Though sometimes it feels that if you are not working at one of the FAANGs making $400k/year that you are a total loser.
That's the socially acceptable thing to brag about, but it's absolutely not "everyone" here. A lot of people downplay it if they don't fit that narrative.
But it's kind of a skin deep thing. HN is vastly more diverse than that.
It's a "vocal minority" because this is the virtual water cooler for Y Combinator. They aren't even trying to brag in such cases. They are just trying to make their life work.
I suspect there's a deeper lesson about what we permit to be the bases for our self-esteems, and what we see as our proper calling in life.
Then I consider the conversations that we have. He's always having to learn something new (not exploratory learn, but forced to learn due to someone with clout shoehorning some ill-fitting tech into the project) or rewrite a steaming pile of crap left by someone who thought they had all the answers. He works with greener tools and tech stacks, and sometimes he gets to write kick ass proofs-of-concept. Yet he always feels like it's time to look for another job after about a year.
I have a stable job where I'm appreciated. It's not perfect. I absolutely have my complaints, but I know that a fair share of those complaints are shallow gripes. My tech stack is a bit more mature, but it's modern enough that I can keep pace in discussion. I put in my 40 hours, and I'm done. I put in time for vacation, and management just says, "Alright, have fun."
When I stop to think about our ever diverging career paths, I always realize that his career is not the type that I want.
To the extent each of those companies is working against the public interest (which you can decide for yourself or debate with someone), their employees are all traitors against the people. And buying a traitor always costs a lot of money. Even Judas got 30 pieces of silver. (And even if that story is a work of fiction, that detail is still a masterful touch, no?)
So maybe you have less money, but maybe you're also slightly less fucked-up inside, less cut-off from yourself, less prone to attack people for trivial reasons, and less plagued by thought patterns cluttered with convoluted self-justifications. Think about it and... [silly comment about anticipated downvotes redacted]
30 silver pieces actually wasn’t much money. These are commonly thought to refer to a silver shekel. If so, it’d be 30x11.4g or 342g of silver total, about $164 at today’s prices.
30 shekels was also the price of a slave according to Exodus 21:32. So, the fact that the Pharisees paid Judas only the price of a slave shows their immense disrespect for the Christ.
Want to impress me? Continue to make $400k a year whilst giving everything you do away for free. Otherwise you are merely exploiting the workers and making things worse for everyone, and the more astonishing your 'score' at capitalism the worse you are :D
For all that folks like that spout on about 'making the world a better place', often that means 'cashing out on a software patent for an obscure relational database interfacing protocol'… very better, much wow. That really did a lot, and was unequivocally helpful to humanity ;P :)