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This has been my experience since I started my career. Some things seem feasible, easy even, but behind the scenes, there are social dynamics which make your sk

This has been my experience since I started my career. Some things seem feasible, easy even, but behind the scenes, there are social dynamics which make your skills/talent completely redundant. You can do amazing things, 10x better, 100x better than anyone else. It doesn't matter. Nobody will acknowledge it. The same thing may be possible (or trivial) for some people because they are lucky enough to be born in the right place and right time and with the right friends (sometimes it may not seem like it, but one connection can make all the difference), but it's not possible for you. Overcoming adversity and defying all odds achieves nothing. You just don't have the right parents at the end of the day. It's like politicians. When you watch them give a speech in the news, it sounds like they're talking to you (or at least, people like you), but they're not. They're talking to other people who are better connected than you. You're not part of this system. It's an illusion, a big lie.

331c8c71 4y ago
> 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.

331c8c71 4y ago

> 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.