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I was born to a single drug addict, into a family in which no one had finished high school, and spent part of my childhood on food stampes. I understand empathy

by jshen 16y ago

I was born to a single drug addict, into a family in which no one had finished high school, and spent part of my childhood on food stampes. I understand empathy and that I lucked out in some ways, but I had anything but disproportionate good luck. I enlisted in the army at 17 and spent a year deployed. That's how I paid for college. "It isn't their fault, and nearly everyone I've met is doing the best they can with whatever they've got." While I agree with your general sentiment, most people are not doing the best they can. You know what I do 3 nights a week? I have a study regimen, right now I'm working my way through a probability book. A lot of people that could be doing the same thing are playing WoW or watching Big Brother. I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old, and I still make time to study on top of my job as an engineer, which pretty much means that I don't watch t.v., play video games, etc. Most people don't make that sacrifice.

timr 16y ago
"I was born to a single drug addict and into a family in which no one had finished high school. I understand empathy and that I lucked out in some ways, but I had anything but disproportionate good luck. I enlisted in the army at 17 and spent a year deployed. That's how I paid for college." Fair enough. I'm not trying to take away from your accomplishments. But remember that there are kids born to single, drug-addicted parents all over the world. Most won't be able to overcome their situation, and it's hardly their fault. "A lot of people that could be doing the same thing are playing WoW or watching Big Brother. I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old, and I still make time to study on top of my job as an engineer, which pretty much means that I don't watch t.v., play video games, etc. Most people don't make that sacrifice." I don't think it's fair to make that kind of generalization. There are always people who squander their opportunity, but that's not a reason to slight the rest. Whatever you're doing tonight, there are hundreds of thousands of other people doing the same thing. Not all of them will be as successful as you will be, and some others will be more successful than you. How will you feel when you meet the more successful person, and she tells you that you didn't work hard enough?
- jshen 16y ago
  Why would I care, I'm happy with my life. Anyone that learns to program a computer and is decent at it can get a good job if they live in america barring a few extreme examples.
  - jessedhillon 16y ago
    I don't understand how someone who has overcome so much -- and knows how hard it was to do that -- can be so glib and flippant when talking about other people who have failed to rise above the same circumstances. You obviously care, since you're going out of your way to post comments dismissing those people.
    - jshen 16y ago
      The only thing hard about it was changing my mind set. This is a really hard thing because you don't get it until you've crossed over to the other side. There was one point in time when I was working full time and going to school at night that I almost quit. This was when there was a lot of talk about most programming jobs going to india and when I was really unsure if I was good enough to get a job when I finished. All these people on the Internet seemed so much smarter than me, etc. I doubted and almost quit, but I didn't. Now that I've been hiring programmers for years I understand that most programmers are not that good and the smart people on the internet are probably the top 5%. growing up I didn't know someone that was successful that could tell me these things from experience. So the two biggest challenges in my eyes are the mindset of the underprivileged, and I have no idea how to fix that. And, most people simply don't put in the effort and make the sacrifice. They'd rather play video games. So I believe the two biggest
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]

by jshen 16y ago

timr 16y ago

"I was born to a single drug addict and into a family in which no one had finished high school. I understand empathy and that I lucked out in some ways, but I had anything but disproportionate good luck. I enlisted in the army at 17 and spent a year deployed. That's how I paid for college." Fair enough. I'm not trying to take away from your accomplishments. But remember that there are kids born to single, drug-addicted parents all over the world. Most won't be able to overcome their situation, and it's hardly their fault. "A lot of people that could be doing the same thing are playing WoW or watching Big Brother. I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old, and I still make time to study on top of my job as an engineer, which pretty much means that I don't watch t.v., play video games, etc. Most people don't make that sacrifice." I don't think it's fair to make that kind of generalization. There are always people who squander their opportunity, but that's not a reason to slight the rest. Whatever you're doing tonight, there are hundreds of thousands of other people doing the same thing. Not all of them will be as successful as you will be, and some others will be more successful than you. How will you feel when you meet the more successful person, and she tells you that you didn't work hard enough?

jshen 16y ago
Why would I care, I'm happy with my life. Anyone that learns to program a computer and is decent at it can get a good job if they live in america barring a few extreme examples.
- jessedhillon 16y ago
  I don't understand how someone who has overcome so much -- and knows how hard it was to do that -- can be so glib and flippant when talking about other people who have failed to rise above the same circumstances. You obviously care, since you're going out of your way to post comments dismissing those people.
  - jshen 16y ago
    The only thing hard about it was changing my mind set. This is a really hard thing because you don't get it until you've crossed over to the other side. There was one point in time when I was working full time and going to school at night that I almost quit. This was when there was a lot of talk about most programming jobs going to india and when I was really unsure if I was good enough to get a job when I finished. All these people on the Internet seemed so much smarter than me, etc. I doubted and almost quit, but I didn't. Now that I've been hiring programmers for years I understand that most programmers are not that good and the smart people on the internet are probably the top 5%. growing up I didn't know someone that was successful that could tell me these things from experience. So the two biggest challenges in my eyes are the mindset of the underprivileged, and I have no idea how to fix that. And, most people simply don't put in the effort and make the sacrifice. They'd rather play video games. So I believe the two biggest
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]