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bobsomersHNSource author
Lessons learnedExperience excerpt · English

I don't come from poverty, I come from a firmly middle class background

… I don't come from poverty, I come from a firmly middle class background. We were a single income household where my dad was a public attorney. Nobody in my immediate or extended family worked in tech. Over the course of my ~15 year career, I've built up a fairly extensive network of former coworkers, many of who I'm sure would try to hire me or get me referrals at their companies if they found out I was on the market. None of this was built through nepotism, as I literally had no connections in tech when I started out. So, that's the question. The author claims they have had a 20 year career. What happened to all those connections? Do they have a bunch of connections, but no prior coworkers would want to work with them again?

Original discussionThe great displacement is already well underway?500 source comments · at import
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didibusHN

> I come from poverty. my father was a drug addict who is dead. my mother is disabled and i’m helping support her. my grandparents are dead. my friends are on the west coast, dealing with similar financial hardships and they are already living with their parents and on couches. I’m not above asking for help, but there is no one to ask. I wonder how much this factors in. We know from statistic this situation tends to lead to worse outcomes. Basically those connections you are talking about, are some form of nepotism and a kind of privilege. Should it be this way?

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squigzHN

I don't think GP was talking about TFA - and thus not a professional network - with regards to nepotism, but rather being able to depend on family. In any case, networks can be hard to build and maintain, and they can easily fall apart if you fall into a rut.

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em-beeHN

as i wrote in my other comment, for myself a 20 year career only led to a dozen or so meaningful connections. and, in my culture, using connections to get a job or a deal IS considered nepotism if not outright corruption.

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