The classic example of rent-seeking, according to Robert Shiller, is that of a feudal lord who installs a chain across a river that flows through his land and then hires a collector to charge passing boats a fee to lower the chain. There is nothing productive about the chain or the collector. The lord has made no improvements to the river and is not adding value in any way, directly or indirectly, except for himself. All he is doing is finding a way to make money from something that used to be free.[4]
Don't worry, the anti-alcohol policy is coming. DNA screening sometime in your future. It might be illegal now, but that will change. DNA machine learning algos probably already built by health insurance companies.
...These experimental compounds—as well as the steps taken to produce them—were written up in small, peer-reviewed science journals and more or less forgotten, until the underworld began to repurpose these articles as recipes for recreational drugs. David Nichols, the utopian chemist who once dreamed of a drug that would end all war, now finds himself faced with the grief of parents like Eric Brown, whose son Montana overdosed on 251-NBOMe, which was brought into the mainstream through his research.
...Whereas it takes some 4,000 workers to assemble a million gasoline-powered engines per year, just 1,840 are needed to build the same number of electric motors, the study claims. And a battery factory requires only a fifth of the workforce when compared with an engine plant...
Google has $1.39M in revenue per employee, along with awesome profits. Apple has $2M revenue per employee. These companies are not typical. The public company I work for has revenue of $200K per employee, and almost zero profit. So, if you work for one of these outliers, you're probably safe. The rest of us are a different story.
Nearly 10,000 employees of the University of California system pulled down more than $200,000. This includes 65 highly compensated public employees who made between $1 million and $3.6 million.
Across the country, some of the largest salaries were paid out to athletic coaches at public universities. The retired football coach at University of Oregon received a $558,689 annual pension, and the fired Arizona State football coach got a $15 million payout. Nick Saban, at the University of Alabama, made $11 million.
Wow, this is a $2B mistake. Funny thing about very wealthy people, they think because they had success in one area that it will translate to success in another. Most likely their timing and luck were perfect early in their career. I don't think timing is on his side here.
There are a lot of opportunities in health care and marketing in and around KC. The $85K figure in post above for Sr. is on the low side. Cost of living is a huge plus. Rents adjacent to downtown KCMO can be had for $1,100 per month. I think the average home price in metro area is about $200K. There are lots of pockets of middle-class neighborhoods. Gas is $2.30 per gallon today, which is $2 cheaper than CA. Google fiber has this town wired, 7 years later they are still laying fiber. Two months ago I saw a crew 20 miles from downtown laying conduit for fiber, this would be on the edges of the city, what you might call semi-rural.
At least you're thinking ahead. A lot of kickstarters have trouble delivering. Perhaps you ramp up your ask to 50,000 buy the equipment that will allow you to be super productive.
There are 8 listings for Programmer, what an awesome way to get started. There are also software/computer support apprenticeships available. Get paid while you learn. I continually see posted on this board "how do I get started...". It's just amazing to me the number of opportunities in the USA for younger motivated people. I think the real issue is location and motivation, not the lack of job openings.
Start with where you work, find out what brand of database your company uses: PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL etc. If this is not your current situation, then you are on your own. There are more than enough free resources online to get you moving in the right direction, motivation not included.
I don't think you need Excel, you can do whatever you need in SQL: pivots, medians, averages, aggregates and transformations of all kinds. In terms of speed and flexibility, you should be able to shame all those "Excel experts". After all, that Excel data probably came from a database to begin with.
An Amazon recruiter messaged me via LinkedIn. He thought he had an opening that fit my profile. He sent me a link to an online test/questionnaire. The content of the test: Active Directory, Linux Commands, Exchange Server - not even the same ballpark as my skill-set, as my background is SQL Developer. Half way through the test I was bombing, I just quit, it made absolutely no sense. I suppose it makes no sense unless you have another agenda, like using it as proof to say: "we can't find qualified workers"
I tend to agree with this guy, BUT, the gatekeepers are low-level HR people who do not think "increase costs" and "decrease revenues" they are looking for boxes to check. You have to get through AI and HR firewall before you can talk B2B strategy.
I am burned out on software, would love to be a machinist. But I am not interested in huge pay cut. I am thinking about building a machine shop in my garage.