swendoog

"Essentially what the dollar stores are betting on in a large way is that we are going to have a permanent underclass in America"

I would phrase that differently.

"Essentially what the dollar stores are betting on in a large way is that we are going to see an increase in the underclass in America".

We've always had an underclass, it's just increasing at an unprecedented rate.

Fair enough... I'm not much of an experienced investor. I had always heard you should invest, invest, invest, and forget about what the market is doing or will do.

I witnessed first hand an entire mobile engineering department at a major US company dissolved. Managers, QA, software engineers, a total of 20 hardworking, dependable people, were shown the door in favor of Chinese contractors who would do their job for a quarter of the price.

Empathy, it seems, is often a cherry picked virtue.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who sees their country selling out to the highest bidder. Can you not understand their fear?

I don't see how they're great for the "middle class". A crash is generally bad for anyone who's invested. I could only see it being good for people who have cash on hand after the crash.

thank you, I'll take a look.

I understand that perspective and I don't disagree. That certainly is the case; Many are there because they understand the financial system better than anyone else. I don't mean to suggest that there is a grand organized conspiracy. That said, I do believe there is a strong network of bankers that promote their self interest.

I know for a fact that I would have far less fear (maybe even NONE) if I were the one flying the plane. One of these days I might take your advice and go for some flying lessons.

I know that the issue at its heart, is about control. In a commercial airline flight I have no control over anything, and that's the root of the fear. It's why I'm not afraid of driving, despite knowing my risks are statistically MUCH higher. At least when I get behind the wheel, I feel like I have the ability to do something about risks as they arise, even if my chances of reacting in time are extremely small, at least I can do something.

I couldn't help but think about being on that flight, for 30 minutes, knowing it was going to crash and being completely unable to do anything about it. I've always wondered what would be going through other people's minds? I would be having a crisis, and possibly would die from a heart attack before the plane even crashed.

For what it's worth, I'm a huge proponent of self driving cars BECAUSE I recognize the potential for a much safer world.

I already had SEVERE fear / anxiety of flying before this video. I'm not sure I'll ever fly again. FML.

(5) has been one of the biggest struggles in my life. At times where I could sleep/wake naturally, I was a different person. I had more energy, I felt more optimistic, and alive. I still had my struggles to be sure, but sleeping in your 'natural' rhythm (whatever is native to you) is far superior to a forced sleep/wake cycle.

The problem is, even if you do contract work, or work remotely for a flexible company, you're beholden to your partner's sleep/wake cycle as well.

I've played video games my entire life. I'm really good at them, and as a result, I enjoy them. Video games have always been my outlet, my "TV", my go-to when I just need to detach and relax. I play ~17 hours a week +/- 3 hours.

I'm not as productive as I'd like to be in my side projects. So I'm trying something new that I started 2 days ago: Quitting video games ENTIRELY.

Here's my theory:

Video games are really fun. The instant gratification of landing a head shot. The skill, investment, and reward of becoming better, and better. The social atmosphere of team based coordination... These things have become my expectation for what is "fun" and "interesting". Years of gaming has reset my subconscious view of the world. How can reading compete with the excitement you get from a round of CS:GO? How can my mind be pulled to work on a long running side project, when I get stimulation and excitement from a game? I need to give my willpower a break, and reset my expectations of what "fun" is.

I'm going on a 30 -> 60 -> 90 day video game "detox" to assess whether or not my productivity (and other mental health factors) benefit.

In the first day (Saturday) I was far more productive around the house, because I was bored. I would not allow myself to play video games, so I took care of shit that I'd been putting off for months. So far, so good. I'll continue to monitor and see if this has been a net positive, or net negative decision (or neutral).

I continue to be thoroughly surprised by the people who are accusing me of things like "protectionism".

If you re-read my original post you will notice that I did NOT advocate for artificially restricting worker supply, or any kind of protectionism.

I merely warned that what we're seeing in tech WILL bring an end to the "high" salaries, and that those who wish to maintain their current state, should consider PERSONAL GROWTH and advancing their skillset as a means of protection.

We can debate all day about whether its a "perceived" lack, or a real lack. I whole heartedly disagree that salaries are, as you put it, "sky rocketing", especially when you account for cost of living in the areas where the "skyrocketing" is happening.

And oh, yes, how dare a doctor who spent upwards of $500,000 in medical training, and devoted years to internships, and residency, be worried about a lowered skill cap or regulatory protections (which they counted on) for entering their profession! How dare they!

Please. Of all the examples of protectionism you could have given, you chose perhaps the most acceptable and understandable. Yes, people care about their livelihood and the ability to retain efforts and investments they have made, so would you.

Unions? How has that worked for every other craft industry in the US?

Forgive my crass reply, but, I have only seen unions become weaker and weaker in the U.S. And even when they were "strong" they didn't protect labor interests against increases in labor supply. Globalization has wrecked a number of industries, which unions were powerless against. The strongest card in the hand of any laborer is their scarcity.

Also, nobody (including myself) is advocating for "playing gatekeeper". I merely made a post warning people of what's coming. If you look closely my advice was to the individual - invest in yourself. Don't count on unions, or governments playing gatekeeper, to protect your current salary.

I just can't share that optimism. I taught myself to code using youtube videos and books. There are 14 year olds on YouTube coding iOS video games in a matter of weeks.

Combine that with the fact that big companies (like Google) release SDKs that make application development trivial, and you've got a recipe for the skill cap lowering along with wages.

Everyone hates a cynic so bring on the downvotes:

I'm going to warn everyone of what's coming.

Software engineer jobs will be blue collar, $40-$60k a year jobs, by 2030.

The HUGE push from government, and private business, to fill the PERCEIVED lack of engineers, will come to fruition around that time.

Make no mistake about it - there is NOT a lack of skilled engineers right now. There is a disinterest among business to pay higher, and higher salaries.

If you are a SWE right now, save your money, and invest your time into improving YOURSELF. Have a backup plan, because I promise you, the good times are coming to an end sooner than you think.

One thing for certain can be gleaned from reading all the responses in this thread: We have no idea neither what the cause of depression is, nor what the solution is.

Everyone here has posted something different. Exercise, diet, sleep, medication x, medication y, prayer, water, gluten, meditation, losing weight, socializing... the list goes on, and on.

If this weren't heavily susceptible to placebo, you'd expect that list to be much shorter. My guess is that just doing SOMETHING makes people feel better.