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Comment by lsedgwick | Hacker News Reader

I'm truly sympathetic towards the people affected, especially visa holders. But speaking solely of the macro effects, I have to say, I'm happy this day, stretching from last year to now, has come. We as a community were a very annoying group of people when we were so damn rich and when we thought we were essentially untouchable. And count me in that as well! But a little awareness of layoffs here and (for some people) a little fear of ChatGPT replacement there... well that's a grounding experience. Not to mention the number of people who had sunk into so much ennui and depression over how boring and easy it was. Now a lot of us are jobless and can feel some fire in our bellies again, a time to fight or die.

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Explain to me why I should feel bad about having a good (and/or easy) job when people like 1-2 levels above me in management make way more than I do and have no qualms about being bad at their job?

There is no point or value to this kind of guilt tripping and the perspective here is incredibly limited.

GP's comment is absurd. I mean, if you're not following the grindset and working 3 different jobs at once, are you even really feeling the fire in your belly?

Perhaps C-levels should be better at their jobs and feel the "fire in their belly" (what an obnoxious phrase) to not harmfully impact so many people at once.

pardon the change in topic but what does GP stand for? is is like OP but for a comment thread?

GrandParent. The parent comment of the parent comment :)

I don't think you should feel 'bad', but personally I feel extremely grateful and lucky to enjoy doing something that happens to be very marketable skill.

I often think about people in other professions who have to work harder in poorer conditions for less money.

For me, the best way to direct these feelings is to recognise I don't deserve this any more than those others in any meaningful sense, to try and live modestly and help out others to try and redress some of the imbalance.

The higher paid superiors are just more of a tiny fraction of the population who happen also to be in an extremely lucky position

It makes sense if you lick boots and are a quisling.

From that frame of reference, it's so good the plebs have to continue their gladiatorial combat.

I'm not sure exactly who you're referring to, but your average tech worker is not "so damn rich." Even people at FAANGs in the Bay Area or NYC often have roommates until their 30s and only then can they take a huge loan out to purchase a home on a dual income.

Just because there's people that are in an even rougher spot doesn't make tech workers "annoying." Take a look at the income inequality, it may surprise you.

I went the exact opposite way as you claim, no reason to push yourself harder if you're still likely to get stuck with an arbitrarily decided layoff.

> Now a lot of us are jobless and can feel some fire in our bellies again, a time to fight or die

I don't feel any confidence in my job lasting anymore. If I lose it I'm simply going to choose die, because I don't have any fight in me anymore. My job is the only thing that makes me worth anything as a human, if I lose it I am nothing.

Do me a favor and read over your own comment again.

It's immediately evident that it is a false statement. Perhaps you are sad and lonely. That could very well be the case. A lot of people are in the same boat, I know I am. Perhaps you have other issues entirely.

But that doesn't mean that your job is the only thing that makes you "worth anything as a human". Your worth as a person is given to you when you were born.

Not by the state. Not by your community. But by the very fact that you are a living, conscious thing. Life might be hard, but that doesn't mean without your job you are nothing.

Don’t know your situation, but you can break out of that. I did. First you have to decide you don’t want to think that way. No easy answer, but increasing my income and lowering my cost of living went a long way to giving myself more resources to figure it out. Hope you find a path worth walking to you. Feel free to email me if you want my story.

as many others now have said, you have great value (in my worldview, you have infinite value as a divinely created being, for that matter, not that I expect you to just believe me when I say that). Losing or never attaining success, money, and glamour does put people into disfavor with much of the world, but when you lose those things I really think it can be an opportunity to look within yourself and discover value that comes from a wholly different frame of reference. I’ve met enough people without great charisma, money, beauty, or power, who have still found contentment and joy (at times, at least; many still go through up and down seasons of mental struggle on a monthly or hourly cycle!) because they have found their own worth in the light of different schemas of valuation. And other people recognize these figures too! People know when they meet someone who is content to authentically be themselves without the esteem that comes from, say, a good job, or anything else. Don’t you sense it sometimes, when you meet someone like that? It’s not just charisma, it’s something better.

By that logic, babies, children, retired people, and folks too disabled to work are worthless. Do you really believe that? Please consider getting screened for depression if you haven’t been already.

Babies and children are being raised to work, old people are supposed to have saved enough to cover their own way once they can't. Disabled people? I won't touch that discussion point.

I've not been screened, that's kind of difficult when the waiting list is years.

You can talk to your primary care provider about depression, at least in the U.S. If you don’t have a PCP, it’s true that you may have to wait a few months, but make an appointment anyway. Find out if you can get on a waitlist if a sooner appointment becomes available. Odds are, something will pop up sooner. That’s been my experience.

My dad was laid off three times in his life, including after I was just born. It wasn’t easy, but it was pretty common and expected for blue-collar people in his generation (baby boomers). Don’t make it into a bigger deal than it is.

Good luck.

I'm not an American, the waiting list is indeed years long and in my personal experience the best you can get from a GP is zoloft which is borderline useless, if not actually harmful (in my case).

I'm not trying to make an excuse, I'm on the waiting list for public services. I was/am also on a private waiting list, but missed their one random call 13 months later and got bumped to the back of the list as a result. The system is needlessly cruel and difficult to access.

Your father had a kid, a reason to continue fighting. I have nothing.

Thank you for the well wishes though.

Also: You can walk into any emergency room and they will help you out if things get that bad.

Your job is just a job…

What makes you worth anything is who you are as a person. That’s what makes you everything.

At least to me it seems like you have an unhealthy relationship with your job or just work in general.

I'm only worth something if I can earn and support others. That is what makes a man valuable, without that he's nothing and I am a barely fictional man to begin with. Without my job I'm just a burden on others.

Weird. I’m a guy and never felt this way personally.

Why would I be a burden on others? I’ve never perceived this.

I support myself and that’s all I need. Doesn’t take much at all to support myself, at least in my experience.

hey man, please shoot me an email, I've not quite been in your shoes but would love to talk it out anonymously if you like, or at least just listen if you want to vent more. It's (hidden behind icloud for obvious reasons) chokers_blatant0o@icloud.com

same

I'd much prefer to fight or die at things that matter to me, like my hobby of actuslly fighting instead of trying to play the pointless corporate game even more

Okay jigsaw

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