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How rich kids already won the career game

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Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#101

Post by epochwolf »

JonnieCache wrote: post #67
Duff wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bartender does that only until he gets busted by a police sting operation. A good friend of mine had his nascent teaching career destroyed when he some confident-looking 20 year old chick dropped a 6 pack of Bud Light on the counter of the store he managed part-time. He didn't bother asking for ID (which he was typically pretty strict about) and was led out in cuffs. He received a conditional dismissal after 3 ye…

I think things are a bit different in the US.

Parent said this was in New York State.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#102

Post by Alex3917 »

jobu wrote: post #97
Alex3917 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"His point was that rich kids have better attitudes, skills and perceived work ethic which is simply not true." I mean I can point you to any number of academic studies confirming this, e.g. Hart & Risley's Meaningful Differences book. Or just go to any elite private university and compare the kids who are there during summer session with the kids who are there during the rest of the year. The only real difference is…

You could probably say the same thing about the summer session at most universities. The kids willing to give up their summers for education have a different level of drive than the ones that attend the rest of the year. Not that summer session is always the best course of action. An internship will go a lot further toward most careers than a few extra classes.

"The kids willing to give up their summers for education have a different level of drive than the ones that attend the rest of the year."

Not really, if anything it takes less drive. It's vastly easier to take classes over the summer (when classes are usually easier), and then do your internships in fall or spring when there's no competition. The only reason not everyone does this is that it wouldn't be financially viable.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#103

Post by zeemonkee »

danssig wrote: post #99
zeemonkee wrote: post #64

"I believe my generation will overthrow the arbitrary and brutal authority of corporate capitalism and bigoted conservatism in favor of rationalistic, libertarian socialism driven by a scientific approach and a concern for universal social justice." That's what my generation believed. And my parents' generation. And their parents....read some literature from 100 years ago, for example by the Fabians or other socialis…

>That's what my generation believed. And my parents' generation. And their parents That doesn't mean it will never happen. The world is changing rapidly, it stands to reason that even more big changes could happen. I think "human nature" is a bit of a red herring. We don't currently have any scientific way to separate how much of how people behave is social/environment programming and how much is "human nature".

> That doesn't mean it will never happen. The world is changing rapidly, it stands to reason that even more big changes could happen.

Rapidly compared to what ? 1900-1960 arguably saw more significant cultural, technological and political change than 1960-2010. The internet and mobile phone are about the only significant technological breakthroughs in my lifetime - in fact even they happened before my lifetime, but were not commonplace yet.

> I think "human nature" is a bit of a red herring. We don't currently have any scientific way to separate how much of how people behave is social/environment programming and how much is "human nature".

Well, we do have millenia of recorded history. Social mores may change, human nature less so.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#104

Post by smackfu »

ramanujan wrote: post #34
hartror wrote: post #13

I think this article is preaching to the wrong crowd here on HN. A entrepreneur is by definition an upstart, an usurper who is out to break the conventions. You can't do this by being a quite yes man. That said what percentage of entrepreneurs, successful or not come from rich backgrounds? This article's ideas would apply two fold to the startup arena where you cannot get anywhere simply by running on the hamster whe…

Relatedly, 60% of NBA Stars are bankrupt within 5 years after retirement: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3469271 Filing for bankruptcy is a long-standing tradition for NBA players, 60% of whom, according to the Toronto Star, are broke five years after they retire. So it's not completely true that wealth is an advantage that cannot be squandered. And in the US there was a saying that used to be more popula…

"NBA star" != "NBA players"

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#105

Post by Maro »

Tycho wrote: post #72

tl;dr: people with FU Money perform better in their jobs I suppose on the other hand you have to consider that rich kids have less motivation to succeed than middle/lower class people, if they already have all the material things they can realistically desire (the article also didn't site any studies to back up its statistics or claims, so you have to take it at face value)

I'm not rich, neither can I cite evidence to back this up, but looking around in my circle of friends, I don't agree with you.

Rich(er) kids have just as much drive to work on interesting products, find new solutions to problems, etc. And they have the added benefit of not having to worry about making a baseline salary on the side, they can ask their parents to bootstrap them, to find first clients, etc. Sure you can say that there are some who are slacking off on their parents money, but then again there are also middle class/poor kids who don't do anything useful in life.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#106

Post by danssig »

zmitri wrote: post #88

I think it's unfortunate that they mention rich, yet don't mention the advantage of coming from an entrepreneurial family. Whether rich or not, if your parent is self-employed or an entrepreneur it will have a huge impact on how you take on corporate jobs versus someone who's parents didn't start their own company.

I'm not sure how much that matters. It is something new in the last century that most people assuming "working" means working for some company, no?

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#107

Post by danssig »

zeemonkee wrote: post #103
danssig wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That's what my generation believed. And my parents' generation. And their parents That doesn't mean it will never happen. The world is changing rapidly, it stands to reason that even more big changes could happen. I think "human nature" is a bit of a red herring. We don't currently have any scientific way to separate how much of how people behave is social/environment programming and how much is "human nature".

> That doesn't mean it will never happen. The world is changing rapidly, it stands to reason that even more big changes could happen. Rapidly compared to what ? 1900-1960 arguably saw more significant cultural, technological and political change than 1960-2010. The internet and mobile phone are about the only significant technological breakthroughs in my lifetime - in fact even they happened before my lifetime, but w…

>The internet and mobile phone are about the only significant technological breakthroughs in my lifetime

I don't know if you've noticed but these two are having some very large impact in the world right now. Dictators of 30 and 40 years are being cast off.

>Well, we do have millenia of recorded history. Social mores may change, human nature less so.

I think that's a pretty skewed view of history. Another way to see it might be that we used to mostly have largely anarchistic/socialist societies that were overrun by a few greedy people and we've spent the rest of our history taking back our freedoms from the elite few of our day.

Now you could say that even if we ever managed to get to a utopia state more greedy people will just show up but I would counter argue that e.g. Alexander the great wouldn't have gotten off the ground if people could have just sent a twitter to warn everyone else what he was up to.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#108

Post by numeromancer »

He missed some of the other reasons a son-of-a-rich is more likely to have it better in the workplace: experience with business. A SOR is more likely to have grown up around people who talk the talk of high finance, and have friends with the same experience. They are more comfy with those in the business, and those in the business are more comfy with them, because they can speak the same language.

My father worked in a factory, as a member of a union, and I grew up not having the first clue about how the market or business works.

In technical fields, those who grow up in the middle class probably know someone with intricate technical knowledge, and who is a master of their art, even if it is a mechanic, electrician or HVAC repairman, and have picked up at least the feel of the technical jargon from them.

Slightly related, on This American Life over the week-end, they interviewed several people who work in finance at some of the firms who were bailed out by TARP, and they all swore that they had their high-paying job because of their superior talent, and deserved to get payed their tax-payer inflated salaries because they were smarter than most other people. They all complained that Pres. Obama was a meanie to big businesses, trying to tell them what to do and all, and should just leave them alone.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#109

Post by usejoy »

rick888 wrote: post #92
btipling wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The public interest may not be in the public's interest. Inequality may not always be a bad thing. The focus shouldn't be on the gap between the haves and have nots, the focus should be on the dire situation of the poor without worrying about the lives of those better off.

What bothers me is that the only solution to bridge the "income inequality" is to take money from the rich and just give it to the poor. Beyond the mentally and physically unable (which is a very low percentage), poverty is a result of poor life choices. This is what freedom gives us: the ability to succeed or fall flat on our ass due to our own choices, which is why we will always have poverty in our current system.

The only solution is to check back in history how Fortunes are made. It's not with "good for the people" mantra. Do you think that someone who have way to get wealthy at the expense of others will think twice? Do you think that Gadaffi children after few years will not create some STARTUP hedge fund? In my country the old privileged communistic superclass now runs my "Democratic" country with tones of stollen capital, with clean face and i assure you their kids have it all. From Bentleys to AstonMartins, from nonfunctional/real businesses to hidden high payed government jobs. It's all the same. All the time. The Game is old, the players are new.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#110

Post by jarek »

rick888 wrote: post #92
btipling wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The public interest may not be in the public's interest. Inequality may not always be a bad thing. The focus shouldn't be on the gap between the haves and have nots, the focus should be on the dire situation of the poor without worrying about the lives of those better off.

What bothers me is that the only solution to bridge the "income inequality" is to take money from the rich and just give it to the poor. Beyond the mentally and physically unable (which is a very low percentage), poverty is a result of poor life choices. This is what freedom gives us: the ability to succeed or fall flat on our ass due to our own choices, which is why we will always have poverty in our current system.

> Beyond the mentally and physically unable (which is a very low percentage), poverty is a result of poor life choices.

Oh, how I want to see you tell that to a 15 year old born in a ghetto.

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