I think that is possibly why this post is valuable. That is, the OP isn't some kind of remarkable genius. He's just an average person who was in the right place

I think that is possibly why this post is valuable. That is, the OP isn't some kind of remarkable genius. He's just an average person who was in the right place at the right time. I think it perhaps also goes to suggest that some big players might barely understand how they themselves made their money. This is why someone was eager to buy a simple algorithm; they barely know what they are doing. Or why they wanted to hire him as a quant. How bad are their quants that someone with 5 minutes of experience is beating them? After entering the industry, my biggest takeaway has been how incredibly many people do not actually possess the competencies you might have assumed. Every level of the hierarchy is full of idiots whose presence there is mostly due to luck or connections.