6 ms·

You probably already know that, but sometimes it helps to hear it again: The world is a competitive place, and a lot of success factors are outside of your con

by dakna 6y ago

You probably already know that, but sometimes it helps to hear it again: The world is a competitive place, and a lot of success factors are outside of your control. (timing, pre-existing resources, sheer luck) What you can control is exactly what you are already doing: Work really hard and make the best of what you have. Come up with a good long term plan and execute it. Do life decisions that help with that plan. This will make you more successful than your relative peer group and over time wash you into an upper percentile compared to others dealing with the same factors. Keep up the good work! It's a long game.

libria 6y ago
So, why is this encouraging and helpful message being downvoted into gray? I can only assume some salty graduates are lashing out. Don't do that to yourself, i.e. living bitter and angry. Engage with those you disagree with by conversing. Correct them or be corrected and learn.
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  I got to say I have given up worrying about why people are downvoting what I say, I do have a suspicion that I have a couple people who when they see my name automatically downvote - oh it's that guy again - although I don't think they search me out to downvote either. on edit: at any rate I upvoted it as you're right, seems an encouraging nice message.
  - sk5t 6y ago
    FWIW across ~10 years of HNing my sense is it's pretty hard to land on > 1 person's shitlist, and while it's unlikely you've garnered a coterie of haters, it is the iron law of HN that complaining about--or speculating about potential--downvotes attracts many downvotes.
mettamage 6y ago
Disclaimer: I don't know much about 3rd world countries other than my recent trip to Africa and talking to some locals there. In short I've learned: access to healthcare is completely and utterly fucked (this is why maximum age seems to be 40 in the villages that I went to), getting food is a struggle but doable if you know what you're doing (you just plant stuff somewhere and hope it doesn't get robbed), you'll have a mud house somewhere, you'll be living close with your family, you'll be relying a lot on your community and your community relies on you. My point of this entire comment is to say: be a bit careful with your words when you're from a 1st world country and the person you comment to lives in an entirely different context. --- My actual comment --- You seem to be based in the USA. This person is from a 3rd world country. Your advice looks like its written for an American, not someone who lives in a 3rd world country. For example, I can imagine that a lot of people don't think that the world is a competitive place but a criminal one. Why? Because there are a lot of mercantile practices going on. Your passport matters. There is no meritocracy in this world, only passports. Make the best of what you have in some cases can be translated to: try to fucking survive and I'm sorry that your relative passed away from malaria and that we had no money for medicine, and even if we did have money the infrastructure would be too broken to bring it fast enough. Sadly enough, that happens quite often. Technically, that's still the same as "make the best of what you have". But I can imagine that it can be perceived quite negatively, as some might see that there's some implied sarcasm there. > This will make you more successful than your relative peer group So instead of having an average age of 50, you'll get to be 60? More successful for sure. Yet, I can feel the unfairness to 1st worlders who get to be 80. > It's a long game. I don't think everyone perceives life to be a game. I know I do at times. But I also happen to know family members that almost die from hunger (rare thing to happen in The Netherlands but it does). I am sure that to them in those moments life is not a game. Because of that, I also believe that enough people who suffer from poverty or are threatened by it don't perceive life to be a game. --------- In closing: I think your comment was actually well meant. But since I see that you were downvoted I decided to take the time to explain how your comment seems to be missing the mark to me personally. I assume that other people have a similar enough interpretation of it. FYI I didn't downvote, as I think your comment was well meant.
- dakna 6y ago
  > I don't know much about 3rd world countries other than my recent trip to Africa Thank you for stepping out of your comfort zone and actually visiting a non-touristy place. It is unclear what the definition of a 3rd world country is. It has different meanings depending on cultural context. see also https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/third-world.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/third-world.asp > your advice looks like its written for an American, not someone who lives in a 3rd world country. My advice was written for someone with a university CS degree, years of experience in his profession, and an actual job offer that might still be honored. That goes a long way, especially in impoverished countries, where your odds of success are even more tied to the wealth of the family you were born in. > that the world is a competitive place but a criminal one Whether that's true or not, it's out of his control. > There is no meritocracy in this world, only passports. I agree. But a passport is a pre-existing resource, something you don't have a lot of control over. You can try to immigrate to another country, but that takes a long term plan again. > Make the best of what you have in some cases can be translated to: try to fucking survive That's true again. Families in Africa, who don't have a son with a CS degree, often pressure their strongest, smartest son, the future of the family, to embark on a very dangerous journey to Europe. The risk of dying along the way is fairly high, but the upside is huge for the whole family. The person I responded to was worried about a job offer. He might need to work for less money in a job he hates again. It's all relative. > I don't think everyone perceives life to be a game My bad, I should have used an actual subject: career. And a career has many characteristics of a strategy game. Accepting the job offer was probably a good career move and it might still happen. It's not withdrawn yet. Even if it is, I can't think of a situation where it would help to stop doing the best you can. > But since I see that you were downvoted I decided to take the time to explain how your comment seems to be missing the mark to me personally. Appreciate that. It's interesting how people fill in context based on their own experiences and come up with assumptions. While it's true I'm currently based in the US, I wasn't born with this privilege. Like many others in this thread, I posted some universal best practices you can apply in pretty much every part of the world to deal with inevitable setbacks. It worked for me in the past 2 recessions and I expect it to work again for this one. The person I responded to seemed to be in distress and I think building some resilience skills helps with that.
z3t4 6y ago
Many people think that if they work really hard it will pay off. But its the other other way, first you discover that something pays off, then you can start to work hard to get even better. So it should really say work smart.
- NineStarPoint 6y ago
  While it’s true that working hard is not sufficient to have things pay off, I think waiting to find something that pays off to work hard would result in most people missing the opportunity they were given. To sustainably work hard is a skill, and unless you’ve practiced it in advance of an opportunity showing itself you’ll find yourself unable to work hard when you need to.

by dakna 6y ago

libria 6y ago

So, why is this encouraging and helpful message being downvoted into gray? I can only assume some salty graduates are lashing out. Don't do that to yourself, i.e. living bitter and angry. Engage with those you disagree with by conversing. Correct them or be corrected and learn.

bryanrasmussen 6y ago
I got to say I have given up worrying about why people are downvoting what I say, I do have a suspicion that I have a couple people who when they see my name automatically downvote - oh it's that guy again - although I don't think they search me out to downvote either. on edit: at any rate I upvoted it as you're right, seems an encouraging nice message.
- sk5t 6y ago
  FWIW across ~10 years of HNing my sense is it's pretty hard to land on > 1 person's shitlist, and while it's unlikely you've garnered a coterie of haters, it is the iron law of HN that complaining about--or speculating about potential--downvotes attracts many downvotes.

mettamage 6y ago

Disclaimer: I don't know much about 3rd world countries other than my recent trip to Africa and talking to some locals there. In short I've learned: access to healthcare is completely and utterly fucked (this is why maximum age seems to be 40 in the villages that I went to), getting food is a struggle but doable if you know what you're doing (you just plant stuff somewhere and hope it doesn't get robbed), you'll have a mud house somewhere, you'll be living close with your family, you'll be relying a lot on your community and your community relies on you. My point of this entire comment is to say: be a bit careful with your words when you're from a 1st world country and the person you comment to lives in an entirely different context. --- My actual comment --- You seem to be based in the USA. This person is from a 3rd world country. Your advice looks like its written for an American, not someone who lives in a 3rd world country. For example, I can imagine that a lot of people don't think that the world is a competitive place but a criminal one. Why? Because there are a lot of mercantile practices going on. Your passport matters. There is no meritocracy in this world, only passports. Make the best of what you have in some cases can be translated to: try to fucking survive and I'm sorry that your relative passed away from malaria and that we had no money for medicine, and even if we did have money the infrastructure would be too broken to bring it fast enough. Sadly enough, that happens quite often. Technically, that's still the same as "make the best of what you have". But I can imagine that it can be perceived quite negatively, as some might see that there's some implied sarcasm there. > This will make you more successful than your relative peer group So instead of having an average age of 50, you'll get to be 60? More successful for sure. Yet, I can feel the unfairness to 1st worlders who get to be 80. > It's a long game. I don't think everyone perceives life to be a game. I know I do at times. But I also happen to know family members that almost die from hunger (rare thing to happen in The Netherlands but it does). I am sure that to them in those moments life is not a game. Because of that, I also believe that enough people who suffer from poverty or are threatened by it don't perceive life to be a game. --------- In closing: I think your comment was actually well meant. But since I see that you were downvoted I decided to take the time to explain how your comment seems to be missing the mark to me personally. I assume that other people have a similar enough interpretation of it. FYI I didn't downvote, as I think your comment was well meant.

dakna 6y ago
> I don't know much about 3rd world countries other than my recent trip to Africa Thank you for stepping out of your comfort zone and actually visiting a non-touristy place. It is unclear what the definition of a 3rd world country is. It has different meanings depending on cultural context. see also https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/third-world.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/third-world.asp > your advice looks like its written for an American, not someone who lives in a 3rd world country. My advice was written for someone with a university CS degree, years of experience in his profession, and an actual job offer that might still be honored. That goes a long way, especially in impoverished countries, where your odds of success are even more tied to the wealth of the family you were born in. > that the world is a competitive place but a criminal one Whether that's true or not, it's out of his control. > There is no meritocracy in this world, only passports. I agree. But a passport is a pre-existing resource, something you don't have a lot of control over. You can try to immigrate to another country, but that takes a long term plan again. > Make the best of what you have in some cases can be translated to: try to fucking survive That's true again. Families in Africa, who don't have a son with a CS degree, often pressure their strongest, smartest son, the future of the family, to embark on a very dangerous journey to Europe. The risk of dying along the way is fairly high, but the upside is huge for the whole family. The person I responded to was worried about a job offer. He might need to work for less money in a job he hates again. It's all relative. > I don't think everyone perceives life to be a game My bad, I should have used an actual subject: career. And a career has many characteristics of a strategy game. Accepting the job offer was probably a good career move and it might still happen. It's not withdrawn yet. Even if it is, I can't think of a situation where it would help to stop doing the best you can. > But since I see that you were downvoted I decided to take the time to explain how your comment seems to be missing the mark to me personally. Appreciate that. It's interesting how people fill in context based on their own experiences and come up with assumptions. While it's true I'm currently based in the US, I wasn't born with this privilege. Like many others in this thread, I posted some universal best practices you can apply in pretty much every part of the world to deal with inevitable setbacks. It worked for me in the past 2 recessions and I expect it to work again for this one. The person I responded to seemed to be in distress and I think building some resilience skills helps with that.

z3t4 6y ago

Many people think that if they work really hard it will pay off. But its the other other way, first you discover that something pays off, then you can start to work hard to get even better. So it should really say work smart.

NineStarPoint 6y ago
While it’s true that working hard is not sufficient to have things pay off, I think waiting to find something that pays off to work hard would result in most people missing the opportunity they were given. To sustainably work hard is a skill, and unless you’ve practiced it in advance of an opportunity showing itself you’ll find yourself unable to work hard when you need to.