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Main thing I see people attacking this guy over is the “I did it and so can you” mentality more than anything. It’s survivorship bias at its strongest. No diffe

Main thing I see people attacking this guy over is the “I did it and so can you” mentality more than anything. It’s survivorship bias at its strongest. No different than the FIRE post trending here as well. Dude literally saw his NW double in a year and income go up 50% cause of stock appreciation. Along with incredible starting salary and overall close to top tier comp the entire way - and no kids or what not. I think people just really hate these “stories” because it’s not realistically repeatable. Someone will make it happen but it’ll be based off luck and nothing else. Even the dude in the fire thing wishes he did startups for 6 years. Mindlessly ignoring he’d get paid way less but oh wait - of course his story would only be posted if he joined a company that IPO’d and he got 8 figures out of it. It’s just so annoying to see this shit on HN all the time. It’s some weird capitalism fetishism porn.

jfengel 5y ago
HN is part of a Silicon Valley venture capital incubator. It exists to be capitalism fetish porn.
aww_dang 5y ago
>"I did it and so can you" What is the antithesis here? "You won't succeed, so don't bother trying. Become an employee, rail against capitalism and wage slavery." Dismissing it as luck can only work if the author succeeded on the first try. Did everyone succeed on the first try? Before it can be called "survivor's bias", you need to survive. If you croak at the first unforeseen and perhaps unfair hardship... What is missing from many of these stories are the concepts and ideas which were eliminated by failure or analysis. It would be unusual for the first idea that pops into someone's head to come to successful fruition. Maybe it would be illustrative if the author listed all of his failed endeavors and how he reasoned his way through them. Undoubtedly, it would make for much longer-form content and perhaps ramble off-track from his chosen subject. Persistence is an unspoken companion to what you flippantly dismiss as luck. Trial and error, iterative improvements and self-sacrifice are also key ingredients. Of course, you don't need to listen to that. It is much easier to lay blame than manifest the change you wish to see.
- sangnoir 5y ago
  > Dismissing it as luck can only work if the author succeeded on the first try. This is wrong, or your definition of "luck" is different to mine and most other people, I assume.
  - aww_dang 5y ago
    Winning 50 coin flips in a row is lucky. Winning 50 coin flips out of 100 is persistence. Quitting after 3 coin flips because the flipper sneered at you is called being a quitter. Maybe it was unfair and unlucky that he sneered, but the reason you didn't get 50 wins isn't because the world is unfair or that you are unlucky. It is because you didn't flip a coin 100 times. Certain ideologies empower you for success. Others turn you into a victim.
- camgunz 5y ago
  Not everyone can or wants to be persistent enough to do this kind of thing. In isolation these stories are interesting. As policy, these stories argue against changes to housing and zoning in the US, which are obviously needed. Like, "live in and remodel a shed and wait to capitalize on a historically bad housing market wipeout" isn't useful advice, much less a housing policy.
  - aww_dang 5y ago
    Agreed. I'm not advocating for a housing policy in this observation. Waiting for housing policy to fit with your ideal of a just world isn't reasonable advice for everyone. There are things which for practical intents and purposes, are beyond our control. If you are looking for change, it is better to focus on the things within immediate control.
    - camgunz 5y ago
      Super agree, but I will say I have a hard time ignoring the feeling that more and more things that used to be in my control are now beyond it.
more_corn 5y ago
Living below your means is repeatable (and desirable). Riding a bike instead of driving a car is repeatable (and beneficial). Buying land and building a house, buying distressed property and carefully investing time and money to rehab it… all repeatable. All things that benefit society. This isn’t capitalist fetish porn.

jfengel 5y ago

HN is part of a Silicon Valley venture capital incubator. It exists to be capitalism fetish porn.

aww_dang 5y ago

>"I did it and so can you" What is the antithesis here? "You won't succeed, so don't bother trying. Become an employee, rail against capitalism and wage slavery." Dismissing it as luck can only work if the author succeeded on the first try. Did everyone succeed on the first try? Before it can be called "survivor's bias", you need to survive. If you croak at the first unforeseen and perhaps unfair hardship... What is missing from many of these stories are the concepts and ideas which were eliminated by failure or analysis. It would be unusual for the first idea that pops into someone's head to come to successful fruition. Maybe it would be illustrative if the author listed all of his failed endeavors and how he reasoned his way through them. Undoubtedly, it would make for much longer-form content and perhaps ramble off-track from his chosen subject. Persistence is an unspoken companion to what you flippantly dismiss as luck. Trial and error, iterative improvements and self-sacrifice are also key ingredients. Of course, you don't need to listen to that. It is much easier to lay blame than manifest the change you wish to see.

sangnoir 5y ago
> Dismissing it as luck can only work if the author succeeded on the first try. This is wrong, or your definition of "luck" is different to mine and most other people, I assume.
- aww_dang 5y ago
  Winning 50 coin flips in a row is lucky. Winning 50 coin flips out of 100 is persistence. Quitting after 3 coin flips because the flipper sneered at you is called being a quitter. Maybe it was unfair and unlucky that he sneered, but the reason you didn't get 50 wins isn't because the world is unfair or that you are unlucky. It is because you didn't flip a coin 100 times. Certain ideologies empower you for success. Others turn you into a victim.
camgunz 5y ago
Not everyone can or wants to be persistent enough to do this kind of thing. In isolation these stories are interesting. As policy, these stories argue against changes to housing and zoning in the US, which are obviously needed. Like, "live in and remodel a shed and wait to capitalize on a historically bad housing market wipeout" isn't useful advice, much less a housing policy.
- aww_dang 5y ago
  Agreed. I'm not advocating for a housing policy in this observation. Waiting for housing policy to fit with your ideal of a just world isn't reasonable advice for everyone. There are things which for practical intents and purposes, are beyond our control. If you are looking for change, it is better to focus on the things within immediate control.
  - camgunz 5y ago
    Super agree, but I will say I have a hard time ignoring the feeling that more and more things that used to be in my control are now beyond it.

more_corn 5y ago

Living below your means is repeatable (and desirable). Riding a bike instead of driving a car is repeatable (and beneficial). Buying land and building a house, buying distressed property and carefully investing time and money to rehab it… all repeatable. All things that benefit society. This isn’t capitalist fetish porn.