alt Hacker NewsThe older and more experienced I've become the more I've realized that knowing the right people is often significantly more important than your education, your credentials, your career history, and your problem solving abilities in your professional domain.
It obviously isn't always the case, but at least where I live knowing the right people is extremely important if you want to get a job in the IT/software industry. I wish the importance of networking and getting to know the right people was stressed a lot more during my education and formative years.
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aka winning the birth lottery. Who your parents are, how many resources can they expend on you, who do they know that can introduce you to other resources. The birth lottery has the biggest effect on your outcomes in life.
Not just in software. This exists in every type of profession and has forever. If you've ever met someone who just seems to fail upwards all the time, remember that it's who you know that counts.
It is taught, but not everyone can just snap their fingers and get access to the "right network". Which dulls the sheen of meritocracy and democratized opportunity.
This is partially why autistic people cannot pull ahead at work, the meritocracy of networking is petit nepotism/cronyism by another name.
Sorry, I didn't see the word "meritocracy" in your post.
Remember, women don't get jobs and promotions because they are intrinsically bad at IT. /s
> but at least where I live knowing the right people is extremely important if you want to get a job in the IT/software industry.
I guess it really does depend on the place you live and the type of person you are as well. I graduated from college in the US in 2015 and had zero connections to the industry within my family or friend group. I still got an internship doing programming, and then after college managed to get my first job a few states away from home. And then after that I got a great job closer to home, and now work remotely at an awesome job.
Somehow, I got all of these job offers by cold applying through the company website. Zero referrals. Granted this was a few years ago and I know the job market has changed since then. But my point is it really does depend, every circumstance is unique.
i've seen people fail and struggle for many reasons. It's not easy out there!