Comment by LewisVerstappen | Hacker News Reader

Comment by LewisVerstappen | Hacker News Reader

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LewisVerstappen

That's not true in the slightest. In fact, it's far, far easier to make money now with the internet. You can build a tool and have millions of people use it instantly and there are far more ways to make $ than ever (creator economy).

Just look on twitter and you'll find loads of 20 year olds making 6 figures out of their college dorms with different kinds of internet products. I saw a thread yesterday from some 19 year old kid who makes $30k a month selling notion templates.

This all is totally possible to do if you're willing to spend 1-2 years learning how to do it. It's even easier to do if you're an engineer (you can rapidly iterate & develop new products)

You have an abundance of FAANG jobs that pay 6 figures and now many of these positions are being offered remotely. You just have to spend 3-4 months learning LeetCode stuff (yes, it's definitely a pain but it 100% beats wasting 2 years on an MBA or something).

Edit:

I'm not talking about everyone in the world. There are definitely billions of people in low-income countries in Africa/Asia who don't have these opportunities unfortunately.

This comment was meant more towards your average HN reader (technical background, living in a rich western nation, etc.) I thought that's who the OP was asking.

This comment is incredibly utopian lol. I wonder where you're coming from to think these claims are reasonable. The kids who make it big with startups or some really smart people who can get a job at faang in less than half a year are a tiny fraction of the population

I run an email newsletter with 30k+ readers and currently do 6 figures annually in revenue with a very predictable path to 7 figures in revenue (just reinvest all the revenue into ads lol). I've seen firsthand what it takes to grow an audience having done so myself (first 25k subs were all organic).

I'm also really really dumb. It's honestly just write a lot of content, make each post 1% better than the last one, and figure out a solid distribution channel.

I've also watched a lot of content on how to grow on other social platforms. Colin and Samir's podcast is amazing for YouTube.

Everyone says the same thing lol. Building an audience online is far more deterministic than people think.

> really smart people who can get a job at faang in less than half a year

Yeah, I didn't mean go from 0 coding knowledge -> Facebook. I meant you're working as a software engineer at a smaller company and want to get a job at FB.

> I run an email newsletter with 30k+ readers and currently do 6 figures annually in revenue with a very predictable path to 7 figures in revenue (just reinvest all the revenue into ads lol). I've seen firsthand what it takes to grow an audience having done so myself (first 25k subs were all organic). > I'm also really really dumb. It's honestly just write a lot of content, make each post 1% better than the last one, and figure out a solid distribution channel.

People treat intelligence the same way they do wealth: nobody likes to admit how high they are on the ladder. You say you're dumb despite being obviously intelligent. I've met lots of very wealthy people (multiple houses, fancy vacations, etc) who claim they're not rich. If you're dumb, what do you call people who are significantly less intelligent than you? Is there even a word for such a level of profound lack in mental abilities? I'm glad your business is successful but you are definitely an outlier in terms of identifying and executing on ideas, not nearly the norm.

> Yeah, I didn't mean go from 0 coding knowledge -> Facebook. I meant you're working as a software engineer at a smaller company and want to get a job at FB.

That's also not trivial. Very intelligent people get rejected from FAANG companies all the time. If getting a FAANG job is anywhere near easy for you then that only emphasizes how out of touch you are with regular people, or how much you're intentionally downplaying your own intelligence. In a word, utopian, because the vast majority of people are not remotely capable of getting into a FAANG or starting a 7-figure business

Is it? I expect those are only the top x%.

100%. It's totally deterministic. You just have to put in the time (1-2 years) to learn how the algorithms work, monetization, etc.

I'm not really interested in getting into an argument about whether or not it's possible, since I don't think I'll change your mind and I don't think you'll change mind.

It's worth remembering that only about 5% of the population† can even complete a task - like looking for a job - wholly online. It's not a skillset the general population has. And you need that skillset before you can even think about programming languages, mathematics, algorithms, etc.

†https://goingdigital.oecd.org/indicator/24

Exactly the point I was trying to make in the OP.

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