Would you like a socialist society? Do you want a welfare state? I don't. Why shouldn't some people be able to afford luxuries like names on buildings?
If something is going to have an effect on profits, you can bet on the fact that a company will fight against it, hard. Because SHOCKER the point of a business is to generate PROFITS.
I think you're wrong in thinking that businesses will just give up, and take lower profits. No. They're going to cut hours, fire anyone they can, etc. to maintain their existing profit levels.
Raising the minimum wage WILL increase unemployment. That's Economics 101. Companies are going to find ways to fire people, or give them fewer hours. Raising the minimum wage to something like $15 would be ludicrous.
Most people get wealthy by working for other people. Depending on what you call wealthy. 1-2M in investment accounts and a paid off home is very affluent/wealthy to me.
Also, to say those people aren't creating wealth is very offensive.
Mid and lower class people can definitely get rich by saving. Of course their savings don't add up to millions, but you're completely disregarding the returns of a decent mutual fund. At 4-7% real returns, the amount they have after a 20-40 year period is wildly different from the raw amount they've put in/saved, due to the power of compound interest. So although they haven't SAVED millions, they HAVE millions.
I can't believe people on a forum such as this are completely financially illiterate. The 7% rate is already inflation adjusted. The nominal rate is about 10%. So plug in a 7% real return. The result will be in 2015 dollars.
If you can always find a job and have side projects to fall back on, I don't see the point. However, if you imagine yourself taking a shot at climbing the corporate ladder at a huge company, a degree is absolutely essential.
I also have a side project that would be able to support me, but I do attend college. In my opinion, having that piece of paper (provided you don't go into massive debt for it) is much better than not having it.
A lot of them sell for much less than (monthly revenue) * 12. I haven't personally purchased a site from there, but I know people who have.
You don't need to buy something from there -- you can simply use the site to find niches where people actually make money.
Making money online can be done. Example: I started a Minecraft server early on, sold in-game benefits, and now make $5-15K (depending on season) per month. A friend of mine makes way more. Here are the stats he sent me recently: https://i.gyazo.com/81718cef2295bbf4df8a6d9892d140c1.png
One of DHH's bits of advice is to find a niche and focus on profiting enough to support yourself. The internet is the best place to do that.
Idea for anyone interested in starting something that supports just you: visit Flippa.com. Sort by revenue. Save up, and buy something on there that you can grow from $500/mo in revenue to $1000/mo, then to $2000/mo, etc.
There are tons of sane businesses being sold on there that you can buy up and grow. At the very least, you'll see what actually makes money.
That makes sense. I do want to make sure I'm not just memorizing strategies though. I want to be able to figure things out independently, with my own logical thought.
I'll continue learning. Getting problems right and watching those tests light up green on Codingbat is a very nice feeling. I do get genuinely upset and frustrated when I can't figure out a problem, though. I'm not sure whether that means I hate coding or like it deep down.
It feels like cheating though. Once you ask someone for help, the problem is dead. You haven't solved it yourself, and now even if you do solve it, it won't count. Someone told you how to do it. Your interviewer isn't going to help you with technical questions.
I see a lot of people that can do things much better, and faster than me. It's intimidating. There are also some problems that I can't even solve in pseudo code. I literally just can't come up with an algorithm that would work. I get a few ideas, and then quickly realize that they're all terrible. Yet I'm sure that there are people that can look at the same problem and come up with 5 different solutions in 30 seconds. I can do a lot of problems, but I think it's just because they're easy. Every time I stumble upon one I can't do without looking stuff up, it ruins my whole day. I begin to get really frustrated and wonder if I just don't have the right type of mind to be a programmer.
That's why I was asking for a problem. I need one that will tell me if I have the right brain wiring/mind. "If you can't do this without outside help in X minutes, you should quit learning to program." Not incredibly easy like FizzBuzz, but not incredibly difficult. Somewhere in the middle.
I'm definitely not obsessed with programming. I can force myself to practice regularly, though. All it takes is discipline.
I wouldn't pursue it if it wasn't lucrative; that'd be irrational. But I'm not interested in money alone. I also want time, and the ability to create things that generate some sort of business value. Does an investment banker like what they do on a day-to-day basis? Plugging stuff into Excel? No, that's mind-numbing. But they get their satisfaction from seeing a deal that they participated in featured on WSJ.
I also want a hard skill. Being an "idea guy," doesn't cut it.
It's hard to say. Would I rather watch a TV show than solve a brain teaser? Yes. But I can replace "solve a brain teaser," with just about anything there. I'm not lazy, I can work, but I'd be lying if I said I enjoy work MORE than leisure.
I'm interested in the practical aspects of programming, like being able to create something that produces value out of nothing. That's something I can get excited about. I'm not stupid; with enough thought I can solve a lot of Codingbat-esque problems. But it feels like high school math class.
