
Let's be honest about our tech industry privilege - lladnar
http://www.sfexaminer.com/lets-honest-tech-industry-privilege/
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internaut
If the word privilege has a one to one correspondence to the word success, as
in high profits and wages, then maybe the people who use the word privilege
are asking the wrong questions.

Maybe they should be asking why growth and wages are non-existent in areas
outside of the tech industry.

I mean if you had a solution to that it would lift all boats, right?

Otherwise it just looks like the politics of envy to me and that just leaves a
sour taste in people's mouths.

I don't think this form of politics can even begin to work because frankly the
profits of the tech industry are not high enough to help everybody suffering
in this wage stagnation most people are affected by.

To be perfectly honest when I hear the word 'privilege' it is difficult not to
notice it nearly always coming from people who are only slightly less
fortunate, if that is the right word, than tech sector employees.

The hard truth is that the computer industry (and a small number of other
industries, like fracking or solar) is just an oasis of success/privilege,
call it what you will, in an ocean of misery and diminished expectations.

This isn't the fault of geeks or venture capitalists. It is a much bigger
systemic problem that even generous distribution of wealth cannot solve for.

~~~
blackflame7000
I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments. Its not like tech industry these
days is some oligarchy of exclusion either. The knowledge to learn and break
into the industry is literally at the fingertips of billions.

It often feels like the people the people preaching about others privilege
fail to see their own good fortune.

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nitwit005
"Let's be honest" implies people are denying the perks of the jobs or living
in the area. I haven't seen any such denial.

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chair-law
> _It’s pretty clear all of the advantages we can possibly have in the S.F.
> tech scene. But what about the techies that don’t have it all? No one talks
> about the lack of privilege for black men and women, or for women in
> general. What about the people who went to state school for undergrad and
> never went to grad school? And the people who didn’t get into YC and are
> trying to raise money?_

I can empathize with this point. Coming from a state school, and parents who
don't have a ton of money, I've found it challenging to break into a better
paying job. I'm doing an internship with a pretty decent company. They are a
giant bank, and our application is used by tens of millions & the work is
enjoyable. However, just today I spoke with a new hire, and he only makes
$85,000/yr. I am unsure if I should look for full-time work in another city
like Raleigh, NC, where $85,000 would not seem like a compromise. I am just
worried I won't be able to find as good of people to work with/ as interesting
of work.

I would love to get into a startup, but found all of the interviews I had at
smaller companies to end with, "We do not feel you would be a good cultural
fit." I am unsure if the solution is to just be less ambitious, and settle for
what I have worked for.

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xupybd
Not sure if gloating or apologising?

~~~
ctvo
Maybe just badly written. A lot of words to describe something no one has
contested and a mention of those without the privileges as an afterthought.

