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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   3878 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 14, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Anyone else notice they are they getting downvote more often on the 'orange site' (for those who use it) or reddit or are getting much more negative pushback than usual? Or antagonism? I have at least. I am not referring to here. I think a lot of people are having a bad time, are struggling, and this is manifested in the form of increased anger online. It cannot be blamed on Covid anymore, as that was years ago, but it seems worse now than shortly after and during the pandemic.

Somewhat related. I've noticed that the quality of hackernews discussion has decreased in the last year.

There are a lot more Communist teenager vibes now then there used to be, and I'm afraid its heading down the same path as Reddit with left-wing politics drowning out everything else, even topics completely unrelated to politics.

I suppose a lot of mediocre people entered the software field with expectations of easy work cheap money and now they are pissed and have way too much free time.

Also it is terrifying for any FAANG employee to watch Elon take over Twitter, fire 90% of the work force and keep the site functioning just fine.

Also it is terrifying for any FAANG employee to watch Elon take over Twitter, fire 90% of the work force and keep the site functioning just fine.

For 90% of the employees.

Hiring methods of top software firms are heavily tuned for eliminating false positives at expense of lots of false negatives. This works alright because there was also a massive boom in the industry which meant you could just apply to 30 high paying jobs and would surely get some offers if you knew what you were doing. If this system gets 10 times more competitive even the most competent engineer will suffer quite significantly.

I've been through dotcom crash and the Great Recession. It wasn't fun, but not only the industry survived - all competent people who I know not only found jobs, but prospered and advanced. It is true that one may suffer temporary setback and find oneself temporary unemployed or financially disadvantaged, but I think the demand for competent engineers is still strong. Maybe not with over 500k salary, but I think it is possible to eke out a modest living on something like 5x median national salary too.

Also it is terrifying for any FAANG employee to watch Elon take over Twitter, fire 90% of the work force and keep the site functioning just fine.

Notable that I STILL haven't seen anyone admit they were wrong about this. Where are the mea culpas? So many people were confidently predicting the site would go down, even here.

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