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I'd be interested to see data on the backgrounds of the type of young professional that the author attempts to lionize here. Seeking risk is considerably easie
by joncooper 13y ago
I'd be interested to see data on the backgrounds of the type of young professional that the author attempts to lionize here.
Seeking risk is considerably easier when you have a solid family situation to fall back on.
It is delightful when poor kids from shitty families achieve class mobility by executing on what the author sees as the road less travelled, of course.
But my sense is that the majority of people choosing this path hew from situations wherein failure would not leave them in dire straits, and are as such giving up the expectation of extended adolescence in college, as opposed to the requirement to immediately begin taking care of themselves.
Put another way, it may be a meritocracy, but it's overwhelmingly one with pretty homogeneous participants.
(Let me be clear: I think this article is obnoxious.)
- jgh 13y agoI think you're probably right. Although I, like probably many others on here, dropped everything to move countries (or states in many cases) I still could go running home with my tail between my legs if anything were to go too horribly wrong. So I suppose there is really very little worrying about having to do or die, it's more like do or suffer a bruised ego.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- hkmurakami 13y agoI recall Reed Hoffman writing in his book to have plan a, plan b, and plan z, where plan z is your absolute fall back plan when the shit hits the fan. (Tis could be hunkering down in your parents' basement while you look for a new job) If you don't have a plan z that prevents you from being out on the streets, then you really shouldn't be taking outsized risks (though there are plenty who have defied the odds before)
- theorique 13y agoWell, the plan z really just needs to be acceptable to you. As in, if the worst can happen is that your face is eaten by wild dogs, but you're OK with your face being eaten by wild dogs, then you should be fine (absurd example for illustration only). Of course, lying to yourself about your risk tolerance is where a lot of people go wrong, in both financial investments and in life decisions.