Everyone works hard, and yes some work harder than others. And no one is saying that tech workers randomly won the lottery and should shut up and just be grateful.
But to imagine that suddenly having the fruits of your labor yield 10-100x the wealth that others in life can ever hope to produce, and think that it's just your hard work and not a function of having been blessed both with good talents and an environment in which your value can be exploited -- is sheer arrogance not to acknowledge that. Or be offended that someone points it out. What does being on HN have to do with keeping a sense of reality? We need to create a protective bubble of thought that doesn't offend millionaires?
As Warren Buffett has said, "I was born with a talent for capital allocation. If I had been born in rural Africa, my talents might never have given me the wealth I have today. I would not be so different from my secretary. Our positions might even be reversed. I thank America for that difference."
Maybe the word windfall triggers you in a way that suggests it should be taken away and you didn't "deserve it". No one said that. Yet also, everyone in such a fortunate position tends to grow to think they deserve it fully as a result of their talents and work. When in fact an objective person should see how much the factors have aligned to give you this gift.
Just because you read HN doesn't mean you are exempted from realizing how lucky you are. We're not that much of a bubble I hope.
I think we may be passing each other on the word tech workers -- do you mean everyone who works in a tech company, including customer support, sales, marketing, operations etc or are you defining tech workers as just the people who work with tech, ie engineers, analysts etc. and possibly on the accessibility and rarity because pretty much anyone can get hired at a startup and most startups fail.
Most people in startups are not lucky (relatively to others in the US economy of similar job positions) they actually generally make less than people in established companies and if they don't have a favorable exit are almost always numerically worse off than those who chose the stable path.
The reason I see people typically working in startups is more impact, freedom, the ability to quickly level up etc, but unless your company exits and you get paid from that exit no dice.
I've had friends who's shares were worth less than they paid for them when their company had an exit.
I continue to work in startups because I really find satisfaction in it, (right now trying to get my own off the ground) but I would triple my total compensation as an employee in most cases if I went to go work for one of the big players and that compensation is a real tangible thing not anywhere close of a gamble. It's actually somewhat of a problem right now in how do founders attract good talent for that reason.
I think you simply have an inaccurate picture of the majority of startups and the types of money in them.
But to imagine that suddenly having the fruits of your labor yield 10-100x the wealth that others in life can ever hope to produce, and think that it's just your hard work and not a function of having been blessed both with good talents and an environment in which your value can be exploited -- is sheer arrogance not to acknowledge that. Or be offended that someone points it out. What does being on HN have to do with keeping a sense of reality? We need to create a protective bubble of thought that doesn't offend millionaires?
As Warren Buffett has said, "I was born with a talent for capital allocation. If I had been born in rural Africa, my talents might never have given me the wealth I have today. I would not be so different from my secretary. Our positions might even be reversed. I thank America for that difference."
Maybe the word windfall triggers you in a way that suggests it should be taken away and you didn't "deserve it". No one said that. Yet also, everyone in such a fortunate position tends to grow to think they deserve it fully as a result of their talents and work. When in fact an objective person should see how much the factors have aligned to give you this gift.
Just because you read HN doesn't mean you are exempted from realizing how lucky you are. We're not that much of a bubble I hope.