

The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work) - jaysonrowe
http://simpleprogrammer.com/2013/08/12/hard-work/

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grimtrigger

            What we haven’t told them is that nothing of any worth is obtained by any means except for good old honest hard work.
    

Whenever I'm given life advice, I try to I imagine it being given to a group
of trust fund kids on a corporate retreat (they will soon be starting as VPs
at their fathers companies). Then I imagine the same advice being given to
coal miners in Virginia or sweat shop workers in the Chinese countryside.

I like advice that can get through both those scenarios without making me
laugh or cry.

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gfdgdfgfdg
I disagree.

The author talks about being "overtaken" by others if you are unwilling to
withstand tedious boredom and pain in your work.

I think this is because he believes life is a race to the finish line. To make
a career, to go up the ladder, all that stuff.

And then he dies, wondering why he spent his life doing so much things he
didnt enjoy. He wasnt even forced by someone else to do them. He forced
himself.

It all boils down to your perspective on life, and what the meaning of it is.
:)

When the passion fades, I change my job and do something else. Then the
passion is back. I guess its because my passion comes from learning new things
in technology.

But if the author wants to sit on his ass and think there is no point in doing
anything but grind, grind, grind, its his choice. The beauty of life is that
we all have free choice to do what we want, and we should take full advantage
of it since its the only thing we really do control. :)

~~~
ScottWhigham
_When the passion fades, I change my job and do something else. Then the
passion is back. I guess its because my passion comes from learning new things
in technology._

I don't know how old you are but I'll assume/pretend you are in the age range
he talks about (22-23 apparently). I'm 42 now so I have ~20 years on you. The
things you say, the way you think, and the ideas you have at 22-23 are so
different from those you'll have as a 25yo, 30y, 35yo, and 40yo. Life events
will change your perspectives 10-20 times in the next 20 years, causing you to
change passions once or twice (or lessen/augment your current passions). It
is, quite simply, arrogance to think that, at 22-23, you know yourself. You
don't. You won't know yourself for 15-20 years, I bet. I'm sure when I'm 50
that I'll think 42yo me was an arrogant fool for thinking I was qualified to
give advice to a 22-23yo haha.

All in all, your comments come across as abrasive and "cock sure". Relax. You
don't know what you don't know yet. How you approach this "problem" today is
not how you will approach it years from now.

Example: let's say at 26yo you develop a product that becomes fairly popular
quickly - enough to make you $150,000 in six months. And you did it by
yourself with no help. What's next? Will you raise money and try to make
$150,000,000 with it? Or will you try to keep it yourself and maybe have a
lifestyle business? Whatever you say today is not what you will say in 3-4
years - you will have learned so much by then that there's no point in even
speculating what you think to do then.

I'm rambling now so I'm done. Final point is "You aren't as smart as you think
you are so back off the rhetoric."

~~~
toomuchtodo
I'm 30. I know so much more than when I was 23. There is so much more I _don
't_ know still though, and I recognize that now (not so much at 23).

Passion comes from fulfillment. Find what fulfills you.

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cJ0th
The author is full of crap!! ;) (scnr)

Yes, he spotted traits many hn user have in common. But traits alone mean very
little.

The real trick is having your mind under control. That way you can have
success with very different attitudes. "Boring work" can be a flow activity;
the "lazy way" can be a successful one.

Claiming that you have to "work hard well past the point where the work is
enjoyable." is just idiotic. Sure, it can happen _occasionally_ but people who
behave like that can _indeed_ burn out in the long term and damage their
health seriously.

/edit: interesting how a little irony and a few lines of harmless opinion get
you a downvote in no time.

~~~
ScottWhigham
I'm assuming others downvoted you for the disrespect/lack of control you show
in your opening sentence. You have good comments below though and hopefully
people will read that as well.

~~~
cJ0th
thank you. clarification smiley added...

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kevutu
Interesting, i must admit, if i look inside myself keenly i fully agree with
this.

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riggins
this article is a straw man.

the author of the 'I quit' article had no problem with hard work. The 'I quit'
author no longer felt their work was meaningful.

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Empathenosis
Cheers, I like the similar thought-process on seeing that.

