3 ms·
Unless I'm mistaken it is not like the people handing out bonuses and the people who screwed up are completely separate. Also it is safe to assume that any orga
by orbifold 12y ago
Unless I'm mistaken it is not like the people handing out bonuses and the people who screwed up are completely separate. Also it is safe to assume that any organization of a sufficiently large size will have a fixed amount of incompetent people at any level, simply as a matter of statistics. Maybe the percentage will be less where the people come from field with a (different/harder) selection process like the natural sciences/law/medicine as opposed to business administration. The banking crisis also seems more of an institutional / regulatory failure than a failure of individuals.
The pseudo-democratization of credit availability was something explicitly wanted by the government as a means of stimulating consumption. That this policy was completely misguided wasn't really the fault of the banks themselves who mainly took advantage of the admittedly ridiculous situation.
- collyw 12y agoAre banking jobs given out based on meritocratic ideals, or who your dad knows?
- rayiner 12y agoMost people are there because they got excellent grades at excellent colleges. These criteria objectively select for people who are sharp, though not necessarily geniuses, and have a demonstrated track record of working very hard and paying a lot of attention to detail and deadlines. In many ways, banking hiring is more "meritocratic" than tech hiring. There is less emphasis on "fit" and "culture" and because new hires are viewed as tabula rasa there is less emphasis on criteria that might be gender-biased (e.g. high-school extra-curricular activities).
- tptacek 12y agoIt's funny that this got downvoted grey: my sense is that it really gets under nerd skin that tech isn't a great example of a meritocracy.