> You can do amazing things, 10x better, 100x better than anyone else. It doesn't matter. Nobody will acknowledge it.
Likely someone around will notice and appreciate - but it'd be just a bitter consolation prize.
> but one connection can make all the difference... You just don't have the right parents at the end of the day.
I think it goes much deeper. It's the mindset that matters, not a single connection.
> lucky enough to be born in the right place and right time and with the right friends
Pure randomness does play a big role both at macro and micro levels. At micro level (e.g. team, boss, mentors) I have seen how two ex-classmates in very comparable circumstances ended up with unbelievably different careers (a huge success vs layoff and a career shift to an adjacent field). In their case it's impossible that these differences were due to skills or work ethic.
The effects of macro shifts (e.g. machine learning / data science boom) are also blatantly obvious to me. Catching a huge wave can be effectively be a massive boost to one's skills (the one that people in a stable or stagnating market/industry don't get). One can of course change fields to get in a wave (and many people do) - but some are just literally taken by it.
Likely someone around will notice and appreciate - but it'd be just a bitter consolation prize.
> but one connection can make all the difference... You just don't have the right parents at the end of the day.
I think it goes much deeper. It's the mindset that matters, not a single connection.
> lucky enough to be born in the right place and right time and with the right friends
Pure randomness does play a big role both at macro and micro levels. At micro level (e.g. team, boss, mentors) I have seen how two ex-classmates in very comparable circumstances ended up with unbelievably different careers (a huge success vs layoff and a career shift to an adjacent field). In their case it's impossible that these differences were due to skills or work ethic.
The effects of macro shifts (e.g. machine learning / data science boom) are also blatantly obvious to me. Catching a huge wave can be effectively be a massive boost to one's skills (the one that people in a stable or stagnating market/industry don't get). One can of course change fields to get in a wave (and many people do) - but some are just literally taken by it.