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Are you sure? IT geeks are broadly understood to make bank, while professional artists get a lot of scoff as “so a barista?”. How much respect, genuinely, does

Are you sure? IT geeks are broadly understood to make bank, while professional artists get a lot of scoff as “so a barista?”. How much respect, genuinely, does a person who say does interior design for a living really get? In my experience, very little.

resolutebat 3y ago
Social respect is not just about making bank: nobody respects crypto scammers. Among the kind of people who hire interior designers, interior designers get respect.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
baq 3y ago
Making bank while being laughed at (for a whatever reason, true or perceived) is not exactly prestigious.
- bequanna 3y ago
  Pride can be, and often is, expensive.
postsantum 3y ago
IT geeks have 2 status points and 9 money points. Teacher has 2 money points and 7 status points. That's how it tends to work In some societies money and status are more connected than in others
justinclift 3y ago
> IT geeks are broadly understood to make bank That's not a widely held belief in some countries. Try mentioning you're an IT person in (say) the UK and you'll be looked upon like a plumber. aka "nothing special" Ironically, plumbers (and other trades too) are in pretty good demand so themselves can make good $ compared to the standard office worker. ;)
- bequanna 3y ago
  That just sounds like outdated ideas are held and perpetuated by your upper middle class.
  - resolutebat 3y ago
    That's how class works though? If you're getting paid a salary in exchange for your labor, you're by definition not upper class, even if the salary is generous. (And as previous poster notes, IT salaries in the UK are generally not great.)
    - dukeyukey 3y ago
      I can't speak for general IT stuff but software in the UK is paid on-par with the non-US Western world (better in London), and significantly better than other white-collar jobs.
chongli 3y ago
This is very much a class-based distinction. Upper class people do not respect you for "making bank." They don't talk about money at all and consider all talk of making money to be beneath them. They have a lot of respect for teachers because they recognize the nobility of the profession: shaping the minds of the future generation of leaders.
- corethree 3y ago
  As an upper class person myself I can verify this is true. I respect people who take on noble professions and I disrespect other rich people for myself. But I take it a step further. What's more honorable than a teacher? The janitor that cleans our public restrooms to enable us all including the teacher! That's right, stooping to the point where you clean other people's shit is the most honorable thing someone can do when the alternative was becoming a start up billionaire. Hats off to the janitors of the world. That's why instead of having other billionaire friends as my peers normally would, all my friends are janitorial engineers! What a realistic depiction of reality I just made! I'm not lying to myself or making stuff up. I respect janitors and teachers!
  - beaned 3y ago
    Everyone knows who's made a smart decision in adulthood by choosing and succeeding in a career that allows they and their family to prosper. In my experience when you come home for Christmas and everyone's asking questions to the struggling-but-"creative" folks, it's not because truly in your heart either you or they believe they've done something more true, "right," or "better," but that you understand that inquiry is a small flattery that only minimally compensates for the hardship they've chosen, likely from lack of foresight earlier in life. These types love the attention as it makes what they do seem more important, but everyone involved seems to know that it's just a form of compensation. When you've already beaten the struggle, or sidestepped it smartly, and succeeded, too much of a focus on your career is implicitly understood to not be polite conversation since people naturally compare. People who are smart are smart enough to get this, too, and so are typically happy enough to not talk about themselves. All this is of course excepting genuine care, concern, and curiosity, but I think it does explain somewhat the balance of conversations overall.
MacsHeadroom 3y ago
Income doesn't define your social class. An assistant professor is higher class than an upp quartile software engineer despite earning the same as a fast food worker. Both are higher class than an oil rig worker despite making less.
- apantel 3y ago
  I think your social class is largely a function of what your parents’ social class is because it’s in the formative years before you even begin earning money that you absorb all of the values, mannerisms, entitlements, experiences, etc that are ‘in the water’ of your upbringing. Someone who has been born to very wealthy parents has been around a different kind of melieu their whole life. They’ve absorbed a different kind of table talk. They’ve travelled more, stayed in nicer hotels, been treated better by staff at many different establishments… all of that gets baked into their conditioning in those formative years.
- rufus_foreman 3y ago
  I no longer believe that an assistant professor is higher class than a fast food worker.
- seneca 3y ago
  > An assistant professor is higher class than an upp quartile software engineer That isn't even remotely true in the US, in the general case.
alasdair_ 3y ago
A professional artist active in high status social circles is far higher regarded than a random FAANG engineer.
dotnet00 3y ago
As a more glaring counterexample, a journalist doesn't necessarily make anywhere near as much as an IT geek, yet being a journalist automatically grants you a level of credibility and ability to whine about the nobleness of press freedoms, while saying the same as an IT geek results in you being told to just make your own platform.
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  TLDR status is status, status from income lesser so, depending on context. Tallest dwarf sort of thing. https://youtu.be/pQTgLXl1qXI https://youtu.be/pQTgLXl1qXI
rcpt 3y ago
Outside of tech hubs nobody has any idea what programmers make. I've heard stories of staff engineers at Google being offered IT jobs at their uncle-in-laws car dealership because "it'll be a step up"
petre 3y ago
Given that many IT workers need an interior design consultant to buy a decent sofa for their living room, I'd argue quite a bit. Ask yourself who is looking at, or using your work and what are their thoughts regarding your work.
- TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
  Mattress, table, chair and PC. What I would need an interior designer for?

resolutebat 3y ago

Social respect is not just about making bank: nobody respects crypto scammers. Among the kind of people who hire interior designers, interior designers get respect.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

baq 3y ago

Making bank while being laughed at (for a whatever reason, true or perceived) is not exactly prestigious.

bequanna 3y ago
Pride can be, and often is, expensive.

postsantum 3y ago

IT geeks have 2 status points and 9 money points. Teacher has 2 money points and 7 status points. That's how it tends to work In some societies money and status are more connected than in others

justinclift 3y ago

> IT geeks are broadly understood to make bank That's not a widely held belief in some countries. Try mentioning you're an IT person in (say) the UK and you'll be looked upon like a plumber. aka "nothing special" Ironically, plumbers (and other trades too) are in pretty good demand so themselves can make good $ compared to the standard office worker. ;)

bequanna 3y ago
That just sounds like outdated ideas are held and perpetuated by your upper middle class.
- resolutebat 3y ago
  That's how class works though? If you're getting paid a salary in exchange for your labor, you're by definition not upper class, even if the salary is generous. (And as previous poster notes, IT salaries in the UK are generally not great.)
  - dukeyukey 3y ago
    I can't speak for general IT stuff but software in the UK is paid on-par with the non-US Western world (better in London), and significantly better than other white-collar jobs.

chongli 3y ago

This is very much a class-based distinction. Upper class people do not respect you for "making bank." They don't talk about money at all and consider all talk of making money to be beneath them. They have a lot of respect for teachers because they recognize the nobility of the profession: shaping the minds of the future generation of leaders.

corethree 3y ago
As an upper class person myself I can verify this is true. I respect people who take on noble professions and I disrespect other rich people for myself. But I take it a step further. What's more honorable than a teacher? The janitor that cleans our public restrooms to enable us all including the teacher! That's right, stooping to the point where you clean other people's shit is the most honorable thing someone can do when the alternative was becoming a start up billionaire. Hats off to the janitors of the world. That's why instead of having other billionaire friends as my peers normally would, all my friends are janitorial engineers! What a realistic depiction of reality I just made! I'm not lying to myself or making stuff up. I respect janitors and teachers!
- beaned 3y ago
  Everyone knows who's made a smart decision in adulthood by choosing and succeeding in a career that allows they and their family to prosper. In my experience when you come home for Christmas and everyone's asking questions to the struggling-but-"creative" folks, it's not because truly in your heart either you or they believe they've done something more true, "right," or "better," but that you understand that inquiry is a small flattery that only minimally compensates for the hardship they've chosen, likely from lack of foresight earlier in life. These types love the attention as it makes what they do seem more important, but everyone involved seems to know that it's just a form of compensation. When you've already beaten the struggle, or sidestepped it smartly, and succeeded, too much of a focus on your career is implicitly understood to not be polite conversation since people naturally compare. People who are smart are smart enough to get this, too, and so are typically happy enough to not talk about themselves. All this is of course excepting genuine care, concern, and curiosity, but I think it does explain somewhat the balance of conversations overall.

MacsHeadroom 3y ago

Income doesn't define your social class. An assistant professor is higher class than an upp quartile software engineer despite earning the same as a fast food worker. Both are higher class than an oil rig worker despite making less.

apantel 3y ago
I think your social class is largely a function of what your parents’ social class is because it’s in the formative years before you even begin earning money that you absorb all of the values, mannerisms, entitlements, experiences, etc that are ‘in the water’ of your upbringing. Someone who has been born to very wealthy parents has been around a different kind of melieu their whole life. They’ve absorbed a different kind of table talk. They’ve travelled more, stayed in nicer hotels, been treated better by staff at many different establishments… all of that gets baked into their conditioning in those formative years.
rufus_foreman 3y ago
I no longer believe that an assistant professor is higher class than a fast food worker.
seneca 3y ago
> An assistant professor is higher class than an upp quartile software engineer That isn't even remotely true in the US, in the general case.

alasdair_ 3y ago

A professional artist active in high status social circles is far higher regarded than a random FAANG engineer.

dotnet00 3y ago

As a more glaring counterexample, a journalist doesn't necessarily make anywhere near as much as an IT geek, yet being a journalist automatically grants you a level of credibility and ability to whine about the nobleness of press freedoms, while saying the same as an IT geek results in you being told to just make your own platform.

toomuchtodo 3y ago
TLDR status is status, status from income lesser so, depending on context. Tallest dwarf sort of thing. https://youtu.be/pQTgLXl1qXI https://youtu.be/pQTgLXl1qXI

rcpt 3y ago

Outside of tech hubs nobody has any idea what programmers make. I've heard stories of staff engineers at Google being offered IT jobs at their uncle-in-laws car dealership because "it'll be a step up"

petre 3y ago

Given that many IT workers need an interior design consultant to buy a decent sofa for their living room, I'd argue quite a bit. Ask yourself who is looking at, or using your work and what are their thoughts regarding your work.

TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
Mattress, table, chair and PC. What I would need an interior designer for?