Technology

In this niche art field I was in, the most successful people either grew/sold weed or had wealthy parents. Makes a huge difference when both your parents are doctors and can just buy you a $50,000 studio, and you don't have to worry about making smaller work or having a sustainable business for years and are free to experiment and think big.

Pull yourself up by your parent’s bootstraps

Having rich family versus none provides a safety net that lessens the consequences of risk taking, and sets a baseline of how bad your life can get.

It's like playing a game with check points versus one that has you start at the beginning if you die. You still have to do all the hard work to reach your goal yourself, but those retro style non check point games are incredibly hard compared to games with check points, saves, or cheating with save states.

Don't forget the ones that are bad at it, like Musk and Trump.

Yea indeed. This is very important to remember. Without financial backing and connections, most businesses don't go very far.

I think we should shatter these "started in the garage" myths as they do in this article. The average family doesn't earn enough to give their kids a good enough education or finance their dreams.

Hence most people end up doing some or other job they loath, for the rest of their lives.

Yep, if I was rich I'd already be a professional game dev. Since I'm not I work IT and dev at night. Its obvious, rich people can take risks cause they're rich. Which means they end up deciding what gets made for the most part.

Right wingers suck, you know?

I was hating Bill Gates long before the conspiracy people decided Bill Gates was putting 5G nanobots in vaccines.

Now I have to defend the guy against accusations of making people magnetic or WTF ever while hating on him for ruining software and opposing social wellfare programs.

Honestly, I don't think it's just money. It's a baseline of support that means you never have to worry about your kids eating or having new clothes, coupled with a vast social network. That network is made up of friends, coworkers, people who went to the same school as you, your parents friends and coworkers, your extended family, and just random-ass acquaintances who go to the same fucking gelato place as you.

I'm a good software developer- I interview well, have broad experience, and pick things up quickly. I've repeatedly leveraged my contacts from school, their contacts, and even people I've dated in the same industry - to get jobs and opportunities that my family couldn't provide because they're desperately poor. It's absurd how many opportunities I've gotten that way. I've seen equally talented developers grind along in shit jobs because when they look for work they do it by applying to hundreds of openings on indeed or wherever instead of hitting up all of their current and past acquaintances and asking if anyone is looking.

Now draw the same comparison, but between someone who has a network of contacts that are wealthy, and me. That's why these people can do what they do. They might be smart, they might work hard, but at the end of the day, they've got access we don't.

(Edit to add conclusion)

If you buy into the myth of the "self-made" billionaire you might just as well buy into the idea of magic glass slippers granting you royalty.

People assume it's that the parents buy good schools and bribe etc.

But I think it's actually mostly the powerful privilege confidence that you get from having that safety net.

They can try and fail so many times. Some have, too. Like Trump who failed mostly his entire life and is still a mogul.

It's the feeling these people have got that they have right to command and tell people what to do and not be afraid of consequences

Lol Zucks dad was a dentist, and his mom was a psychiatrist. Yes they were more wealthy than a majority of Americans, but I wouldn't call them an inaccessible "wealthy" like Musk or Trump. They were living a comfortable middle class lifestyle.

Edit: downvoters should prove me wrong, I'm totally up for learning information I didn't know about.

Billionaires? No, but there are self made millionaires, they're just considered lower middle class these days. Anyone of a certain age could drop out of highschool, get an apprenticeship with a plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc. and end up with 1-2 million to retire on. Doctors and lawyers routinely save up 5-10 million. It's when you're doing significantly better than that, that you absolutely have to have had significant support and luck.

I'm not sure that scenario plays out for the majority of people anymore because the COL has gone out of control, while wages are in the shitter. That's why I work for myself.

*billionaire

What about Elon? I'm sure he's just a poor boy from a poor family Galileo Galileo Figaro.

"self-made"

lol

There are rag to riches story but the billionaire club usually requires a richer start.

At least Bill Gates' parents weren't SUPER loaded, and his dad at least put in some work to earn it, going to college using a GI bill after fighting in the Army for 3 years during World War II. His mom was a school teacher.

Well I mean yeah, you don't see any millionaires coming from the streets of Compton outside of a very few special exceptions.

Rich daddy = bootstraps.

Mark cuban didnt grow up rich...

"Billionaire," please...millionaires are a dime a dozen these days, many of them truly "self-made" and from poor backgrounds.