Redemption of a Lost Prodigy | Hacker News Reader

Redemption of a Lost Prodigy

nytimes.com

63 pointsaarghh10 comments

This was really great. Very well written story.

The fact that he was able to re-invent himself so many times is a testament to human will and adaptability. I'd wager his violin training in some way prepared him for "what it takes" to change careers, or to excel at a new endeavor.

And wouldn't it be wonderful if those he sought employment with made that very simple, obvious calculation you just made? The article doesn't go into his years at the hotel and how he may have tried other things first before accepting that job- but getting perhaps turned away because of his non traditional background. I suppose we can look at it as his resilience as his ultimate triumph, but he seems to have been partially crushed by it. I feel for him. I do wish and hope that parents of kids who think they want to be pro musicians read his story correctly. It would probably make him feel good to rescue a life from what he endured. And I also hope that someone who is in charge of tech hiring at a company reads this story right, and one day makes the same calculation you did about a person from a non trad but highly rigorous educational background.

This is basically what happens to so many of us. And when we leave music, after studying so many things in great depth, we are treated as uneducated and illiterate; and so much precious time has been lost. And yet they always write these nutty, cheesy articles speaking of "gifts" and "mystics" and "prodigies" like there is some valuable genius that is being squandered. There is no magic in hours of practice, but that isn't the story anyone likes to hear. They like magic. Here's the big secret: everyone at conservatory is already a master player. This is the usual bio of those who can't land an orchestra gig or another position-- which is 98% of us, and the schools know it and know it is getting worse-- there are so few jobs, and what jobs there are are passed on in often unfair ways. (not merit based)Usually those who make it have money or deep connections through a long legacy. And when we try to have other careers, we are not embraced for these "magical genius gifts" people love to talk about in these articles. Everything hesays about classical conservatory is true. It's a life-consuming bootcamp that robs young people of time, money, and hope for a career in most cases. It's a pyramid scheme. I agree the Brahms are the best Sonatas, though.

Interesting. The kid from Searching for Bobby Fischer reinvented himself in Tai Chi and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

How do we get past the message that asks us to pay? I think that should be the default way of posting behind-paywall content to HN. Doesn't make sense to say "Hey, why don't you pay $12 to check out this post?"

Turn off Javascript.

If you phone in and haggle they will give you the sub for 99 cents.

I paste the URL to a window in Incognito Mode and it gets past it.

web sometimes works and outline.com works when that doesn't

>How do we get past the message that asks us to pay?

Open the link in a private tab. It works for me. As this is the end of the month, you've probably used up your monthly allotment of free NYT articles.

It is simple, you pay.

I don't see how it is unfair for a website to ask for a payment in exchange for access to its content.

Maybe HN should allow to add a [paywall] tag so you know what you are in for.

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