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It probably depends on how you got into the line of work. I always say I am lucky and privileged because through random chance, I developed an interest in prog
by cortesoft 5y ago
It probably depends on how you got into the line of work.
I always say I am lucky and privileged because through random chance, I developed an interest in programming as a kid and it became my favorite hobby, long before I chose it as a career. I spent hour and hours at it because it was how I played, and I became good at it because it matched my way of thinking about the world and I spent all my free time doing it.
This was luck. I could easily have had gardening as my favorite hobby, or art, or playing music. I would have had a lot harder time turning those into a lucrative career, so in that sense I am lucky.
Now, many people came into the field in different ways, so not everyone in the industry is lucky in the same way, but that doesn’t chance the fact that I am personally lucky.
- bitcharmer 5y agoThere is nothing privileged about being passionate in things that may earn you good money. Luck? Sure Privilege? Definitely not
- nsv 5y agoWhat is the difference between luck and privilege?
- bitcharmer 5y agoI'm hoping your question isn't serious but just in case you don't know the difference between the two: Luck - success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions. Privilege - a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. Hope this is helpful
- tomp 5y agoWell, “interest in programming” sounds to be like a special advantage in the current world; why do you think it’s not a privilege? It might even be genetic! (Not to mention that you also need the privilege of being born relatively smart.)
- bitcharmer 5y agoWell if you frame it like that everything and anything can be called privilege. Doesn't make much sense to me.
- tomp 5y agoI think of “privilege” as something that persists (e.g. IQ) vs “luck” as something that happens once (e.g. winning the lottery).
- schwartzworld 5y agoPrivilege: being lucky enough to be born/raised in the right circumstances
- bitcharmer 5y agoStill two different things. I come from a poor family. Nothing was handed to me on a silver platter. My career is a function of passion, hard work and luck. Not privilege. It makes my blod boil whenever I hear this privilege nonsense.
- schwartzworld 5y agoThe problem with this conversation is that people feel attacked by the term, like it undermines the hard work they've done or their intelligence. It doesn't necessarily mean everything was handed to you on a silver platter. It's ok to acknowledge the ways in which you were dealt a good hand (if, in fact, you were).
- bitcharmer 5y agoYes, saying that people like me achieved success due to privilege is misleading and hateful because it dismisses our hard work and tons of sacrifice to get where we are now. But sure, call it a privilege. Thanks to discourse like this the word already lost its meaning. The only thing that I got dealt a good hand is that by accident my passion and hobby can bring me a tonne of money. Where is my privilege here? Sadly as many people here you're confusing luck and privilege. No point in carrying on with the exchange if you're insisting on calling everything privilege. Thanks for the discussion.
- schwartzworld 5y agoI'm a self-taught programmer and I can think of several ways that my hard work was enabled by my privilege. And that's the key for me, is that you're focusing on the "here's what you were given" aspect of privilege and not the "here's what you were denied" aspect. Cheap computers abound now, but it wasn't long ago that having a personal computer at all implied a minimum income level. I can't speak for you, but I went to a school with a computer lab and had a computer at home from a young age. Learning programming was hard, but it would have been a lot harder without those things. That's privilege. I was an advanced reader because my parents had time to teach me and filled our house with books. That's privilege. I had hobbies in my teen years instead of having to work to help support my family (privilege). There are lots of people who could be brilliant programmers or engineers had they had the same opportunities as me. Instead of resenting the term, I acknowledge and am grateful for whatever advantages I was provided, because without them getting to the same place would have required exponentially more work, or maybe even been impossible.