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This is the sort of thing that sounds like insight to a creative 12 year-old who swears he will never settle for a “desk job.” A career is actually a contest w

This is the sort of thing that sounds like insight to a creative 12 year-old who swears he will never settle for a “desk job.” A career is actually a contest where the prize is money that you can buy things with, including pie.

javcasas 1y ago
Only if you learn to play the game by the actual rules, not if you play the game by what they tell you the rules are.
- satisfice 1y ago
  Who is “they?” There is no they. Obviously, there are no fixed rules. There is just the economy and how you position yourself to participate in it. That positioning is called your career. I haven’t gotten a job by applying for one since 1986. I haven’t been recruited to a full-time job since 1998. So far this century, I have subsisted as an independent consultant, participating in the economy on somewhat creative terms.
jajko 1y ago
Surprisingly little actual long term quality of life, happiness or life satisfaction can be bought with money, any money. They are important if you properly don't have them but as soon as you leave that category they are at best secondary. So people boasting about their 'successful careers' are pretty boring empty bunch, rather tell me how you spend your evenings, weekends or vacations, how good parent you are (aka how much you suffer for your kids and don't outsource hard but important parts to grandparents or nannies), what you do for your community and so on.
- xvilka 1y ago
  Long term QoL definitely needs money: healthy food, means to exercise, enough time and freedom for work-life balance, travel, and so on. So yes, money are necessary for it. But the amount has a certain cap, let's say somewhere between $1-30M depending on the place where you live and the size of your family.
- terminalshort 1y ago
  The idea that being a good parent requires extensive suffering and work is the worst that our current society has created.
  - satisfice 1y ago
    It depends what lifestyle your children want to live. My son wants to be a fiction author. I want to give him that opportunity. So I have to work. Maybe YOU would throw your child out on his own, I will not.
    - terminalshort 1y ago
      he's got the talent or he doesn't. You can't put in the work for him, so make your life worse trying.
- satisfice 1y ago
  Look, I know you are trying to focus on the humanity part of humanity, instead of the nuts and bolts of economic life. I get it. I support four adults with my work, including myself. My son writes fiction that I suspect will never earn him a dime. His wife suffers from disabling social anxiety. My wife is 65 and not able to work. We all live together in a gentle and loving cooperative existence. Meanwhile, my career keeps a roof over our head. Now, why shouldn’t I see meaning in my struggle to keep the wheels turning? I have built something important in the course of my career. Not world shattering, but also not nothing. A career is an honorable thing.
smikhanov 1y ago
More like 16 year old, but the rest is spot on.

javcasas 1y ago

Only if you learn to play the game by the actual rules, not if you play the game by what they tell you the rules are.

satisfice 1y ago
Who is “they?” There is no they. Obviously, there are no fixed rules. There is just the economy and how you position yourself to participate in it. That positioning is called your career. I haven’t gotten a job by applying for one since 1986. I haven’t been recruited to a full-time job since 1998. So far this century, I have subsisted as an independent consultant, participating in the economy on somewhat creative terms.

jajko 1y ago

Surprisingly little actual long term quality of life, happiness or life satisfaction can be bought with money, any money. They are important if you properly don't have them but as soon as you leave that category they are at best secondary. So people boasting about their 'successful careers' are pretty boring empty bunch, rather tell me how you spend your evenings, weekends or vacations, how good parent you are (aka how much you suffer for your kids and don't outsource hard but important parts to grandparents or nannies), what you do for your community and so on.

xvilka 1y ago
Long term QoL definitely needs money: healthy food, means to exercise, enough time and freedom for work-life balance, travel, and so on. So yes, money are necessary for it. But the amount has a certain cap, let's say somewhere between $1-30M depending on the place where you live and the size of your family.
terminalshort 1y ago
The idea that being a good parent requires extensive suffering and work is the worst that our current society has created.
- satisfice 1y ago
  It depends what lifestyle your children want to live. My son wants to be a fiction author. I want to give him that opportunity. So I have to work. Maybe YOU would throw your child out on his own, I will not.
  - terminalshort 1y ago
    he's got the talent or he doesn't. You can't put in the work for him, so make your life worse trying.
satisfice 1y ago
Look, I know you are trying to focus on the humanity part of humanity, instead of the nuts and bolts of economic life. I get it. I support four adults with my work, including myself. My son writes fiction that I suspect will never earn him a dime. His wife suffers from disabling social anxiety. My wife is 65 and not able to work. We all live together in a gentle and loving cooperative existence. Meanwhile, my career keeps a roof over our head. Now, why shouldn’t I see meaning in my struggle to keep the wheels turning? I have built something important in the course of my career. Not world shattering, but also not nothing. A career is an honorable thing.

smikhanov 1y ago

More like 16 year old, but the rest is spot on.