsey, or some random hedge fund. I don't understand how anybody can reasonably come to that conclusion. The worst case for people like this is making only medium six figures.
- jandrese 7y agoThat's practically poverty level after you factor in the Manhattan apartment rent, yacht, private schooling, etc...
- seisvelas 7y agoOne way to avoid poverty in that case would be to not buy a yacht, for example. Any amount of money is nearly poverty level if you spend it all on luxuries. Edit: I am dumb and completely missed the joke. Poe's law in action!
- uoaei 7y agoThat's the joke
- RobRivera 7y agoHA! I appreciate your perspective and comment. I'm nearly 3 years into wall street and, while on the lower end of the payscale, I KNOW that if I pursue the more ambitious high six, low seven figure lifestyle, I will have to 'play the game'. People who claim they have no choice but to play the game have already decided they will tolerate it as much as possible.
- lazyasciiart 7y agoYou should have read the rest of the article. It actually talks about why people say that and how they can work up to quitting.
- perl4ever 7y agoAt some point I decided that there's a fundamental difference between working for the government vs. private industry. I'm happy doing much the same thing for the government that I was unhappy doing in private industry or for a government contractor, because it no longer makes sense to give up. To a lot of people, the maze may look the same, but in one case, it's always worth trying to fix, and in the other the whole thing is dispensable. The maze aspect of a situation, or the immorality aren't really the important things! The thing that matters is whether you have a purpose in participating, to make anything better. When a private company is going down the tubes, there's an inherent non-linear and self-fulfilling type of behavior where people give up when they think others are giving up. It makes a large difference in what can be achieved when giving up is not an option for a significant number of people.