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Comment by hello_moto | Hacker News Reader

> 500+ LC. Kids just stay at home grinding LC all day. There are dedicated youtube channels in Hindi & other regional lang telling you how to dynamic program, backtrack, div & conquer, two pointer....its a whole different scene.

That's because it is a deeply rooted culture/attitude of the people in India (or other developing countries): intellectual one-upmanship (i.e.: my "brain" is bigger than yours).

Nobody wants to be perceived to acquire something (a job, a house, anything) easily; people want to have a sense of the greatest achievement after a tough grind.

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This is something that is really concerning to me. If everybody is pushed towards a STEM job the market becomes saturated affecting salaries (and the associated "prestige" in Indian society). And to top it off young children are forced to give up their childhood to pursue Byjus and other scams that prey on the parents' emotions. I grew up in the professional class in India and a lot of thinking is plain irrational and just driven by a herd mentality and superiority complex. Just toxicity all around tbh.

If someone wants to become a travel photographer and is happy with the job and the lifestyle why push them towards a soul sucking STEM job where they may not even excel? But somehow having a low paying "engineer" job is somewhat better than a higher paying "artist" job in their eyes.

And to those reading from outside of India: WITCH company jobs are actually considered prestigious in India. Maybe not by those who frequent HN (bubbles everywhere) but the vast majority of STEM graduates and their communities.

how in the world is working in Infosys or Wipro prestigious. you are just a robot doing some repetitive task for some random dude on the other side of the world

Because it's compared to lower classes sweeping the streets or dumpster diving.

> That's because it is a deeply rooted culture/attitude of the people in India (or other developing countries): intellectual one-upmanship (i.e.: my "brain" is bigger than yours).

> Nobody wants to be perceived to acquire something (a job, a house, anything) easily; people want to have a sense of the greatest achievement after a tough grind.

We have intellectual oneupmanship and hustle & grind culture in the United States as well too. And contrary to popular, it's not new, as Tocqueville and Weber had made note of it during their days.

I'd say it's different.

Developing nation one upmanship is more like this:

"Oh, so you can get into Google Silicon Valley with just 300 LC? You can't do that here in India; you need at least 500+ to join <insert lesser company>".

How exactly does an American keep up with this level of intellectual one-upmanship ? This was on my linkedin timeline today - https://imgur.com/a/dLpo9G7

Why do Americans have to keep up with that?

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