5 ms·

I'm quite young, and have gone from a minimum wage service worker to a well paid software engineer in a relatively short time. A couple years ago I remarked to

I'm quite young, and have gone from a minimum wage service worker to a well paid software engineer in a relatively short time. A couple years ago I remarked to my dad that it seemed the more I was paid, the less stressful my work was. He said that he had found the same in his career. At the same time, the more I am paid, the more difficult it is to find someone that knows how to do what I'm doing. I know it's been said before, but it seems pay is not dependent on how useful to society you are, but is instead dependent on two factors working in tandem. 1) Do those with money perceive you to have a use? 2) How difficult is it to find someone else that can replace your use? I can't help but wonder if stress to pay ratio works as an inverted bell curve. At the lowest levels of pay you find the most stress. Then we move to middle/lower-upper class levels of pay and find much less stress. To get above those levels of pay, you'll likely have to start your own company or work extreme hours at a high skill job and once again experience heightened levels of stress.

tartoran 6y ago
Yes but that does not change the fact that most of us are doing useless work in terms of value. Yes, there is a moat, yes one is not as replaceable (though that is not necessarily true) but a lot of our work is meaningless valueless crap.
newen 6y ago
I think the stress that people with lower pay experience is related to what companies can get away with due to lax employment laws.
curiousllama 6y ago
This is very interesting to me. Why did you feel higher stress in lower wage positions? I only ask because I worked low-to-minimum wage part time jobs from ages 14-22 before graduating from school and getting a "real" job, similar to SWE. I found the eact opposite: stress increased with $. I always felt low stress in service jobs because I knew exactly what to do every moment, and knew exactly what happens if something goes wrong. Moreover, I knew I could find another job pretty quickly if worse came to worse - there's just so many places that need waiters, factory workers, cashiers, baristas... In contrast, my new job often has vague tasks and expectations, constant evaluation against my peers, and much more complex outcomes - all of which drive stress for me.
- Joof 6y ago
  So for me, I get stressed when I have less control over my work / time / etc. The less you make, the more they tell you exactly what to do, when and how to do it and you lose flexibility. There's no trust. As I've moved up, I'm largely trusted to know what I'm doing. I can basically set my own hours, do what work I think is impactful and nobody really checks in on me. Some days I accomplish very little and nobody cares, other days, I accomplish a lot. Bonus points in that I have tons of employee protections (I wouldn't be fired without at least a large severance) and I have so much money saved that I don't need to work for long periods of time. My healthcare is covered and my living finances are less than a quarter of my base salary.
- clairity 6y ago
  that's because you're talking about competency stress and the parent is talking about existential stress. because stress is primal, it's easy to conflate the two, but they're not the same. as you get older, your ability to depend (at least as a fallback) on parents diminishes (in many dimensions, not just financially).
- georgeecollins 6y ago
  My guess would be (having had the exact same experience): - greater autonomy and less micro-management for skilled jobs - more job security because you are difficult to replace On the other side high skill jobs are more stressful because the stakes are higher and the techniques for success are more uncertain. In my experience, high skill jobs are less stressful when I am doing something I have prior work experience and I have confidence in my ability. When I don't they can be extremely stressful.
  - curiousllama 6y ago
    > high skill jobs are less stressful when I am doing something I have prior work experience ... When I don't they can be extremely stressful This makes sense. I tend to jump between roles (DS, PM, consultant, etc.), which might account for some stress come to think of it...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
sershe 6y ago
I generally found that it's reverse. In lower paid jobs, and especially in menial jobs like when I was selling newspapers on street corners for fixed salary in HS, you work fixed time and 100% check out at the end of the day. Next day is clean slate. At a more involved office job you'd still check out as far as work as concerned, but office politics / boss had a bad day / etc. carry over. As a generic SWE you can't ever fully check out because the state of the project, the long term goals and current problems are always in your head - both the work, and the people. As a highly paid SWE working on online system, you sometimes can literally never check out because of on call, and because if something goes really wrong they'd call you even if you aren't on call. If you love your job it's great, or at any rate acceptable (I can never get used to on call, so it's a necessary evil for me). As soon as you are on a crappy project or team, it sucks. I'd rather sell newspapers than work on a crappy software project if it paid the same. I think the false perception of less stress in higher paid jobs actually comes from money itself (and status). You both have more cushion and so feel less dependent on a job, and are/feel less easily replaceable.

tartoran 6y ago

Yes but that does not change the fact that most of us are doing useless work in terms of value. Yes, there is a moat, yes one is not as replaceable (though that is not necessarily true) but a lot of our work is meaningless valueless crap.

newen 6y ago

I think the stress that people with lower pay experience is related to what companies can get away with due to lax employment laws.

curiousllama 6y ago

This is very interesting to me. Why did you feel higher stress in lower wage positions? I only ask because I worked low-to-minimum wage part time jobs from ages 14-22 before graduating from school and getting a "real" job, similar to SWE. I found the eact opposite: stress increased with $. I always felt low stress in service jobs because I knew exactly what to do every moment, and knew exactly what happens if something goes wrong. Moreover, I knew I could find another job pretty quickly if worse came to worse - there's just so many places that need waiters, factory workers, cashiers, baristas... In contrast, my new job often has vague tasks and expectations, constant evaluation against my peers, and much more complex outcomes - all of which drive stress for me.

Joof 6y ago
So for me, I get stressed when I have less control over my work / time / etc. The less you make, the more they tell you exactly what to do, when and how to do it and you lose flexibility. There's no trust. As I've moved up, I'm largely trusted to know what I'm doing. I can basically set my own hours, do what work I think is impactful and nobody really checks in on me. Some days I accomplish very little and nobody cares, other days, I accomplish a lot. Bonus points in that I have tons of employee protections (I wouldn't be fired without at least a large severance) and I have so much money saved that I don't need to work for long periods of time. My healthcare is covered and my living finances are less than a quarter of my base salary.
clairity 6y ago
that's because you're talking about competency stress and the parent is talking about existential stress. because stress is primal, it's easy to conflate the two, but they're not the same. as you get older, your ability to depend (at least as a fallback) on parents diminishes (in many dimensions, not just financially).
georgeecollins 6y ago
My guess would be (having had the exact same experience): - greater autonomy and less micro-management for skilled jobs - more job security because you are difficult to replace On the other side high skill jobs are more stressful because the stakes are higher and the techniques for success are more uncertain. In my experience, high skill jobs are less stressful when I am doing something I have prior work experience and I have confidence in my ability. When I don't they can be extremely stressful.
- curiousllama 6y ago
  > high skill jobs are less stressful when I am doing something I have prior work experience ... When I don't they can be extremely stressful This makes sense. I tend to jump between roles (DS, PM, consultant, etc.), which might account for some stress come to think of it...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

sershe 6y ago

I generally found that it's reverse. In lower paid jobs, and especially in menial jobs like when I was selling newspapers on street corners for fixed salary in HS, you work fixed time and 100% check out at the end of the day. Next day is clean slate. At a more involved office job you'd still check out as far as work as concerned, but office politics / boss had a bad day / etc. carry over. As a generic SWE you can't ever fully check out because the state of the project, the long term goals and current problems are always in your head - both the work, and the people. As a highly paid SWE working on online system, you sometimes can literally never check out because of on call, and because if something goes really wrong they'd call you even if you aren't on call. If you love your job it's great, or at any rate acceptable (I can never get used to on call, so it's a necessary evil for me). As soon as you are on a crappy project or team, it sucks. I'd rather sell newspapers than work on a crappy software project if it paid the same. I think the false perception of less stress in higher paid jobs actually comes from money itself (and status). You both have more cushion and so feel less dependent on a job, and are/feel less easily replaceable.