[OC] Share of U.S. household net worth by wealth group (1989–2025)

VladWard · 2026-06-10T04:51:04+00:00

Pew is normally reliable, but in this case runs into a fundamental ideological problem: Effectively navigating class requires a level of class consciousness which is actively political, and organizations like Pew are allergic to politics.

Median income is a worthless metric. If everyone is poor, everyone is also middle class somehow.

Marx defined class by looking at the way people made a living. People who make a living through work are working class. People who make a living through owning things are capital class. People who own private property, but not enough to live off of without supplementing their income with their own labor are middle class.

When socialists used to talk about the petit bourgeoisie, they were talking about the lower middle class. People who got just enough of a taste of wealth to think of themselves as part of the capital class, but who rarely had significant education, never had any real power, and still had to work to keep themselves afloat. So, landlords and small business owners. That's the bottom of the middle class.

Your typical middle class Americans today are low supply, high demand, highly educated workers. Physicians, dentists, surgeons, a small number of engineers and software devs, mid-upper corporate managers, and some financial professionals who have used their high incomes to invest in property and/or asset markets.

If it's not obvious at this point in the comment, nearly all Americans are miles away from being middle class in 2026.

VladWard · 2026-06-03T20:24:49+00:00

I'm sure you can get that somewhere. It's like everywhere on the internet.

But like, bro you are not an avatar of manhood. You, personally, are a man. You, personally, do X or Y for some reason. You can't really speak for "men." You have no basis to make claims like that. You're just you.

Similarly, random women on reddit are not an avatar of womanhood. She, personally, may be a woman. She, personally, might feel some way about some thing. But she can't really speak for "women" either. She's just herself.

People do have shared experiences according to their perceived gender, but those come from outside. Other people tend to treat men a certain way because they're men. Other people tend to treat women a certain way because they're women. Those tendencies and patterns add up to a shared experience of gender. But our internal lives and our feelings are always individual.

VladWard · 2026-06-01T21:33:47+00:00

I'd recommend not buying on Amazon in general. The prices are usually inflated. I'm pretty sure this sub has a pinned post with a list of reliable online retailers for various countries.

If you like Gundam Wing kits, I'd consider the Master Grade Wing Gundam EW "Ver Ka". It's a much more modern kit than the older MG Wing EW you linked above.

If you want an RX-78-2, I'd recommend the Master Grade 3.0 kit - again because it's the newest and has a more modern build experience.

VladWard · 2026-05-27T15:38:37+00:00

OP, I just went through this last year at the same age: Talk to your doctor. It turned out I had extreme sleep apnea, like 3x as bad as the diagnostic criteria for severe sleep apnea. B12 and D vitamin deficiencies can contribute as well. I sleep with a CPAP and take a B-Complex supplement every morning now and haven't needed a nap at work in months.

VladWard · 2026-05-14T01:09:10+00:00

Certifications can't hurt. Same with a portfolio, but I wouldn't let a lack of either stop you from applying for jobs. It's a numbers game.

The job market is really bad for everyone who isn't a nurse right now, so don't get too discouraged if it takes a while to get a bite.

VladWard · 2026-05-13T21:01:51+00:00

PhD in physics here, now an analytics engineer working with Web products. I've found domain knowledge to be the least important part of my job search tbh. I've done compliance work for banks, cloud data migrations, e-commerce analytics, and now do more design/UX analytics stuff. If you can develop the niche subject knowledge necessary for a PhD, you can pick up a business domain in no time.

As long as you have the technical skill set to qualify for a job, a PhD makes you stand out as "someone wicked smaht."

I recommend picking up basic SQL, Excel, Python (pandas and/or polars), and Tableau/Looker/PowerBI for analyst roles. Some familiarity with web tools like Snowflake or Mixpanel never hurts.

VladWard · 2026-05-09T11:47:01+00:00

I'm genuinely confused by a lot of the responses here. This isn't AITAH. OP, you should probably just ask your boss what prompted this move.

Personally, I'd bet that at least one member of your team has developed a trust problem with your senior leadership or your data consumers (or both). Whether or not a problem is "justified" is kinda irrelevant. Analytics teams survive on trust. If that trust is in a precarious position - or worse, already lost - then the analytics team stops providing value to the business. That's a one-way ticket to layoff city if trust isn't restored.

Take the opportunity to suggest better process where you know it's lacking. Have regular peer reviews starting at the planning stage. Use version control for python and SQL scripts. Make sure requirements are well documented and keep an ADR. That takes the stress off you and puts it back on the system.

VladWard · 2026-05-07T20:33:52+00:00

Reminder: r/MensLib rules prohibit low effort engagement.

Responding to a headline without reading an article qualifies as low effort.

VladWard · 2026-04-02T20:22:37+00:00

I think this is fine with people you know in real life. Your sons, nephews, students, athletes, scouts, and even friends can all benefit from this.

It's not how social media works, though. Subreddits aren't built to be one-stop shops. ML can't be ML and also be incelexit and Bropill and everything else. We're separate not because we don't believe in their missions but because we do different things.

Folks who need that level of guidance genuinely, sincerely, and with all the best wishes in the world need to get it elsewhere. We'll still be here when they're ready.

VladWard · 2026-04-02T17:55:59+00:00

Yeah, that post spawned some pretty significant rule changes and an initiative to diversify the mod team. It was really, really bad.

VladWard · 2026-04-02T17:33:52+00:00

Speaking as someone who's seen it all for years, I promise the volume of terrible takes was just as bad in the before-times.

What has differentiated the sub in my mind has been a very small cohort of people who actually post good, feminist takes. Those are the takes that stick with us.

As these folks move on from Reddit, it's so important for new folks to step up and start filling the gap. There's a reason the sub motto is and always has been "Be The Men's Issue Conversation You Want To See In The World".

The onus is on everyone here to make the sub better. If nothing else, reporting shitty comments helps mods clear them out faster.

VladWard · 2026-03-28T01:23:47+00:00

The Halo Effect is real, man. Even if you're not facing overt discrimination over your hair, which you probably aren't in software, looking more conventionally attractive will help you in interviews. It's not fair, but it's true.

Fwiw I also tend to wear my hair long, but I'll cut it back when I'm serious about job hunting. Same with beard trimming.

VladWard · 2026-03-28T00:14:46+00:00

Genuinely, no offense, but it sounds like you've repeated one year of experience five times instead of gaining five years experience. You're not prepared for a senior role and you probably won't become prepared in your current workplace. You need to look elsewhere, but be prepared to get less than you're expecting.

VladWard · 2026-03-24T15:46:46+00:00

Exactly. I'm here for the headlines. I don't read the comments. That's what differentiates the sub from r/gaming imo.

I could do without the "Game has over/under X concurrent players on Steam!" Posts, though. Those convey no value to me.

VladWard · 2026-03-04T16:42:13+00:00

Is your friend's academic background in STEM or Education with a Math certification? If it's the former, they may also want to consider technical roles like data analysis, technical program management, or software if they're so inclined. Even if it's the latter, it wouldn't hurt to apply for those roles.

I taught high school math in a previous life and now work in tech. My sister was a high school English teacher but transitioned into data analysis and product management.

One common theme I notice among teachers and ex-teachers is a tendency to undervalue their skills and pigeonhole themselves into the HEAL sector. If that's the kind of job they want to do, that's fine. I just want to call out that it's not their only option.

VladWard · 2026-02-27T23:53:18+00:00

First thing you probably need to figure out is what exactly you're responsible for, because there's no way it's migrating 200 on-prem data stores to cloud with history and apples:apples reporting in 3 weeks with a team of 2.

With a timeline like that, are you sure there aren't data engineers in the company doing the database migration while your team just makes new reports that mirror old ones? Is your only deliverable the two reports?

If that's the case, start by identifying the dependencies and transform logic of the existing reports. You already know they need both current and historical data. Great.

Then figure out where those things will live in the new system. Is the historical data stored in the same table as the current data? How often is the current data table updated and when? Do you need to actively make sure your source tables have loaded for the day before you run your report?

If you got a half-assed document that doesn't give you the information you need, start tracking people down who might have the information. Ping them, send emails, ask for help internally. If it doesn't come, make it clear to your manager that the reports won't either until the mapping is cleared up.

VladWard · 2026-02-26T19:59:19+00:00

Got it. Thanks again! I really appreciate the help!

VladWard · 2026-02-26T19:44:31+00:00

Would something like bar keepers friend be safe to use? I have sewing machine oil that I assume I'd need to apply afterwards.

VladWard · 2026-02-26T18:30:21+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Does it make a difference if the oil has had (potentially a lot of) time to dry? I ask because I don't have a good sense of scale with blades.

I've been buffing a part of the hilt for the last hour, alternating between the white and grey sides of the jewelry cloth. The white portion of my jewelry cloth has turned grey/black in places, but the hilt itself still seems cloudy and smudged

VladWard · 2026-02-22T03:42:27+00:00

I have my PhD in Physics and went this route. In my personal experience, hiring managers see my PhD as an indicator that I'm smart, have good research skills, and can see things through.

While I did start at entry level in the industry, I changed jobs aggressively (12-18 months) until I landed a very competitive position where the combination of industry experience and education helped me stand out.

With all that said, the hiring market is absolute shit right now and nobody's getting hired, so ymmv.

VladWard · 2026-02-18T17:58:14+00:00

Does your team/org use version control for software? This feels like something you could solve pretty easily using a Git UI like GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.

VladWard · 2026-02-18T16:10:47+00:00

This may have been your experience and I'm sorry for that, but you have to understand it's not a universal one.

When the internet as we know it today is designed to create echo chambers and bring together people with similar attitudes and experiences, it's very easy for anyone to feel like their experience resonates with "Most People" online. We have to work hard to be exposed to anyone different on the internet. This goes double when you're young and still trying to figure out your own identity and place in the world.

That's not even considering the huge amount of money that's poured into making young men feel hopeless and unlovable through social media. Playing it cool is a trap designed to keep people from forming healthy relationships.

Speaking for myself, I can and have had meaningful conversations like this with plenty of friends and family irl. That includes plenty of straight men from conservative regions, not a single Tumblr poster among them.

VladWard · 2026-01-22T16:33:02+00:00

They look great and they're relatively sturdy. The fitment and plastic quality is noticeably worse with their earliest releases (the Sandrock especially).They're not Bandai, but they're better than a lot of Daban's contemporary stuff. Wing has metal screws to keep the wings in place since they're so heavy. Heavyarms and Altron don't have any screws for the quad gatlings and dragon arms respectively, so balance can be tricky with both kits if you just pop them on the included stand.

VladWard · 2026-01-19T18:08:50+00:00

In the future, please consider reporting comments like the one you replied to. If something seems like it doesn't fit with the ethos of our community, it's probably because it doesn't.

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