taway20171214

people only get backed into corners (i.e., exclusivity, compelled actions, or some kind of limitation on funding, bad pricing) when they're desperate.

protip: never be desperate.

easier said than done, sort of like "eliminate refined carbs from your diet" or "save enough for retirement" or "stop looking for love in all the wrong places"

> So who has the best human expertise is irrelevant.

i agree, there's no way on earth any chinese firm could have the best shoe-making robot plant in 20 years. we all know chinese people aren't smart enough for that.

we're a small managed private+public cloud services provider and we only have 2 full time operations engineers to support 30+ client companies. we also have a handful of consultants that do specialized work, working a handful of hours each month. they seem to be serving a small cluster of customers each also.

we could support 40, our existing 2 engineers are basically under-worked - we have 2 because it would be insanely irresponsible to have just 1, aside from company ownership (which is able to do the work also, if needed). if we absolutely had to, we could cut that down to 1 full time guy. let that sink in; 1 full time guy to manage 40 customers.

having said that, we're still growing as a business, because we've embraced the new reality, but it hasn't been without turnover and pain. we're also putting money into developing products.

the kicker is, even with the R+D, we're more profitable now than 5 years ago, with LESS ops folks (ostensibly less people to do the actual work, though we all know that's not what's really happening). i imagine the same exact thing is playing out with larger in-house staff, as you describe.

this is the new model. WAY more output from less but higher paid full time people, small networks of high-$ specialized consultants, and smaller firms and IT groups working in mercenary fashion. embrace it, or you will bleed yourself dry in less time than you think.

how about: in the year 2036, the chinese are just better at making shoes than anyone else, because they've been doing it for 60 years?

why is this so difficult for you to imagine?

i mean, i'm pretty sure i know why, but ask yourself.

the same goes for real life stuff that you don't use on a daily or weekly basis. just get rid of it if you haven't used it in a year.

> The problem is the paycheck. Do I want to risk it all, throw away my savings, all for a chance at success?

here's something nobody seems to mention.

most people don't risk everything once, then exit with a set-for-life payday a few short years later. that's the rare minority of entrepreneurs. most are moderately successful for many years on end, and may finally do a $multi-million exit after a decade or more of hard work and risk.

after that initial success, you have to risk it all, multiple times, to either keep succeeding, or reach the next level of success. at any point, if you stop risking the status quo you are likely to fail.

in other words it's a self-selecting process. if you are having doubts about risking your meager savings which you can likely earn back within a few years of frugal living while working a high paying programming job, there's your answer.

that's a management consultant, and the reason they're hired is to provide cover and credibility for both management and your technology team.

i.e., "the expensive consultant said it was okay, so don't fire anyone in management, or our technology team, if it goes sideways."

in other words, they're actually helping you do your job because they can compare your recommendation to other companies and teams in the industry and make sure everyone is doing things sanely. in your case, you were smart, and made the right recommendation, so they agreed with you. good job, you're competent, and aren't putting an established company into a risky situation like you would at a startup, which generally does not hire consultants, because they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

you probably didn't see it that way, i'm guessing.

> a lot (but not all) of my asian dude friends had a bad time with dating for instance

i was mainly talking about raising existing families, but yeah, this is true also. basically if you're not in the top 5-10% financially and physically as an asian guy, just forget about having a romantic life.

look dude.

in america, if you aren't white, living in a place where it's 90% white is really, really, really unpleasant. people basically treat you like human garbage on a daily basis. this has a massive effect on your well-being and psychology, triple so if you are a child growing up in that environment.

i wish you would at least try to attempt to understand this instead of using the 'lynching' hyperbole which is obviously just you using the extreme opposite end of the experiential spectrum to invalidate the real life experiences of people who have to deal with racism constantly.

and honestly, i think by using a word like that you at least know, deep down, what the deal is.

> their worst experiences of in-your-face, constant racial/ethnic discrimination and tension in the US are almost always in the Midwest

i'm asian american.

here's what life is like somewhere other than maybe 3 or 4 cities in the US:

1. constantly explaining to people why i am not white (where i'm from, where my parents are from, why my last name is what it is [it's anglo])

2. children are constantly getting the 'eyes pulled back' and other racist names/gestures at school, and all the adults (teachers/admins) think its hilarious too (it's just a joke! don't you love being the butt of jokes? why can't you just let everyone make fun of you all day and take it silently?)

3. name-calling 'chink', 'gook', etc are normal occurrences, not exceptional events.

4. the general feeling that nobody thinks you're really american. i.e. when discussing whichever asian country is in the news today they'll say "no offense".

5. oftentimes being ignored by people, even when you walk right up to them and ask them a question. for example when shopping in a store.

6. hyperawarneness of the hollywood situation (in tv and movies white people = gods, everyone else = a literal joke)

7. limited cuisine that you grew up with (although this one is changing)

basically it's just non-stop suffering. that's why everything is cheap in the midwest. it fucking sucks unless you are the 25% of the population that its designed for.

quite frankly if i had kids, i'd rather be STRUGGLING in california than outright RICH in the midwest, because i don't think you can be rich enough to actually buy your kids a good enough life to make up for racism. it's borderline child abuse.

the kicker of course is not only do i experience this kind of stuff in i.e. michigan, people visiting from the midwest do this to me in my own home city.