> It's interesting having been early and poor (or relatively so), isn't it?
Yes. The older I get, the more I realize how much of a difference that has made in my entire worldview. More importantly, I notice how often differences in childhood socioeconomic status can make real communication and understanding difficult. In both directions.
> That's part of what makes it harder: [...]
Wow.
That hits close to home.
I have never had any interest in climbing career ladders -- I am a professional dev largely because that's the only marketable skill I have as a consequence of my love of computers. The money is certainly nice and I feel gratitude literally every day for it, but it's not even a small factor in why I do what I do.
That said, I have still been focused on my own world to the extent that I have not done as your mom did. I have not planted trees for the next generation to shade in.
Outside of my own children, who all have the hacker spirit even if their interests are in things other than computers, I have been a part of the very trends that we are worrying about here. I can see a little more clearly now. If nothing else, I owe a debt.
> especially since I often feel crazy
The only people I've known who never questioned their sanity were ones who weren't actually all that sane.
> I think we need to decouple our cultural insights from specific tech skills and teach them to everybody.
Yes. The older I get, the more I realize how much of a difference that has made in my entire worldview. More importantly, I notice how often differences in childhood socioeconomic status can make real communication and understanding difficult. In both directions.
> That's part of what makes it harder: [...]
Wow.
That hits close to home.
I have never had any interest in climbing career ladders -- I am a professional dev largely because that's the only marketable skill I have as a consequence of my love of computers. The money is certainly nice and I feel gratitude literally every day for it, but it's not even a small factor in why I do what I do.
That said, I have still been focused on my own world to the extent that I have not done as your mom did. I have not planted trees for the next generation to shade in.
Outside of my own children, who all have the hacker spirit even if their interests are in things other than computers, I have been a part of the very trends that we are worrying about here. I can see a little more clearly now. If nothing else, I owe a debt.
> especially since I often feel crazy
The only people I've known who never questioned their sanity were ones who weren't actually all that sane.
> I think we need to decouple our cultural insights from specific tech skills and teach them to everybody.
I could not agree more.
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