How rich kids already won the career game • Hacker News Board

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#241

Post by astrofinch » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 1:49 AM UTC

CaptainDecisive wrote: post #23

The article seems to me a just-so story. The author might be ignorant of the rich kids who end up as drug addicts or at the very least entirely economically unproductive simply because they can. They've got nothing to loose by not kowtowing to the bosses but nothing to gain by working hard either as they've already got everything laid on a plate for them. However I think there often is something different in the atti…

"At university things were just starting to get really fun. I'm mid thirties now and looking forward to the fun that's around the corner. Not only is the glass half full, but it's champagne and the cute waitress is coming round with refills."

As a college student I often worry that my life will become more boring after I graduate. What's your secret?

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#242

Post by throw382011 » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 1:57 AM UTC

grammaton wrote: post #80

"The difference is that children of wealth traverse it at a height of one meter over a mattress, while the middle-class and poor traverse it at a height of 20 meters over a lava pit." I notice no one is commenting on this part. Namely, that for children of financial privilege, the risk/reward ratio for a career is markedly skewed compared to their middle class peers.

I know someone from a background like that. I don't think he's really smarter,more skilled, or even more confident in 99% of situations. But in those few it's like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - he can step out over the pit fully sure he'll be ok.

You can't learn that kind of confidence. You have to truly believe you will be just fine.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#243

Post by cma » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 2:55 AM UTC

ozziegooen wrote: post #233

It's not where you are. It's where you're going. I liked this article, but my experiences have been different. From what I've seen, it seems like broad career choice is also incredibly significant; and that's something rich kids often get wrong (from the perspective of an entrepreneur). They want to have happy lives in prestigious jobs, and there lies the problem. They want stability instead of the ability to change…

http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/

Gates already had a million dollar trust fund.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#244

Post by quizbiz » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 4:45 AM UTC

apsec112 wrote: post #183

pg wrote: post #170

The career game is not nearly as important now as it was a couple decades ago, though. Now you can easily opt to be judged directly by market, by starting your own company. Customers don't know or care what your social origins are.

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…

With twitter, and social media, and all these email addresses all over web, if you have absolute merit then you can make those connections. It's a matter of persistence.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#245

Post by MatrixBai » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 5:11 AM UTC

Yes, rich kids already take the whole world. I know this far before because I'm a Chinese lives in China Mainland. I'm not sure what's the real career game in western country, but I know the Chinese one. Rich kids inherit everything from their parents the most important thing is social relations which is very important in China.Other kids work for them. That's it.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#246

Post by ozziegooen » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 5:18 AM UTC

cma wrote: post #243

ozziegooen wrote: post #233

It's not where you are. It's where you're going. I liked this article, but my experiences have been different. From what I've seen, it seems like broad career choice is also incredibly significant; and that's something rich kids often get wrong (from the perspective of an entrepreneur). They want to have happy lives in prestigious jobs, and there lies the problem. They want stability instead of the ability to change…

http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ Gates already had a million dollar trust fund.

Fair enough, but that's 1/3.

Of course, none of the three were exactly poor, and all grew up with programming backgrounds. We'll see who takes charge these next 20 years.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#247

Post by sliverstorm » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 5:56 AM UTC

apsec112 wrote: post #183

pg wrote: post #170

The career game is not nearly as important now as it was a couple decades ago, though. Now you can easily opt to be judged directly by market, by starting your own company. Customers don't know or care what your social origins are.

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…

Or, even, suppose that you're in another, non-software tech industry, like pharmaceuticals. That's way harder than it was 15 years ago, because of tighter FDA regulation. Just try getting a drug to market with less than $100,000,000 in capital, and very few people can raise that kind of capital.

Hell, even IN the tech industry... I'm extremely interested in VLSI, and I'm told most commercial available processing units cost in excess of $1,000,000,000 just to reach the first actual chip!

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#248

Post by jamesteow » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 6:36 AM UTC

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.

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

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#249

Post by svdad » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 6:47 AM UTC

ozziegooen wrote: post #246

cma wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ Gates already had a million dollar trust fund.

Fair enough, but that's 1/3. Of course, none of the three were exactly poor, and all grew up with programming backgrounds. We'll see who takes charge these next 20 years.

Zuck went to Philips Exeter. Boarding in 2011, that's $40,000 a year his dad shelled out for high school; non-boarding, still $31,000. OK, it wasn't today's dollars, but aying he wasn't "exactly poor" is an understatement.

Going to school somewhere like that is one of the experiences that develops precisely the attitude the blogger is talking about.

Re: How rich kids already won the career game

#250

Post by giardini » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 6:48 AM UTC

Wouldn't it be better to attempt to cast these ideas in an evolutionary biological framework rather than in a typical static classical rich-poor, capitalist-marxist, liberal-conservative values framework that we use in voting? Might something more closely approximating the truth be revealed by doing so?