8 ms·

While I totally agree with your last paragraph, just keep in mind that most of those in HN are still really lucky, even if layed-off. Getting angry after only j

by dpau 7y ago

While I totally agree with your last paragraph, just keep in mind that most of those in HN are still really lucky, even if layed-off. Getting angry after only job-hunting for three days seems a little over the top. There are a lot of unemployed service workers who won't be able to afford food or rent, and others who are forced to work in dangerous conditions without PPE. And then there are the nurses and doctors at the front line....

iLemming 7y ago
I'm not angry only because it affected me. Besides, I also rent and my rent is high. And I am an immigrant in this country, I have no relatives, nobody to ask for help. I have two kids and a wife who cannot work and we don't have any savings. We literally live from a paycheck to a paycheck. If I don't earn money for two, three weeks in a row - we are basically homeless. So please don't tell me how lucky I am.
- bradlys 7y ago
  Genuinely curious, are you living in the US? (You seem to be located in SF Bay area) Living paycheck to paycheck isn't something I hear about much. (in regards to people working in tech within the US) It might not help now but I would highly advise you learn how to budget better and grow a sizable emergency fund. I genuinely have a hard time believing someone is living paycheck to paycheck (even in the bay area with two kids - where housing is extremely expensive) on a senior software engineer salary at a startup. ($180k/yr) I know people who manage it. It's not a comfortable life but it's stable and they can still save. I mean, they have to. They're not gonna be able to buy their options when they quit if they didn't save.
  - abiogenesis 7y ago
    The GP hasn't mentioned US, but even then, if they have recently immigrated they might have spent most of their savings.
  - djeikyb 7y ago
    This is maybe a time for you to listen and learn about the experiences of others. Not, as you've done, call a stranger financially incompetent or insinuate they're lying.
  - exolymph 7y ago
    > I would highly advise you learn how to budget better and grow a sizable emergency fund. Genuinely wondering, do you think that this insight simply hasn't occurred to him? The obstacles to someone spending less money are generally more complicated — even when they're within the person's control at all — than simply "start budgeting better." You're being condescending and providing no value. Also, I bet that you know more people living paycheck-to-paycheck than you realize.
    - sumofi 7y ago
      Perhaps that person really never heard that. Nonetheless shouldn't the society tell you something like this?
      - danielrpa 7y ago
        Yes, but this is probably not the best time to do it. We don't know anything about their life - maybe their situation is caused by poor financial management, but maybe there are other factors at play, such as a lawsuit, high medical or student debt, helping family back home etc. OP, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I hope you can find a new position soon. Try to stay positive - this too shall pass.
    - bradlys 7y ago
      If they're living paycheck to paycheck and in tech, I do wonder if basic financial literacy has escaped them. It's not uncommon for people in this field to maximize for one skill only at the cost of all other knowledge. I've met enough people in this field who are completely inept when it comes to anything that doesn't involve typing code.
    - nickpeterson 7y ago
      HN commenters see someone having a life crisis and start debugging...
    - cloverich 7y ago
      > do you think that this insight simply hasn't occurred to him? There's this duality where we appreciate there are many out there who truly cannot downsize their lifestyle to accommodate, and we should sympathize. But of the people I know personally in these scenarios, all of them could easily budget better. And again, in my personal experience, its always a pretty simple evaluation and decision. Its deeply frustrating to see someone I know complaining about how tight things are, but then buying a better car than me, better computer than me, better phone than me. Going out to eat all the time. Etc ad infinitum. So while certainly there are factors outside our controls, I'd wager a lot that the average high salary earners (e.g., HN crowd) do have simple budgeting choices they aren't making. I won't presume much about OP, this is mostly in response to your comment about it being condescending. It is. But, in reality, for many and perhaps most high earners, it really is simple, and sometimes people do need to be called out to realize it.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- dpau 7y ago
  a lot of people are losing their jobs, my wife lost her job and i'm furloughed. but the skills that made you and i so valuable before still make us valuable now and in the future. so i do think we are lucky, despite everything. things will get better!
- harisund 7y ago
  No, you really are lucky. It's all a matter of perspective. I am sorry I am sounding harsh, and I understand it trivializes your own problem when I say "but look at other's problems", but the reality is, living where you are and working in the field you are, you have access to way more resources in general
  - te_chris 7y ago
    This is a supremely callous comment given the comment you’re replying to. The world, and particularly this poster, doesn’t need you to point this out to them.
    - harisund 7y ago
      Right, I guess people tend to get offended very quickly these days.
  - warlog 7y ago
    Good luck, bad luck...
    - iLemming 7y ago
      According to Forbes, over 53 percent of workers in the US alone are extremely unhappy with their jobs. Yes, we are very privileged to get to do what we love and also get paid for it. But that has little to do with the luck. Being a successful software developer is about passion, grit, and determination. It is a hard job. We are expected to know everything related to software: you have to know a bit about graphics design, UI and UX, be a writer, a project manager, site reliability and devops engineer , infosec expert, understand encryption and networking, be a QA specialist, know back-end and front-end, understand hardware, operating systems, databases, distributed systems, know concurrency, be a manager and a lead and a good team player, be an expert of a few and be familiar with a dozen of programming languages, understand different paradigms - OOP, logic and relational, functional, stack-based, etc. You have to be consistently and continuously learning new things. You cannot ever stop. And we love that. Very often you have to pay the price for that love. You get neck and back problems, RSI, myopia, excess body fat, swollen hemorrhoids, gastritis, depression, etc. And you can never expect to hear praise for anything you do. Programming is extremely subjective when it comes to evaluating the quality of work done. It is so easy to criticize. I have seen people criticizing code written by Linus Torvalds, John Carmack, Richard Stallman, Rich Hickey, and others. No one ever said: "look at this piece of code; this is so deep and profound, it should be carved in stone."
- cpach 7y ago
  That sucks. I hope you will find a new job soon!

by dpau 7y ago

iLemming 7y ago

I'm not angry only because it affected me. Besides, I also rent and my rent is high. And I am an immigrant in this country, I have no relatives, nobody to ask for help. I have two kids and a wife who cannot work and we don't have any savings. We literally live from a paycheck to a paycheck. If I don't earn money for two, three weeks in a row - we are basically homeless. So please don't tell me how lucky I am.

bradlys 7y ago
Genuinely curious, are you living in the US? (You seem to be located in SF Bay area) Living paycheck to paycheck isn't something I hear about much. (in regards to people working in tech within the US) It might not help now but I would highly advise you learn how to budget better and grow a sizable emergency fund. I genuinely have a hard time believing someone is living paycheck to paycheck (even in the bay area with two kids - where housing is extremely expensive) on a senior software engineer salary at a startup. ($180k/yr) I know people who manage it. It's not a comfortable life but it's stable and they can still save. I mean, they have to. They're not gonna be able to buy their options when they quit if they didn't save.
- abiogenesis 7y ago
  The GP hasn't mentioned US, but even then, if they have recently immigrated they might have spent most of their savings.
- djeikyb 7y ago
  This is maybe a time for you to listen and learn about the experiences of others. Not, as you've done, call a stranger financially incompetent or insinuate they're lying.
- exolymph 7y ago
  > I would highly advise you learn how to budget better and grow a sizable emergency fund. Genuinely wondering, do you think that this insight simply hasn't occurred to him? The obstacles to someone spending less money are generally more complicated — even when they're within the person's control at all — than simply "start budgeting better." You're being condescending and providing no value. Also, I bet that you know more people living paycheck-to-paycheck than you realize.
  - sumofi 7y ago
    Perhaps that person really never heard that. Nonetheless shouldn't the society tell you something like this?
    - danielrpa 7y ago
      Yes, but this is probably not the best time to do it. We don't know anything about their life - maybe their situation is caused by poor financial management, but maybe there are other factors at play, such as a lawsuit, high medical or student debt, helping family back home etc. OP, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I hope you can find a new position soon. Try to stay positive - this too shall pass.
  - bradlys 7y ago
    If they're living paycheck to paycheck and in tech, I do wonder if basic financial literacy has escaped them. It's not uncommon for people in this field to maximize for one skill only at the cost of all other knowledge. I've met enough people in this field who are completely inept when it comes to anything that doesn't involve typing code.
  - nickpeterson 7y ago
    HN commenters see someone having a life crisis and start debugging...
  - cloverich 7y ago
    > do you think that this insight simply hasn't occurred to him? There's this duality where we appreciate there are many out there who truly cannot downsize their lifestyle to accommodate, and we should sympathize. But of the people I know personally in these scenarios, all of them could easily budget better. And again, in my personal experience, its always a pretty simple evaluation and decision. Its deeply frustrating to see someone I know complaining about how tight things are, but then buying a better car than me, better computer than me, better phone than me. Going out to eat all the time. Etc ad infinitum. So while certainly there are factors outside our controls, I'd wager a lot that the average high salary earners (e.g., HN crowd) do have simple budgeting choices they aren't making. I won't presume much about OP, this is mostly in response to your comment about it being condescending. It is. But, in reality, for many and perhaps most high earners, it really is simple, and sometimes people do need to be called out to realize it.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
dpau 7y ago
a lot of people are losing their jobs, my wife lost her job and i'm furloughed. but the skills that made you and i so valuable before still make us valuable now and in the future. so i do think we are lucky, despite everything. things will get better!
harisund 7y ago
No, you really are lucky. It's all a matter of perspective. I am sorry I am sounding harsh, and I understand it trivializes your own problem when I say "but look at other's problems", but the reality is, living where you are and working in the field you are, you have access to way more resources in general
- te_chris 7y ago
  This is a supremely callous comment given the comment you’re replying to. The world, and particularly this poster, doesn’t need you to point this out to them.
  - harisund 7y ago
    Right, I guess people tend to get offended very quickly these days.
- warlog 7y ago
  Good luck, bad luck...
  - iLemming 7y ago
    According to Forbes, over 53 percent of workers in the US alone are extremely unhappy with their jobs. Yes, we are very privileged to get to do what we love and also get paid for it. But that has little to do with the luck. Being a successful software developer is about passion, grit, and determination. It is a hard job. We are expected to know everything related to software: you have to know a bit about graphics design, UI and UX, be a writer, a project manager, site reliability and devops engineer , infosec expert, understand encryption and networking, be a QA specialist, know back-end and front-end, understand hardware, operating systems, databases, distributed systems, know concurrency, be a manager and a lead and a good team player, be an expert of a few and be familiar with a dozen of programming languages, understand different paradigms - OOP, logic and relational, functional, stack-based, etc. You have to be consistently and continuously learning new things. You cannot ever stop. And we love that. Very often you have to pay the price for that love. You get neck and back problems, RSI, myopia, excess body fat, swollen hemorrhoids, gastritis, depression, etc. And you can never expect to hear praise for anything you do. Programming is extremely subjective when it comes to evaluating the quality of work done. It is so easy to criticize. I have seen people criticizing code written by Linus Torvalds, John Carmack, Richard Stallman, Rich Hickey, and others. No one ever said: "look at this piece of code; this is so deep and profound, it should be carved in stone."
cpach 7y ago
That sucks. I hope you will find a new job soon!