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I've felt this way for some time here in HN. It feels as though the culture is that you're expected to have ambition to create your own startup, thrive to do b

by niuzeta 13y ago

I've felt this way for some time here in HN. It feels as though the culture is that you're expected to have ambition to create your own startup, thrive to do better, if not the best, and make yourself matter, except in this case, there's always an unmentioned postscript "in startup world" I don't even want to discuss the Red Queen Effect, but hear me out. I am a recently graduated developer, with little ambition in technical side. I find some stuff very neat, and am working on a side project that has more caveats on writing than technical. Whenever I find things that bother me in a day-to-day basis, I can whip up an application for myself. Integrating MSN chat logs into Skype logs has been my recent project(ongoing), because I've used MSN auto-logging very extensively. I am content with what I will have and I intend to share to people who'll miss MSN chat logs, and who value them as ostensibly as I do. Why do I feel like I should be compelled to feel I'm not thriving enough? I've got a decently paying job, I'm learning(SICP is my current project), I'm relatively content doing what I love(writing), and enjoy my free time(gaming, writing and some side short projocts). Sure, I'm learning but not researching the most important research in my area, I'm content doing what I love but I'm not thriving to achieve the best and make the world better place, I enjoy my free time playing games, but I'm not using the time to better myself. A couple of my deeply respected friends, who I believe without a doubt have a chance of looking at this comments here, keeps telling me that I need to thrive. I want to tell them, please, just to leave me alone. I know this comment isn't probably the ideal response to the article. It however is my response to why aren't you more like me and improving undertone of which the article deeply suggests. Perhaps in a decade or two(or in smaller period) I'll come across an idea niche enough that future Me will think would work, and start work on it. I, currently, am too content with what I have and its prospects to think of anything better. I have some ideas but what good are the ideas? The work is the most that matters, and I am not motivated enough to do them yet. Please accept it. "Wanting to do startup" should not be the reason to do it, in my humble opinion.

rza 13y ago
It's fine if you don't want to create a startup, I'm pretty sure this is article is directed toward people who have a startup idea, but are too afraid to commit to it. As for what arguments against 'You should be more productive' or 'You have to contribute something to be a worthwhile human being', that is pretty much trying to answer the meaning of life, and is sure beyond the scope of this article.
- niuzeta 13y ago
  I know, I know... I just snapped a little and ranted, perhaps out of the place. As for the added piece, I think I've responded it on the other comment in this thread: (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6354885 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6354885)
md224 13y ago
Here's a basic fact: what matters in life is that you're happy. It's a simple idea (figuring out what makes you happy is the actual hard part). If you're happy, then you're already thriving; it doesn't make sense to say "I'm happy, but I'm not thriving." What's the point of thriving, after all, if not life satisfaction? I think your friends have a narrow-minded view of what makes life worth living. I'm not saying they're wrong about their chosen path; they're just generalizing from their experience to everyone else, and that seems foolish. Everyone has to find their own happiness. For some, it's building a company. For others, it's learning, writing, etc. Neither way is objectively "better" than the other. There was a great Onion article recently that parodied the fallacy of assuming others are failing if they don't share your goals: http://www.theonion.com/articles/unambitious-loser-with-happy-fulfilling-life-still,33233/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/unambitious-loser-with-happ...
- niuzeta 13y ago
  I do have something that I have in mind that I think will appear in my obituary. I've known it since late teenager, and I knew it won't earn me bread. That was why I came into CS, because I knew it would earn me bread, and, well, I was good at it and enjoyed it. Some of my peers in university never liked that I acknowledged blatantly that I've come to CS for better job prospects. Sure, I do find CS very neat and enjoying. I love solving problems, making things from the scratch, but the problem that I will dedicate my life into has already been found, in early stages of my life. What I don't understand is why my existence in the field with impure intentions infuriate them. I plan to keep myself educated and learned to keep coding until my retirement. I actually enjoy developing. I don't consider development as boring day job. It's my passion, just not the passion of my life. I'm sick and tired of perspective that views my attitude as impure in the tech world.
drpancake 13y ago
Try to keep in mind that the generally accepted wisdom that you glean from regularly reading HN comes from a very narrow segment of the population. That's not a negative criticism; in fact that's probably why it's such a good source of curated tech news. But trust your own instincts on what you should spend your time doing. Personally I find the average work-life balance to be a little out of whack here.
surfmike 13y ago
It sounds like you're creatively fulfilled (writing, learning SICP, side projects), so that's great! And most people's idea of creative fulfillment doesn't include doing a startup, and that's fine -- but obviously the Hacker News crowd is different. I think the article was more to address people who work at jobs they find boring, and want to create a startup to fulfill themselves, but don't.
gexla 13y ago
Don't worry dude, nobody is telling you to go out and start a business. > It feels as though the culture is that you're expected to have ambition to create your own start-up Look at the URL of this site. It's Ycombinator, a start-up accelerator. That's like going to Japan and wondering why everyone speaks Japanese, and why there is so much pressure to learn the language. Maybe you didn't realize it at first, but everyone around you is speaking Japanese because you are in Japan. If you are living on my couch, eating my food and not kicking anything back to me, then I'm going to talk to you about "thriving." At least you can thrive enough to get a dang job. But in this case, you have a job and you are independent. Good job, that's a position that probably at least the 8% - 10% of the unemployed and looking for work population will envy you for.

by niuzeta 13y ago

rza 13y ago

It's fine if you don't want to create a startup, I'm pretty sure this is article is directed toward people who have a startup idea, but are too afraid to commit to it. As for what arguments against 'You should be more productive' or 'You have to contribute something to be a worthwhile human being', that is pretty much trying to answer the meaning of life, and is sure beyond the scope of this article.

niuzeta 13y ago
I know, I know... I just snapped a little and ranted, perhaps out of the place. As for the added piece, I think I've responded it on the other comment in this thread: (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6354885 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6354885)

md224 13y ago

Here's a basic fact: what matters in life is that you're happy. It's a simple idea (figuring out what makes you happy is the actual hard part). If you're happy, then you're already thriving; it doesn't make sense to say "I'm happy, but I'm not thriving." What's the point of thriving, after all, if not life satisfaction? I think your friends have a narrow-minded view of what makes life worth living. I'm not saying they're wrong about their chosen path; they're just generalizing from their experience to everyone else, and that seems foolish. Everyone has to find their own happiness. For some, it's building a company. For others, it's learning, writing, etc. Neither way is objectively "better" than the other. There was a great Onion article recently that parodied the fallacy of assuming others are failing if they don't share your goals: http://www.theonion.com/articles/unambitious-loser-with-happy-fulfilling-life-still,33233/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/unambitious-loser-with-happ...

niuzeta 13y ago
I do have something that I have in mind that I think will appear in my obituary. I've known it since late teenager, and I knew it won't earn me bread. That was why I came into CS, because I knew it would earn me bread, and, well, I was good at it and enjoyed it. Some of my peers in university never liked that I acknowledged blatantly that I've come to CS for better job prospects. Sure, I do find CS very neat and enjoying. I love solving problems, making things from the scratch, but the problem that I will dedicate my life into has already been found, in early stages of my life. What I don't understand is why my existence in the field with impure intentions infuriate them. I plan to keep myself educated and learned to keep coding until my retirement. I actually enjoy developing. I don't consider development as boring day job. It's my passion, just not the passion of my life. I'm sick and tired of perspective that views my attitude as impure in the tech world.

drpancake 13y ago

Try to keep in mind that the generally accepted wisdom that you glean from regularly reading HN comes from a very narrow segment of the population. That's not a negative criticism; in fact that's probably why it's such a good source of curated tech news. But trust your own instincts on what you should spend your time doing. Personally I find the average work-life balance to be a little out of whack here.

surfmike 13y ago

It sounds like you're creatively fulfilled (writing, learning SICP, side projects), so that's great! And most people's idea of creative fulfillment doesn't include doing a startup, and that's fine -- but obviously the Hacker News crowd is different. I think the article was more to address people who work at jobs they find boring, and want to create a startup to fulfill themselves, but don't.

gexla 13y ago

Don't worry dude, nobody is telling you to go out and start a business. > It feels as though the culture is that you're expected to have ambition to create your own start-up Look at the URL of this site. It's Ycombinator, a start-up accelerator. That's like going to Japan and wondering why everyone speaks Japanese, and why there is so much pressure to learn the language. Maybe you didn't realize it at first, but everyone around you is speaking Japanese because you are in Japan. If you are living on my couch, eating my food and not kicking anything back to me, then I'm going to talk to you about "thriving." At least you can thrive enough to get a dang job. But in this case, you have a job and you are independent. Good job, that's a position that probably at least the 8% - 10% of the unemployed and looking for work population will envy you for.