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Also known as specialising. You probably don't rear your own farm animals for food - you want an easy life and let someone else do it for you. Likewise for your

Also known as specialising. You probably don't rear your own farm animals for food - you want an easy life and let someone else do it for you. Likewise for your fish - you probably don't want to head out to sea and cast your own net, you want the easy onshore life. You probably haven't gone to medical school - you want to be taken care of by professionals, rather than do it yourself. And so on. (I'm reacting to your judgemental tone in large part because it's just naive. Nobody is good at everything and it's not a matter of wanting an "easy life". Without specialising, we'd be living off the land or in the wilderness with no more technology than we can assemble from raw materials. Anything more, and you're in "easy life" territory.)

koonsolo 5y ago
Sorry about the judgemental tone, that was not my intention. I just wanted to explain that not everybody wants to be self-employed. I'm also a specialist (software-architect), so I don't have my own farm animals ;). But I don't think I explained myself properly, so I will try again. As an employee, a lot of things are decided for you: which company phone you have, company car, your career trajectory, bonuses, holidays, etc. You also know how much money will be on your bank account at the end of the month. And when you're sick, you know you're getting paid (EU here :)). This is what I consider the "easy life", because a lot of stuff is decided for you because of company policies. The good thing is that you don't have to overthink all this stuff. But I don't want that. I want to have a car that I choose, want to negotiate my rate all the time, want to take holidays on my own terms, etc. The price that I pay? A lot of administration. And when I'm sick, I'm not getting paid. I used to think that everybody wants this freedom that I desire, but that is not the case. And there is definitely nothing wrong with that. Just like everything, it has benefits and drawbacks, and everybody makes their own choice. And I think still more people prefer to be an employee than self-employed.

koonsolo 5y ago

Sorry about the judgemental tone, that was not my intention. I just wanted to explain that not everybody wants to be self-employed. I'm also a specialist (software-architect), so I don't have my own farm animals ;). But I don't think I explained myself properly, so I will try again. As an employee, a lot of things are decided for you: which company phone you have, company car, your career trajectory, bonuses, holidays, etc. You also know how much money will be on your bank account at the end of the month. And when you're sick, you know you're getting paid (EU here :)). This is what I consider the "easy life", because a lot of stuff is decided for you because of company policies. The good thing is that you don't have to overthink all this stuff. But I don't want that. I want to have a car that I choose, want to negotiate my rate all the time, want to take holidays on my own terms, etc. The price that I pay? A lot of administration. And when I'm sick, I'm not getting paid. I used to think that everybody wants this freedom that I desire, but that is not the case. And there is definitely nothing wrong with that. Just like everything, it has benefits and drawbacks, and everybody makes their own choice. And I think still more people prefer to be an employee than self-employed.