jmadsen

I'm curious to see how many of these people who make SF level salaries while living in the Midwest stand up for their beliefs and refuse the 6 months severance

Not that most of them wouldn't be able to afford to

"Read all about how I refused Basecamp's buyout and spend a year snorkeling in Belize to make myself feel better"

I submitted this because I've been thinking about this problem a lot lately, and so was pleased to find this.

I'm unable to find any "meaty" articles, however - everything I find is pretty much press release stuff. Would love better links and a knowledgeable discussion on the plastic-to-anything-useful work being done.

TIA!

Am I the only person who was angered because I assumed they were doing a piss-take on a serious subject?

Fuck's sake, people - learn how to explain yourselves in the context of your known readership.

It was not, and stayed not the next 5+ years

There was a recession, actually

sorry, I don't have a more scientific link to point you to, but thought the topic would be interesting to this group

Which part of Japan are you in? There are two very active Slack communities (Tokyo & Kansai) that can help you even if you can't do face to face with anyone (http://hnkansai.slack.com is use; can't recall Tokyo's off the top of my head, but sure someone will supply it)

I think you would benefit greatly by finding a partner of some sort. A business partner might be good down the road, but for now just a "mentor/stick-shaker" type to keep you motivated and on track with things. It can be very, very hard to do what you are alone.

You sound like getting work & getting things set up is not an issue, just keeping them going. Come join us and find someone to just check your progress each week to get you out of the rut. Little weekly progress checks may sound corny, but if you're a one-person show they can make all the difference

Started bouldering at age 48. Stronger than I've ever been in my life, and in better shape generally since my mid-20's

This isn't really the main point of his article, but he glosses over one very important point about young people & the work ethic today:

People who get labelled as "freeters" aren't necessarily bouncing from job to job voluntarily. For decades Japanese corporations were labor-heavy because of life-time employment. When the bubble burst, they broke that unspoken promise and shed themselves of thousands of workers.

When things picked up again, instead of returning to that previous promise, they hired temporary workers. No benefits, no annual pay raises or twice a year bonuses, etc. (And no loyalty from these workers)

The Japanese corporate system is set up that you are hired after college at a low salary, but you are guaranteed a steady climb until you can retire comfortably in the end. The corporations pulled the rug out from under that system.

So you now have many young people who have been fully employed at MegaCorp for 3 years, but on a contract basis, never knowing when it will end, never getting a decent raise...

If you read newspaper and magazine articles here you realize there is an enormous sense of insecurity among the 20 to 30 year age group; and so they are unwilling to take risks, get married, buy homes, etc. People are retreating into themselves.

It would make sense that that is linked to minimalism - or at least, a reduced consumerism - but that would only be my own speculation.

Off Topic - I do wish magazines that exist for long form articles would build the page so you could use the space bar to advance without covering the top lines with their navbar.

I don't sit and relax with long form story on a Sunday morning on my phone

lawyers don't write in a bunch of permission clauses.

they turn what their clients asks for into legalese.

Are there any alternatives out there that let me:

1) Oauth2 into my account so I can see new postings in my subscriptions (not "the one you've been avoiding clicking for 8 weeks")

2) Minimalist dashboard that doesn't have all the "recommended for you" clutter

3) Simple search results like the one here?

4) A "show me similar" button next to vids that would let me pick out my own recommendations if I want to expand on what I'm watching, and not get signed up for all the crap their broken algos throw at me

It seems to me the whole problem amounts to companies deciding to redefine the word "entry", then acting all disappointed when no one else uses that definition.

"Entry" means "to enter the workforce". It means you have pre-work experience such as a specific degree, speak a certain language, etc.

If you advertise an "entry level web development" job and I just boot camped for that, I am qualified and will apply.

If you want "Junior Developer", say so.

(Comment by someone that this is a gimmick to reduce salary sounds pretty right on.)

I think it is xenophobic in Japan, but the point they were trying to make is more that many of the jobs require licenses for anybody, and much of it very difficult for foreigners because it is so difficult to learn the language.

To give an example: a huge number of people from the Philippines, Malaysia, etc are recruited and trained as nurses and caregivers for the elderly - but after intense training, the majority are sent home only because they fail the language requirements.

You really can't be a nurse to an 80+ year old if you can't speak the language or read the medicine bottles, xenophobia or no xenophobia.

I don't think they are being clever enough in finding ways to get around that problem, but at the end of the day it is not that they are trying to keep foreigners out, just that the bar is very high.

This is a different issue from things like refusing to take in any refugees (something like 27 total in 2016) or offer permanent status & long-term to workers (much like the German "visitor workers"), which is driven entirely by xenophobia IMHO (and the open statements of many elderly).

See how this is an example of how the need to take a swipe at some group ends up making you look foolish?

Your point was that trains are "self-driving cargo". If you'd left it at that, this would have been a clever comment.

Instead, you look like someone who doesn't realize the US has massive, massive, massive amounts of train-hauled cargo because all he knows is we don't use commuter trains as much as other countries.

You're right. The article I read was more business oriented and used both terms, and I didn't notice.

Interesting - was just reading this morning about Astranis & their low-orbit satellites to supply more of the world with broadband

Seems like a tie-in, although Electric Thrusters themselves look bigger than the satellites right now.

That's everything I know about both subjects, so no idea if this is a useful comment or not :-)

I'm trying to page you on Yahoo but not getting an response :-(

EDIT: oh, I see your note "my yahoo pager is screwed too"

I had to use a js library for something today.

npm install downloaded 113 new packages. I'm not even a javascript programmer; I'm saddled with being "full-stack"

I'm supposed to read all that every time I need a new library? Or write it myself, when I have absolutely no idea how to build something that complicated, if I had time, negating the whole point of OSS in the first place?

I gave regularly to kiva,org, charitywater.org & local causes. I do the occasional programming volunteer tasks when I have time & find a fit (usually small things like giving web site support to small local charities).

On the side I'm trying to work more with #a11y & accessibility, as well as a lot of mentoring & teaching in programming

Sorry, I'm not a billionaire with too much time on my hands. With two teenagers that's the best I can do right now.

wow, lot of wrong and irrelevant assumptions in that statement.

I voted you back up.

There's famine, there's lack of clean water and toilets, there's lack of potable water, etc, etc, etc...

I'm a defender of "pure science", but there are better engineering projects to challenge yourself with.

Are you sure you are doing the right job for you?

It's all very nice that it makes you a lot of money, but if you are spending a third of your life doing something that you constantly have to force yourself to do, perhaps a different career.

had never thought about that - I've lived in Japan for 14 years where we hang dry, and yes, I have some pretty old stuff that is still in fine condition

One thing the article missed but for me personally is an important point: the rise of minimalism

I'm not the type of minimalism you write about, but clothes last for ages now & I just don't want lots of stuff. Especially here in Japan we do laundry every day, so I just don't need very many items. Just some comfortable layers, enough to have a little variety, I'm all set.

(I'm leaving in the morning for 2 weeks in Florida. My wife was laughing at how tiny my suitcase is - really just a carry on.

I informed her it was only half full.)

(for entirely different reasons, I just switched back to HTML version of GMail. Amazing the amount of RAM it uses & the completely unnecessary number of connections & push notifications it clutters you with. I suggest you try it for a few days.)

I dunno. I use Slack for a couple of groups as well as my full-time remote work.

I turn off all notifications & just check from time to time. I have a project manager who tends to pester me with DMs a little too much, but if I'm trying to concentrate I just turn it off.

I'm 50 years old & still "pre-internet" in much of my thinking, but I don't have a smartphone, turn off ALL notifications and then turn them on one-by-one on a need only basis, and still can't figure out why people have so much trouble managing their internet lives.

It's not the tool that's causing your problems.

I use Google Translate extensively to help write things in Japanese - considered (one of) the most difficult languages in the world.

I show the results to Japanese people who nearly always tell me it looks just fine to them.

I have also passed off translations as my own work on tutoring sites like Lang8 and had natives correct "my work". They often will give a slightly different wording, but I have never had an "WTF does this mean?" type response.

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I think it is important to distinguish the difference between a perfect translation with nuance, and a simple "I need to make this point" translation that is what we need most of the time.

Thank you. Yes, that's what it's about.

However, it's not so important to get companies to directly donate if the developers who use it push for the donations.

Contrary to Supreme Court rulings, companies aren't decision makers, people are.

"Of course, this inefficiency plays well into the politics of one of the parties, who hold a religious belief that private enterprise is always more efficient than government"

Which is beyond ironic to anyone who's worked in the corporate world, but I guess that's for another thread.

This idea they have that private enterprise naturally evolves toward the most efficient system is laughable.

Thank you!

The number of people who are posting, tweeting, etc looooong convoluted theories & explanations, and yet can't seem to figure out that this was a civilian warning system & nothing more, is amazing.

What happened in Oahu was essentially that a guy ran out in the street shouting "the sky is falling!". His button let him use some push notifications to everyone's phones & TVs, but little more.