> Now, two types of people usually have difficulty seeing this: those that played life in 'easy mode' (well off parents, good education, etc) and can't see how

> Now, two types of people usually have difficulty seeing this: those that played life in 'easy mode' (well off parents, good education, etc) and can't see how it's not as easy for everybody, and people who managed to overcome bad chances and who, due to confirmation bias, can't see that the chances for what they did were slim for others in the same boat but attribute it all to their hard work and smarts (and the lack of those in others). * I dropped out of high school, got my GED * Worked for a call center doing Verizon Wireless tech support, got customer service experience for my resume * Worked for Support.com, got desktop support experience for my resume * Worked on Taos' service desk, was there at the right time for a Salesforce.com Developer opening and was lucky enough that the people interviewing me decided to take a chance on me * While working at Taos there was a co-worker in the NOC working on a little C# WinForms app that I helped out on occasion, he thought highly enough of me that he gave my information to a friend of his * Said friend of my former co-worker decided to interview me, I've now been working at my current employer for three years and have been promoted twice My abilities were a key component of my journey from a low-paying call center worker to a "Sr. DevOps Engineer" making twice the median household income in my area, but they wouldn't have mattered at all without a tremendous amount of luck. If I hadn't decided to quit working at the call center to try and go to college I wouldn't have ended up working for Support.com, since I applied there over winter break as required by the state unemployment office. If I hadn't started working at Support.com my resume may have been tossed in the bin when I applied at Taos due to having no documented desktop support experience. If I hadn't started working at Taos when I did I wouldn't have networked with the people that led to my current employer, they got a government contract when I was leaving that required help desk personnel to get security clearance and I would have never applied in the first place. Not to mention they gave me an opportunity to prove myself as a high-school dropout with no degree, one which I probably only got because I was already an employee with positive references from others I interacted with. I think it's easy for many people to underestimate where pure chance plays a part in their lives and careers, but I know I could have easily wound up doing menial low-paying customer service work forever without it. I merely had the means to take advantage of opportunities when they came up, but nobody gets anywhere without the opportunity to do so in the first place.