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Comment by lukev | Hacker News Reader

Interesting, and I think people should definitely consider "off the beaten track" opportunities like this more.

But for most of us here... it doesn't account for the fact that you're working as a bartender. I don't know about everyone else, but I want to enjoy and be fulfilled by my work. When I'm building awesome software I loose track of the workday... slinging rum for 8 hours a day sounds like some terrible purgatory.

And from anecdotal evidence, I don't think there's nearly so many great income arbitrage opportunities in the high tech sector.

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I think you are undervaluation the benefits of being a bar tender.

Granted you are not writing software but after the first couple of weeks you should be able to start hacking/innovating new drinks and since you properly became a software developer because you like creating new things, this should give you some of the same feeling.

But an additional huge plus: unlike being a code geek, being a bartender is not a low status job and there is going to be a lot of females around - combine the two and you should have a relative easy time getting laid (and plenty of chances to practice).

> hacking/innovating new drinks

Not that this can't be fun, but my ambitions are a bit higher.

> being a bartender is not a low status job

I'm pretty sure being a software developer is a higher status job than a bartender. Of course being a bartender can be more fun for the "partygoer" demographic - which, I suspect, has a narrow intersection with the LessWrong or HN demographic.

I'm pretty sure being a software developer is a higher status job than a bartender.

I'm pretty sure you are wrong, at least if we take ability to get laid as being an indicator of status.

I don't think most people would consider that a very important indicator.

What, really? You don't think that that's a significant part of why being a rock star counts as a really high-status job? Not all of them make a tremendous amount of money, but pretty much all of them can get laid on any given night.

i think most (non-computer) people would consider that the reason for achieving status in the first place.

Status is a combination of desirable things - Money, power, sex.

Bartenders have somewhat more access to sex. But they have less money than a software developer, and less potential for power (there's no ceiling on being a developer - you can run your own business, and potentially become extremely influential. If a bartender gains that much influence/power and owns their own establishment, it becomes disingenuous to continue to call them "a bartender").

Furthermore, this aspect of status is irrelevant when a person is in a long-term relationship, which at some point in their lives most people are.

On the contrary, having a status is a great way to keep your long term relationship going.

By that logic prostitute is a high-status job...

I didn't include all the obvious caveats in my post - it applies only to men, and to getting laid with attractive women.

So yes, a male prostitute with an attractive client base is a very high status man.

(It doesn't work for women, due to the key/lock principle: "A key which unlocks all locks is a very good key, but a lock which is opened by many keys is a very poor lock." Not politically correct, but true.)

Our definitions of high status seem to be quite different. Which is fair enough, considering how subjective that term is.

Next time you're out and you meet some interesting new people, tell them you're the bartender at the hottest club / bar in town.

Compare their reaction to the one you see after you tell them "I'm a computer programmer."

I stopped telling people I was a computer programmer a long time ago. It KILLS the conversation. It's not 1998 anymore. Now I either tell them "I own a software company" or "I do special projects for legal/finance/whatever industry". The difference in how people open up is tremendous.

It's not my fault people have preconceived notions about what I do, but I'm not going to be a social victim of their ignorance. Other professions do this all the time. Insurance salesmen and accountants say "I work in finance." People who sell light bulbs and toilet plungers say "I own a distribution company". Do you think they tell people they "sell toilet plungers" at a cocktail party?

If you're a bartender at some crappy bar full of derelicts I doubt you'll get a great reception, so if you're going to tack on "hottest club/bar in town" to bartender, the equivalent version for programmer may be "Apple/Facebook". That may get you a few "Ooooh"'s from the interesting people.

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