[jonathanconway]

I included the Ayn Rand quote because it's simply the most straight-forward and succinct summary of what my blog post was all about.

I hazard a guess that those who detest Rand's thought will probably equally detest mine. :)

[wyuenho]

I don't detest your thought, I just find it ridiculous.

If you want to use the life as software analogy, here's one.

Life is about making choices, and choices involve tradeoffs. If life was like software, to remain free to move around in any circle and jobs, besides employment benefits, one would also only program in the most popular programming languages (Java,C#), speak the most commonly spoken languages (Chinese and English), eat the most commonly available food stuff (McD's), dress the most commonly worn clothes (T-shirt and Jeans from age 3 - the day you die), do the most commonly done things (Watch TV) so you can have things to talk about when you hang out with your common friends. Some people like those lives, and that's fine. But some others like to have the finer things in life, and that involves going off the mainstream and be elitist as you would probably say. Instead of programming Java, some would program in Python. Instead of watching TV, some would like to read a book or go to museums. Instead of working for 50k a year with minimum benefits like everyone else, some would work for a company that gives them PTO, health insurance, gym membership etc etc etc. People work hard so they can get hired by a company to have those things. They want it. That's their freedom. Their freedom to choose the life best suit them. It's not that they can't leave, they don't want to leave, because they feel they've earned the benefits in the first place. If some would like to leave, that's when they are making choices that value something else over employment benefits. That's also freedom.

[eaurouge]

“A rational man never leaves his interests at the mercy of any one person or single, specific concrete. He may need clients, but not any one particular client — he may need a job, but not any one particular job.”

I included the Ayn Rand quote because it's simply the most straight-forward and succinct summary of what my blog post was all about.

In the context of your blog post, the Ayn Rand quote is arguing for MULTIPLE clients and MULTIPLE jobs to avoid dependence on any one client or employer. Your post argues for choosing ONE single particular job, with ONE single, specific employer, using criteria not based on employer benefits. I don't see what one has to do with the other.

[csense]

Definition: A person is a Randian rationalist if any particular entity only supplies a proper subset (i.e., less than all of) his interests.

Definition: For simplicity, let interests = job + gym membership.

With these definitions, a Randian rationalist wouldn't consider getting an employee gym membership. Which seems to be what the author is advocating.

[jonathanconway]

I think you misunderstand my intentions. What I meant is that one SHOULD have multiple clients/multiple jobs, and that doing so will be easier if one doesn't become too dependent on any one employer due to benefits, etc.

[mememememememe]

SHOULD is still a strong word. I don't mean to say nasty things to a consultant. But consultant work isn't for every single developer. In fact, I don't like working with contractors. I want to work with the team that works for my company. I don't want to go outside and speak someone who doesn't understand our company's culture and how we work. Besides, consultant work DEPENDS on the market. You are tied to the market. Your value is depending on the market, not YOU as an individual. If your skill is no longer special because there are tons of people doing the same thing, your value will be lowered. It is a lot secure to work for a company. As a consultant, you need to either find a client yourself because you are starting, or you need to work your ass off just to make enough. I don't know about you, but most of us here can't make enough these days. consultant is freelancer, if you really think about it.

Moreover, I choose a job based on the role and the culture there. I can expect $80k ~ $100k on average for a software engineer nowadays in the city. I can keep myself comfortable with one single task, not multiple task.