Hacker News Reader

Comment by hugh3 | Hacker News Reader

How to get a really good salary:

1. Be really smart

2. Be willing to do something that's deadly boring to most smart people

Me? I'm a scientist. I'm not gonna write your goddamn binary tree pricing algorithm or remove your varicose veins or argue about some dull point of legal text in court. But I'm sure I'd be a lot richer if I did.

(In other news, man, those grapes sure look sour, I'm glad I can't reach 'em.)

View on HN

Replace one of your examples of 'boring work' with "writing grant proposals" or "performing the same experiment over and over again" and you have the perspective of the non-scientists.

I think you're confusing "deadly boring to most smart people" with "deadly boring to me".

> I'm not gonna write your goddamn binary tree pricing algorithm

I'm not in the banking industry, but writing a very efficient binary tree pricing algorithm sounds like super-interesting work.

3. Be willing to work for a corrupt industry.

Oh, I'm perfectly willing to work in a corrupt industry, just not to do boring work.

If anyone wants to hire me to build a planet-destroying supervillain weapon, email in profile.

"2. Be willing to do something that's deadly boring to most smart people", ...

... and super lucrative to their employers.

Otherwise shelf stocking might be a good route to riches.

> 2. Be willing to do something that's deadly boring to most smart people

... And work really hard at it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com