Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by paxys | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

paxys

There's nothing "privileged" about working at Google. It's a job, like anything else in tech.

View on HN

Given median comp at Google, working at Google is quite privileged.

Going to Stanford is likewise privileged.

Being privileged isn't an insult, just a recognition of fact.

By that logic everyone in the world is privileged compared to those earning 5% less than them, including every person here complaining about a Google employee's privilege. So what does that word mean exactly?

Yes

A wise woman once said: "Now is the envy of all of the dead"

With a few exceptions, everyone here on HN is wildly privileged. The .0001% of world-history.

If you go to the other extreme no one but the richest person on earth is priviledged.

Come on, making 300k a year or more is privilege even within the context of US white collar jobs.

Regardless of the number, getting paid for your labor & skills is not "privilege". Employees at Google are getting fleeced by the corporation and its shareholders just like the rest of us are by ours. Remember the big tech poaching scandal from a decade ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...)?

> just a recognition of fact

It's literally not a fact, it's an opinion.

Hey what's your job? You don't need to tell me. But I'm gonna go ahead and say you're privileged compared to a rural chinese farmer that has never held a phone.

That farmer might be happier though.

Given how many of them leave their kids with the grandparents and move to Guangdong, etc. to work in the factories and live in bunk houses and send money back home, only seeing their kids once a year during Spring Festival, I think they might not be content. (On the other hand, I guess the ones still farming would be happier, by virtue of self-selection.)

Chinese farmer probably has higher data rates on his phone for less per month.

And isn't allowed to play gatcha games or WoW anymore

Welcome to Maoism-Third Worldism comrade

Privilege is necessarily a comparative concept.

Most people in America are privileged compared to a rural Chinese farmer.

The median Google employee is privileged compared to average American citizens.

It's healthy to acknowledge this.

I didn’t deny it actually.

The real healthy thing is to acknowledge what are facts and what are not facts.

A ball is moving 15 mph. Is the ball moving fast or slow?

Btw, you're whole framework for 'privileged' is broken because it's a binary condition and 1 dimsenional.

Check out this incident where a profession NBA player was harassed by the policy simply for being black: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/us/sterling-brown-milwaukee-s...

He makes millions every year playing basketball. Is he privileged?

Yes he is.

Earning $200k/yr without doing anything special is a privilige very few people in the world get to enjoy.

I have no sympathy for these people.

Learn a real skill and do something useful.

Before you jump and say they do have a skill: why are they whining then? People who have skills don't whine when they are laid off. They just go and find another place to work.

The fact that they need to whine so loudly about it tells you everything you need to know: they have nothing of value to contribute, or they were getting paid many times more than their skill is actually worth.

And I bet you think your $50K/$100K/$150K or whatever else salary is perfectly justified and you are adding great value to the world. Why is that? Or will you admit that you are privileged as well?

I have admitted multiple times on HN and elsewhere that I don't think anything I've done in my career has been particularly valueable or useful to society.

I totally own it. I not only don't complain about being "laid off". I often quit jobs myself and spend some "gap" time doing nothing before I find the next job.

Currently I'm not working for anyone because I'm sick of all tech jobs.

Okay then I guess everyone on the planet with a steady job is privileged. What about the business/corporate class? Do you think they have more or less privilege than their workers?

> Often quit jobs myself and spend some "gap" time doing nothing

That is a privilege that not many people can afford, especially lower income workers. You're speaking from an enviable position of privilege while complaining about others having privilege. Perspective.

What makes you think I'm "whining" about anything?

Typically when you use "quotes" it means you're using the same exact words that someone stated. I didn't say you were "whining", I said you were complaining. And you were.

If you ask the people who were gentrified out of the mission when FAANGers decideed the Peninsula wasn't cool and would move into the Mission, if FAANGers are privileged or just a regular joes and janes, I'm pretty sure I can predict their answer.

Ask the rest of the planet and they'll call these mission hipsters equally privileged.

Relative to COL, it depends. I mean sure, If they moved to King City, maybe? But then why all the complaints about SF affordability if the answer is "move to a locale where your income allows you to afford rent without rent control" --if you can find a job"

Reply on news.ycombinator.com