[feoren]

>> 4. Start my own business ...

> This is just fantasy.

Are you saying starting your own business is an unrealistic fantasy? (On HN?) Or which part of it is fantasy? If starting a company is fantasy, it strengthens my point.

> here are world class engineers all over the place making 7 figures a year very easily. They aren't working 80 hours a week, they aren't working for soul sucking corps on boring problems, etc.

They're not "all over the place", they're in Silicon Valley. No software engineers outside of the valley make 7 figures as an employee. Maybe in New York at the Staff level. Maybe.

And if they're not working for soul sucking corps on boring problems, what are they doing? Where are the fruits of their labor? Because the majority of the software coming out of these companies gets used by approximately nobody and then thrown away, and the majority of the rest is user-hostile trash.

> I suspect you also aren't accurately measuring your own skill relative to these people.

"You're not accomplishing things because you're bad" -- maybe. That'd certainly be an easy resolution to this paradox. As an internet stranger you have no reason to believe that I'm as good as I say. But you should realize that this is completely circular logic: you're assuming that everyone who is poor is dumb and everyone who has not found fulfillment in life is bad; everyone who is successful is skilled. That doesn't match reality. Like, at all.

[humansareok1]

>Are you saying starting your own business is an unrealistic fantasy? (On HN?) Or which part of it is fantasy? If starting a company is fantasy, it strengthens my point.

You have a fantastical view of what starting and running business entails

>And if they're not working for soul sucking corps on boring problems, what are they doing? Where are the fruits of their labor? Because the majority of the software coming out of these companies gets used by approximately nobody and then thrown away, and the majority of the rest is user-hostile trash.

You have some deep hatred for modern society or something. Maybe you should write a manifesto in your cabin in the woods.

>But you should realize that this is completely circular logic: you're assuming that everyone who is poor is dumb and everyone who has not found fulfillment in life is bad; everyone who is successful is skilled. That doesn't match reality. Like, at all.

In the specific domain of Software Engineering there is a clear path to success, talent is recognized and is almost always very well compensated. If you are a 'poor' software engineer I suspect it's not because the world just failed to recognize your genius. Sorry.

>As an internet stranger you have no reason to believe that I'm as good as I say.

Are you Grandmaster or above on Codeforces? Do you have IOI/IOM Medals? Did you win an ICPC Medal? Did you rank on the Putnam? Have you gotten job offers at Jane Street/HRT/Citadel/ETC? Are you Staff level or above at a FAANG? If you haven't done at least one of those how can you seriously think you are world class? There are lots of cracked people who have done Multiple! Are there people who have done none but are also world class? Yes! But they probably aren't crying about the shitty problems they work on or how poor and unsuccessful they are!

[feoren]

> You have a fantastical view of what starting and running business entails

Have you started a successful business? Can you honestly say you spent less than 90 hours per week on it? Can you honestly say the vast majority of your time wasn't spent on "business things" instead of deeply technical product development? You keep just generically hinting that I'm wrong without actually saying how.

> Maybe you should write a manifesto in your cabin in the woods.

It's awful that Kaczynski resorted to terrorism, because his manifesto is a respected piece of writing and philosophical thought. I see it recommended every so often even on HN (always with a denouncement of his actual actions). Don't worry about me: hurting anyone else would be deeply opposed to my goal of making a positive impact. But saying my ideas sound like Kaczynski's is not as big a neg as you might think.

> If you are a 'poor' software engineer I suspect it's not because the world just failed to recognize your genius.

Weird assumptions. I'm not poor, and many people have said that I'm a genius, and it means fuck-all. I don't feel under-recognized, I feel under-utilized. Being a genius, being an expert, means nothing. That's my point. Why bother?

> In the specific domain of Software Engineering there is a clear path to success, talent is recognized and is almost always very well compensated.

Talent is recognized!? Sure, if you're living in one of about six tech hubs in the world and you're white or Asian and you're not too old and you're not a woman and you've graduated from a top 20% university and you've got friends that recommended you and you're willing to sell your soul to help some psychopath get more clicks for his Facebook for Dogs website. And even then, no, it's notoriously hard to measure the talent of one engineer vs. another.

> Are you Grandmaster or above on Codeforces? Do you have IOI/IOM Medals? Did you win an ICPC Medal? Did you rank on the Putnam? Have you gotten job offers at Jane Street/HRT/Citadel/ETC? Are you Staff level or above at a FAANG? If you haven't done at least one of those how can you seriously think you are world class?

"Class" is right. These are class indicators more than talent indicators. Strengthening my point that people have warped views of what "talent" is. Is that what you think talent is? Someone who grinds leetcode?

Even if I accept your premise, what are those people doing? Working as a quant? That's my #2: "Work for a bank or fintech as a middleman trying to get that extra 0.01% rent on other people's labor". Those people aren't successful by any measure other than money. They are harming the world. They are a net negative. Good thing your parents hired a tutor for you to ace the Putnam, now you can help billionaire parasites suck more blood from the economy!

Yes, if money is all you care about, becoming a quant is a good idea. That's not becoming an expert, that's knowing how to play the exact game you need to get hired there. The quants at Jane Street are not "more expert" than the exploited game developers making five figures at Blizzard.

The impression I'm getting from you is: you believe (1) money is the only possible measure of success, and (2) people who make more money are smarter and people who make less money are dumber. Those are both deeply wrong, both in the sense of "incorrect" and "disturbing".

[humansareok1]

> I don't feel under-recognized, I feel under-utilized. Being a genius, being an expert, means nothing. That's my point. Why bother?

Ah yes the 'genius' that just can't find anything useful to work on lol.

>Talent is recognized!? Sure, if you're living in one of about six tech hubs in the world and you're white or Asian and you're not too old and you're not a woman and you've graduated from a top 20% university

Actual geniuses generally have no problem getting into and graduating with honors from a top 50 University let alone the top 20%. Just because your mommy called you smart doesn't make it true...

>"Class" is right. These are class indicators more than talent indicators. Strengthening my point that people have warped views of what "talent" is. I

I'm sorry but if you research the IOI/IOM winners I think you'll find they are overwhelmingly low-middle to upper-middle class. Hardly the children of billionaires...

>Is that what you think talent is? Someone who grinds leetcode?

No but these are clear indicators OF talent. IF you are a genius programmer but you can't compete with ICPC winners or rank top of the world in Codeforces e.g. there is a serious argument to be made that you aren't in fact a genius programmer.

>That's my #2: "Work for a bank or fintech as a middleman trying to get that extra 0.01% rent on other people's labor". Those people aren't successful by any measure other than money. They are harming the world. They are a net negative. Good thing your parents hired a tutor for you to ace the Putnam, now you can help billionaire parasites suck more blood from the economy!

Even the biggest misanthrope in the world who actually thinks about this problem doesn't believe that Quants are net negative for the world lol.

None of the Putnam fellows I know were the children of billionaires nor did they have tutors lmao. They were on the team and practiced like hell to win. Again you just have a warped and incorrect view of reality.

>The quants at Jane Street are not "more expert" than the exploited game developers making five figures at Blizzard.

Game devs are generally good but it's incredibly obvious there is a skill gap between those two groups. To say otherwise is ignorant.

>The impression I'm getting from you is: you believe (1) money is the only possible measure of success, and (2) people who make more money are smarter and people who make less money are dumber. Those are both deeply wrong, both in the sense of "incorrect" and "disturbing".

Both completely wrong. You just aren't as smart as you think. Even if you were and you interviewed with my company or were raising money to start your own you would be a flat reject if you displayed even 10% of the attitude you show here.

You're just a fundamentally broken person. Your opinion of yourself is not based in reality. Your judgements of others are wrong. Your estimation of their motivations are flawed. You were the guy that got locked inside lockers in high school but you deserved it because you are an enormous pompous ass. You were the kid that stood up in lectures to deliver an unhinged incorrect rant when the Professor asked a question and the entire room groaned because you completely lack self awareness of your own lack of knowledge. Now you bitch and moan on the internet how no one in Petoskey recognizes your unmatched genius and they force you to work on the IT system for your local YMCA. You complain about losing the game when you never even attempted to play it. You're the overweight office worker who thinks he can play on an NBA team despite never making it past JV. You're no Ted Kaczynski, you're Al Bundy. You're just a C level player stuck in a bad LARP.

[feoren]

Your insults would land better if they were anywhere close to accurate. You need to get your crystal ball polished, because your psychic reading of who I am is way off. Maybe you can't actually know the intimate details of someone's personality from a few internet comments?