4 ms·

What do you think of people that couldn’t get into Princeton or Duke and don’t have these opportunities? Are we just inferior? I worked at Amazon as my first j

What do you think of people that couldn’t get into Princeton or Duke and don’t have these opportunities? Are we just inferior? I worked at Amazon as my first job out of college - I don’t think you count that as a “well paying tech job” though. Not seeing much reflection on your part of the fairness of this “meritocracy” either. What should people like me do if we are going to be considered inferior for the rest of our lives?

skulk 3y ago
They seem to think that there wasn't 10 other equally qualified students that could have had their spot had the dice fallen slightly differently. Anyways, to answer your question: just live your life man. If you wake up in the morning with a roof over your head (and no odious debt) and have a nice cup of coffee and can say "what a nice day it is," you win. How do these silly status games even matter? Who cares if you make $300k more than you can spend in a year?
- laidoffamazon 3y ago
  I live my life but then I wake up realizing I have accomplished nothing in my life and that I’m inherently inferior and won’t have any of the experiences these elite school types take for granted. It feels like I’m stuck in a hopeless rut, having gotten nothing for my work while everyone (including presumably OP) looks down on me.
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    > while everyone (including presumably OP) looks down on me I ain't looking down on you for your educational background. I'm just pointing out the bitter elitist truth outside the tech and accounting industries. > I live my life but then I wake up realizing I have accomplished nothing That's bullshit. You worked at AMAZON - one of the largest companies and brands in the world. Even kids at MIT and UCB and Stanford aren't getting new grad offers there anymore in 2023. Most freshman CS students would look up to you. Pat yourself on the back, you worked at a S tier company. It sounds like you're in a mid-20s rut. Take a deep breath, go backpack for a bit, go live your bliss, and stop giving a fuck about external validation. Do what makes you happy. In 10 years you'll look back and see how much you have accomplished.
  - hnfong 3y ago
    Nobody can look down on you unless you do that to yourself first. People here are just random strangers on the Internet, and what we think about you shouldn't be relevant to what you're actually worth. You choose the people to compare yourself with. There's really no point in choosing a group to compare yourself with if it makes you feel sad and inferior. Maybe you're in a bad spot now (judging from your username) but don't let money and "career achievements" determine your worth. In the end, very very few people, even in tech, are able to accomplish actually meaningful things beyond getting a paycheck and feeding their families. (I mean, for example, would I want to be Mark Zuckerberg? Probably not, being responsible for creating a mostly toxic social network isn't necessarily something to be proud of as my legacy.) You probably need to reorient yourself, trust that your value doesn't just come from the number in your paycheck or how high you climb the corporate ladder, and figure out your own reason for getting out of bed every morning. I mean, I know it's easier said than done, but I can only say what I can say here. Good luck.
alephnerd 3y ago
> What do you think of people that couldn’t get into Princeton or Duke and don’t have these opportunities? Are we just inferior? You don't have an alumni network. That is the issue. There's no major skill difference between a Mich undergrad or a MSU undergrad that couldn't be rectified in a year of training, but no employer wants to deal with that. It's difficult to break into the following without an elite private school or public flagship as your Bachelors degree: HFT, Consulting, Politics, Venture Capital, Investment Banking, Entrepreneurship It's unfair, but it is what it is. These are industries that employ at most 3,000-10,000 people globally. > I worked at Amazon as my first job out of college - I don’t think you count that as a “well paying tech job” though It is a well paying entry tech job, but take a look at your class of fellow NCGs - most will have attended CS/EE/EECS/ECE at Cal, UCLA, Mich, Illinois, GATech, UW, etc which are extremely difficult and expensive to get into. If you can get into CS at that kind of school, you are equally capable to get into top private schools like USC or CMC or Chicago as well (like a couple of my EECS@Cal hs friends who chose that over UChicago or USC). Tech (and Accounting) is also unique in that it is a massive equalizer. They are both white collar industries with MASSIVE margins, extremely high skill barriers of entry, and not as school prestige oriented. > What should people like me do if we are going to be considered inferior for the rest of our lives? Work in tech, cognizant that your starting TC is higher than that of a Senator or Chief of Staff, and recognize that your only options are to either play the game (prestige whoring/marrying up a la Toms Wambsagan) or make your own game (upskill in knowledge industries like Tech or Accounting, build your own thing). The world is a dog eat dog place. Live with it. Those of us who's parents immigrated from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa had our families instill this reality in us. It's high time for Americans and Western Europeans to recognize that too.
- laidoffamazon 3y ago
  What exactly is an NCG? The new grads that started with me went to UMBC, MSU, UTenn, Clemson, SDSU and Cal Poly SLO. People at the public ivies you mentioned go to Google, not Amazon (generally speaking). > cognizant that your starting TC is higher than that of a Senator or Chief of Staff My starting TC was only $150k about 5 years ago so this is definitely not true. > Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa had our families instill this reality in us. My dude I’m literally Indian. There were lots of Indians at my cow college!

skulk 3y ago

They seem to think that there wasn't 10 other equally qualified students that could have had their spot had the dice fallen slightly differently. Anyways, to answer your question: just live your life man. If you wake up in the morning with a roof over your head (and no odious debt) and have a nice cup of coffee and can say "what a nice day it is," you win. How do these silly status games even matter? Who cares if you make $300k more than you can spend in a year?

laidoffamazon 3y ago
I live my life but then I wake up realizing I have accomplished nothing in my life and that I’m inherently inferior and won’t have any of the experiences these elite school types take for granted. It feels like I’m stuck in a hopeless rut, having gotten nothing for my work while everyone (including presumably OP) looks down on me.
- alephnerd 3y ago
  > while everyone (including presumably OP) looks down on me I ain't looking down on you for your educational background. I'm just pointing out the bitter elitist truth outside the tech and accounting industries. > I live my life but then I wake up realizing I have accomplished nothing That's bullshit. You worked at AMAZON - one of the largest companies and brands in the world. Even kids at MIT and UCB and Stanford aren't getting new grad offers there anymore in 2023. Most freshman CS students would look up to you. Pat yourself on the back, you worked at a S tier company. It sounds like you're in a mid-20s rut. Take a deep breath, go backpack for a bit, go live your bliss, and stop giving a fuck about external validation. Do what makes you happy. In 10 years you'll look back and see how much you have accomplished.
- hnfong 3y ago
  Nobody can look down on you unless you do that to yourself first. People here are just random strangers on the Internet, and what we think about you shouldn't be relevant to what you're actually worth. You choose the people to compare yourself with. There's really no point in choosing a group to compare yourself with if it makes you feel sad and inferior. Maybe you're in a bad spot now (judging from your username) but don't let money and "career achievements" determine your worth. In the end, very very few people, even in tech, are able to accomplish actually meaningful things beyond getting a paycheck and feeding their families. (I mean, for example, would I want to be Mark Zuckerberg? Probably not, being responsible for creating a mostly toxic social network isn't necessarily something to be proud of as my legacy.) You probably need to reorient yourself, trust that your value doesn't just come from the number in your paycheck or how high you climb the corporate ladder, and figure out your own reason for getting out of bed every morning. I mean, I know it's easier said than done, but I can only say what I can say here. Good luck.

alephnerd 3y ago

> What do you think of people that couldn’t get into Princeton or Duke and don’t have these opportunities? Are we just inferior? You don't have an alumni network. That is the issue. There's no major skill difference between a Mich undergrad or a MSU undergrad that couldn't be rectified in a year of training, but no employer wants to deal with that. It's difficult to break into the following without an elite private school or public flagship as your Bachelors degree: HFT, Consulting, Politics, Venture Capital, Investment Banking, Entrepreneurship It's unfair, but it is what it is. These are industries that employ at most 3,000-10,000 people globally. > I worked at Amazon as my first job out of college - I don’t think you count that as a “well paying tech job” though It is a well paying entry tech job, but take a look at your class of fellow NCGs - most will have attended CS/EE/EECS/ECE at Cal, UCLA, Mich, Illinois, GATech, UW, etc which are extremely difficult and expensive to get into. If you can get into CS at that kind of school, you are equally capable to get into top private schools like USC or CMC or Chicago as well (like a couple of my EECS@Cal hs friends who chose that over UChicago or USC). Tech (and Accounting) is also unique in that it is a massive equalizer. They are both white collar industries with MASSIVE margins, extremely high skill barriers of entry, and not as school prestige oriented. > What should people like me do if we are going to be considered inferior for the rest of our lives? Work in tech, cognizant that your starting TC is higher than that of a Senator or Chief of Staff, and recognize that your only options are to either play the game (prestige whoring/marrying up a la Toms Wambsagan) or make your own game (upskill in knowledge industries like Tech or Accounting, build your own thing). The world is a dog eat dog place. Live with it. Those of us who's parents immigrated from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa had our families instill this reality in us. It's high time for Americans and Western Europeans to recognize that too.

laidoffamazon 3y ago
What exactly is an NCG? The new grads that started with me went to UMBC, MSU, UTenn, Clemson, SDSU and Cal Poly SLO. People at the public ivies you mentioned go to Google, not Amazon (generally speaking). > cognizant that your starting TC is higher than that of a Senator or Chief of Staff My starting TC was only $150k about 5 years ago so this is definitely not true. > Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa had our families instill this reality in us. My dude I’m literally Indian. There were lots of Indians at my cow college!