Out of your Parents Basement: Tell me about going from Goon to Great

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Out of your Parents Basement: Tell me about going from Goon to Great

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

The year was 2004. I knocked up my girlfriend and got kicked out of my parents basement. The shock of actually having to provide for my family made me work twice as hard at work and the promotions followed soon after.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2016 03:19

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 16:30

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

literally this big posted:

Being born in 1980, you are either 35 or 36 years old. The Pew Research Center defines a millennial as someone between the ages of 19 and 35. Others have a broader definitions and wider age ranges. And since "generations" are wholly social constructs, and you closely associate yourself with others born in the 1980s...

born in 1982 to 2004 defines millennials. The new moniker was coined because it would be begin with the first class to graduate high school in the new millennium. Previously it was called "generation Y" or "generation why".

You are right though, it's not a scientific term with a static meaning, so you can group whoever you want into your generation. For me, I'll stick with the angst and malaise that defined everyone I knew growing up and call myself a member of Gen X. Either way, it doesn't matter. The problems of today's twenty somethings can really be traced back to them being told that A) everyone is a winner in their own way and B) if you go to college you will get a good job. Both were lies but they didn't figure it out until it was too late. I don't know anyone with a hard science degree that feels they are significantly underemployed, but plenty of english, history, and political science majors that are. There are just too many of them, and they all thought they would be different and better and that the degree would get them a job no matter what, so why not study what they love? This is all heavily divergent from the original question of the thread though.

-Blackadder- posted:

Awesome! Can you go into more detail?

Everyone is different here, so the specifics of my situation aren't really that important. What is important is that I didn't have a choice but to succeed. When I was living in my parents basement, there was never a day that I had to worry about being hungry. I never had to worry about not having a roof over my head. I made a lot more choices based on immediate gratification in those days. When I was forced out on my own, I stopped loving around at work as much -- getting fired would have been far more terrible than it would have when I had the safety net of my parents. Instead of surfing SA for half my workday I started looking for ways to improve existing business processes. At the time, I was just a schmuck with a lovely job, so very few of my suggestions went anywhere, but the effort involved was noticed and did result in raises and promotions.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2016 05:43

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

Baudolino posted:

You got be lucky or all your efforts will be for nothing. No one can control their luck.

At the risk of sounding like a bumper sticker, "Luck is the intersection of opportunity and preparation."

There is dumb luck, like winning the lottery or finding a $20 bill on the street. Then there is the luck that you are talking about. The luck that Jimmy credits for Johnny's success. Truth is, even if Johnny was "lucky" enough to meet Mr Smith, the CEO of the local Widget factory who offered him a job, Johnny was probably prepared enough to talk intelligently to Mr Smith about the skills he had acquired over his lifetime. He was prepared to capitalize on the opportunity of meeting Mr Smith.

I know it's taking the thread on another tangent, but this article from 2014 may be relevant to the thread.

https://hbr.org/2014/08/employers-arent-just-whining-the-skills-gap-is-real/

# ¿ Jul 7, 2016 05:25

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

JnnyThndrs posted:

This is a great point. Someone could probably convert my single family home into 3 separate apartments, and each one would still be large (~1200 sq feet). 3 people live in my house.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2016 01:24

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

James Garfield posted:

Maybe if by "eliminate student loans" what you really mean is "restore government funding"

I think he means "subsidized student loans". No one in their right mind would advocate eliminating the ability of two parties to consent to a contractual agreement. The problem is subsidized student loans distort the market, creating artificial demand. The result is a rising cost of education, which hurts the people who should go to college by increasing their debt load, it also hurts the dumbasses who otherwise should not have gone, because they end up dropping out and have nothing to show for their crushing debt load.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2016 05:34

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

tbp posted:

i'd genuinely consider myself dead-average in both work ethic and in intelligence yet i've gotten a huge degree of luck over and over that have led to where i am now.

You probably suffer from imposter syndrome. It may sound cliche, but luck is often just the intersection of preparation and opportunity. While there is often some element of randomness to opportunity, 'dumb luck' is often credited where it should not. The fact is you had something in you that someone else saw and you attribute that to luck. Stop selling yourself short and feel good about the fact that you made some good choices in life.

JnnyThndrs posted:

Unless that was a typo and you meant '30's, you're completely full of poo poo.

The early 80's sucked rear end with very high interest rates, high unemployment, high inflation, and no economic growth. Google 'stagflation'.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2016 04:42

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

Lampsacus posted:

tbh all this thread has shown us is that there are some lovely older goons out there who have fallen into the whole 'back in my day' mentality trap. But thankfully, they are outnumbered. Cheers for that info graph. Putting real life stuff like money, income, time into graphics like that is always rather confronting.

The graph just shows that labor has become a commodity and isn't rewarded the same way it once was. The people who provide in demand skills in the right locale are still paid well. We just don't need someone to assemble cars for $25/hr in illinois any more. Also, don't discount the fact that the 1965 production worker worked in terrible factory conditions compared to what you would find today.

yeah, I'm 36 and shouting at you loving kids to get off my lawn.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2016 02:14

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 16:30

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

Claverjoe posted:

I lucked into a fabulous job

Your description is spot on for luck simply being the intersection of preparation and opportunity. It wasn't dumb luck -- you were the right person for a unique opportunity that presented itself at the right time. If you had not done what you had done (which is get an education and make an impression on a professor) you would not have the job you got.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2016 01:56

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Out of your Parents Basement: Tell me about going from Goon to Great