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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

#251

Post by giardini »

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".

"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"."

Nope. There's been lots of good research in the last several decades. We are not "blank slates", behavior is largely genetic ("human nature"):

http://articles.cnn.com/2004-04-16/world/pinker_1_behaviors-...

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#252

Post by haploid »

jamesteow wrote: post #248
haploid wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded. The claim that height is some sort of social, sexual, or financial advantage is absurd.

Women prefer men who are taller than them. I rarely if ever see a woman with a man shorter than her.

This is likely due to the fact that American men average a few inches taller than American women. Biology and statistical sampling plus a little bit of confirmation bias.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#253

Post by svdad »

presidentender wrote: post #190

I am fearless because I was poor and it ain't so bad. Being born middle-class must suck.

You have a point. In finance especially, I think being middle class is about the worst position to be in. If you're poor, you get into finance because you're fearless and hungry and worked your ass off. You work on the trading floor and get along fine.

If you're rich, it's like the OP said -- you get into finance because you have casual confidence and connections. You probably already know your boss or some of his colleagues socially, or your dad belongs to the same yacht club. And your boss likes you because you're just like him.

If you're middle class, though, you aren't hungry because you were actually pretty comfortable growing up, and you don't have the connections because your dad is an accountant at a mid-sized manufacturing company and doesn't have a yacht. So you're screwed.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#254

Post by MrMatters »

johngalt wrote: post #209
krschultz wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or if your dad is super rich, he can just give you enough enough money to start your own hedge fund at 25. Connections beat skill more often than we'd like to admit. Sadly, this is not a hypothetical. I belong to a yacht club with more than 25-30 y/o living this exact dream.

Ok, so build your connections working as a banker? People will like or dislike you for a number of reasons/bias. I once had a high dollar investment customer that would only deal with me because of my attitude. Others that refused to deal with me because of my attitude. Trying to say that there is one "right" way to act and it only comes with money just isn't accurate. One of the first things you realize with banking…

An analyst/associate is not going to be able to go off and start his own boutique if he can't even make it to MD in an existing firm(s).

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#255

Post by light3 »

ramanujan wrote: post #40
Locke1689 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making the same mistake that he was by assuming that he was advocating actual socialism/communism instead of a "social democracy"-esque hybrid.

It's absolutely true that socialism is an overloaded term that can refer to anything from the European-style welfare state (hardly a hellhole) to far less pleasant dictatorships like Cuba to out-and-out mass murder like in Cambodia, China, and the USSR. However, the post said "I believe my generation will overthrow the arbitrary and brutal authority of corporate capitalism and bigoted conservatism in favor of rationa…

Probably has something to do with the huge trade deficit of the US, if the US was a large net exporter that created many jobs, people's opinions should be different.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#257

Post by unrepentantly »

pg wrote: post #196
apsec112 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow , that's a slanted view of the world! Outside of the software industry, which is a tiny (~1%) portion of the economy, what has changed since 1995? Suppose you're an investment banker, and you hate your boss, as most investment bankers do. Want to start your own investment bank? How? You need to have connections to upper management at lots and lots of companies, so you can arrange deals. And very few people have t…

The technology business may only be one component of the economy, but attracts a disproportionate share of ambitious people. If you want to avoid social logjams, all you need is one domain where people aren't judged by their origins, and the people who want to get ahead will find it. History is full of examples of that. The world of startups is certainly a large and conspicuous enough target.

Don't forget the barriers to entry for technology. You have to have some combination of math, computer skills, and design knowledge, either a balance or amazing proficiency at one of them, so that rules out anyone who has been told they're "not a tech guy." On top of all that you practically have to be _over-confident_ in your skills and take a huge risk doing a startup.

You might say ambitious people wouldn't be subject to those restraints, but if we could do away with cognitive tendencies we wouldn't be dealing with these class barriers anyway.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#258

Post by danssig »

zmitri wrote: post #136
danssig wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

From my experience it matters a lot. When you grow up in an entrepreneurial environment you see ups and downs and realize and are less concerned with job security, bureaucracy, and more prone to innovate, or at least for opportunities to spin something off yourself. This article was written was the last century in mind, so I am not sure what you are getting at.

What I mean is, everyone used to be entrepreneurs and most switched right over to the mentality that you have to "get a job". Why would modern entrepreneur children have a different view?

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#259

Post by MrMatters »

haploid wrote: post #238
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm tall and am/was arguably somewhat good looking. I don't get many, if any, advantages from this because I grew up as and am a pretty serious geek. Now that I'm older I have better social skills, but because of how I turned out I never got the benefits of this. Without the proper attitude even looks aren't helpful. It took me a long time to learn proper social skills and I feel ten years behind my peers. This is ty…

Seconded. The claim that height is some sort of social, sexual, or financial advantage is absurd.

Are you saying that height doesn't matter, or just that being tall doesn't give you an advantage over being average? I've always heard it does, but that's just anecdotal. Short people are definitely at a disadvantage though. Height matters.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#260

Post by IDisposableHero »

johngalt wrote: post #222
haploid wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not particularly impressed with people who, by virtue of being born into money, spend years of their lives engaged in various unproductive pursuits. I do find it interesting that someone named johngalt would be impressed by someone living the benefits of unearned wealth. Perhaps you should have adopted a more appropriate username. Were philiprearden and jamestaggart taken?

While it's not what I would choose for my kids, the money isn't uneared. His parents or ancestors earned it and spending it on him is what they want to do. It's not like he took it from them by force? FYI, objectivists are also allowed to buy birthday presents for their toddlers. Do I find the idea of traveling the world and surfing interesting? Yes I do. Would I consider that adequate job experience? Not at all. Rem…

While it's not what I would choose for my kids, the money isn't uneared. His parents or ancestors earned it

Oh, come on. You're just spliting hairs. I'm not jealous of it, but in no way is it earned.

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