The son of a wealthy family may think going to Google is the same as failure. He has the money to try over and over again and does so because working for someone else is like being a sheep.
There are people out there whose problem is not that they aren’t smart, but that they don’t have the resume that is aligned with HR filters. Their two biggest and relatively substantial hurdles are: 1) not getting a chance for even a first interview because they are immediately being rejected purely based on their resume, and 2) having a weak position going into salary negotiations.
So, imho “a smart person can always get a well paying job” is a gross oversimplification often made by people who are not in such circumstances.
- going to a bad public school because you live in a poor area has ripple effects that may put you in a worse position than some private prep school kid
- if you grew up in poverty, your brain will literally grow differently due to chronic stress, environmental toxins, lack of stimulation, etc. [1].
We pretend like filtering for “smart” is fair, but the opportunity to be smart is heavily weighted by privilege.
Money can't buy you love.
I’m not saying growing up rich is always easy, but the point is it’s _more likely_ to be easy than if you’re poor.
Certainly, all other things being equal, it's generally better to have more resources. But life isn't quite that simple and sometimes the price involved in successfully pursuing money involves a human cost.
If you can have lots of money and also have time for the children and also are a decent person, etc, cool. Some people pull that off.
And some people don't.