GS has always had among the best talent on Wall St. In modeling and software they’ve been a step ahead of everyone else. An extreme example: Fisher Black, a Nobel winning economist, used to work there in the early 90s.
And talent is not even the most distinguishing factor: it’s culture. Their culture is held to be the gold standard in corporate America, if you step outside the FANG bubble.
Having gone to a GS recruitment event, that was basically what I came away with. I’m sure they’re doing technically interesting things, but I honestly cannot sort it from the bullshit.
...so you, they were arrogant. Maybe some portion of that was earned?
I know a few people (5-7?) from both high school and undergrad who went to work at Goldman Sachs. 2 in NYC, at least one in both of London and HK. All of them were pretty middle of the road in terms of academic achievement, smarts, leadership etc. The smartest people I know from back then are mostly working at NGOs or academia.
The one thing that all the GS people had in common is that they cared a lot about having a high salary. The kind of guys who like to buy expensive champagne at the club, is embarrassed if they don't make it to Bali for spring break. That kind of thing. Absolutely no moral judgement on my part, this is just what I noticed.
(2) LTCM employed a Nobel winning economist too. Was that "brain trust" the source of PnL, or was it cheap leverage?
Fun fact on LTCM and GS and 1998: according to Lowenstein's account, the GS banker who came to diligence LTCM during the fed-forced bailout was seen furtively reviewing a laptop in a corner. The next day, all the positions recorded in that laptop moved sharply against LTCM... surely this was a coincidence. Great culture they have over there at Vampire Squid, Inc.