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You should really examine your situation and beliefs if you think this isn’t a privileged position to be in.
by monkpit 4mo ago
You should really examine your situation and beliefs if you think this isn’t a privileged position to be in.
- hypfer 4mo agoHacker news is full of people having given up, building torment nexii and coping/rationalizing _incredibly_ hard. So while I agree that privilege is certainly a factor, so is what I've just said. A lot of people here live very cushy lives that cushion them from very pointy thoughts and questions. As someone who too has to live in this world, I'd rather they didn't.
- therealdrag0 4mo agoEven “unprivileged” people are moral actors that can take their high road at personal cost.
- bluefirebrand 4mo agoWhen I was starting out in my career it was "take the first job offer that comes along or starve/become homeless" so no, sometimes the personal cost would be unreasonably high to expect of anyone This effectively does mean that I was not a moral actor at the time
- therealdrag0 4mo agoNaw that’s cope. You make your choices, own them. Would you have stolen or murdered to avoid being homeless? Would that have been a morally blameless act?
- GlacierFox 4mo agoChrist - that's a strawman if I ever did see one haha.
- inigyou 4mo agoMost people will steal to avoid being homeless.
- monkpit 4mo agoWhat do you think privilege is?
- therealdrag0 4mo agoA vague word that can be spun to your own perspective based on a tower of other vague words and personal values. I don’t think we’re talking about slaves are we?
- reg_dunlop 4mo agoWe live in an ecosystem where we (engineers/developers) can promote ourselves and display our skills/acumen/values/professionalism/responsibility in an unequivocal way. Regardless of your experience level. I bootstrapped myself from poverty to Staff software engineer, past the age of 45. Is that privileged? Or sheer will and force of effort? I am not unique. I am an example.
- monkpit 4mo agoPrivilege, yes. You had the privilege to dedicate time to learning skills required, obtaining an education, probably bias during hiring processes, etc. Even though your position might be the result of effort on your part, you do have to acknowledge that you’re privileged to be in a position to expend that effort on what you want, instead of something else, like finding fresh water daily, or whatever. It’s not sheer will that you were born in a (even marginally) more favorable environment than others. The term “privilege” here doesn’t just mean a trust fund nepo baby.
- GlacierFox 4mo agoHow far could you reduce this down? Do you only clap for malnourished Ethiopian babies that can't find waterthat grow up into full silicon Valley software engineers?
- monkpit 4mo agoYou can be dismissive all you want, but the point is to acknowledge you don’t understand everyone’s situation and you can’t make sweeping generalizations like “I did it and I can judge you if you _didn’t_ do it”.
- d_silin 4mo agoGoes both way, yes. History has examples of extremely underprivileged people not compromising on the values even when facing death or torture.
- watwut 4mo agoHighly paid enginners hiding behind "I have no choice I would be hungry" are usually just lying to themselves. And you dont even get these nearly as often from people who work in lower paid positions. Or who are actually making moral tradeoffs that affects their income. I have seen engineers take paycut or risk it because of this or that moral conviction. Not wanting to lie to customer, refusing job for gambling company, working one day less per week so that he volunteers for biblical something. Just telling management no or just communicating about your work with ai or lack of it are not even one of those.