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Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates. Behind Every Self-Made Billionaire is a Father with Money
(mohaboelez.medium.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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On a related note, there are also studies showing that luck as opposed to skill is the dominant factor in success. A person who has average skills but enjoys having good a good start in life, who has access to good connections, education, and so on, will have a far better chance of becoming successful than an exceptional person who doesn't get these benefits.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-role-of-luck-in-life-success-is-far-greater-than-we-realized/
I've recently experienced this myself and it's insane. I grew up in what appears (at least to me) to be an average middle class life. I lived at home during college and commuted to my local community college, then state school to get my 4 year degree in CS
I grinded my ass off during college to get a good internship which led me to getting a $220k a year job at AWS with 0 connections. That one position was my lucky break that sent me into a world of connections I couldn't even fathom.
As a result of that job I moved to the bay area and made a bunch of friends both in and out of my field. Through that I've met VCs, mentors, recruiters, and many others who I could get a job interview through just by asking. I've also gotten a few other people jobs through direct referral. Don't get me wrong they still have to interview and perform well, but getting short listed for interviews is incredibly powerful.
I recently got a new job, full remote, amazing benefits, and higher salary than AWS (slightly less total comp) through a friend of a friend. Despite the tech market being awful I went from asking for a referral to signing an offer in 6 weeks with only 1.5 YOE. I'm no one special either, I just knew the right people to get interviews and then studied my ass off to pass them. Most people capable of passing wouldn't even get an interview because it's a numbers game.
It's crazy to think about isn't it. So much of your career ends up being just dumb luck of meeting the right people, and ending up in jobs where you make useful connections. And I have friends who are hands down smarter than I am, who ended up with crappier jobs because their dumb luck took a slightly different turn. I've come to realize that this whole notion of meritocracy under capitalism is pure nonsense. You do have to put in work into your career, but getting the right opportunity is what really matters.
There are plenty of people who are smart and ambitious, but only a few ever end making it. And then it's easy to look back and to start attributing your success to having worked hard, and being smart, and so on. The reality is that you just won the lottery.
I think it's both. I've always subscribed to the idea that you create your own luck in a way. As in, working hard will allow you more "lucky" opportunities, but it doesn't guarantee them. There are certainly people who will never get lucky despite working hard, and there are those who will fall upwards despite doing the bare minimum. As long as you make a comfortable living I wouldn't stress over it, and try to help those who are less lucky around you when you can.
I look at this as a systemic problem, sort of like a rigged game. The dice is loaded in favor of people who have more opportunities, and statistically they're the ones who end up being successful. I think we should strive to have social systems that afford good opportunities to everyone, so you don't have to win the birth lottery to have a good chance at success. I feel that I'm one of the lucky people who make a comfortable living, but I don't think it should be a privilege.