Ask HN: Where do the smartest people you know work?

The cleverest guy from our school who was working several years above his level and was a prodigy in music etc was working in a papermill and living with his parents well into his 30s. Being smart does not mean being successful.

Having said that I do know a few smart people who work on the boards of various companies.

A good friend was a research physicist for years and is now basically unemployed but does some part time work tutoring kids in maths and taking groups of kids to do outdoor activities. If you are really smart would you be working 12 hours a day in an office?

One of my best friends of school who was extremely smart, extremely fast learner, absurdly good with music instruments and already a hyperrealism-painter in elementary school (that thing always shock me when I remember it, at the same age I and the other students were not even capable of painting something even remotely resembling a good stylized cat) dropped out at the last year of EE and he is now working as a cashier/waiter in a small pub in the small village in which we were born.

He says he gets more than enough for living and it is a "very peaceful life and it's easy to meet new people".

None of them work for large consultancies lol.

My cousin who was a child prodigy became a buddhist and now teaches music.

One works for a bank in AI/ML, one is a broadcaster and author, another had their own small boutique consultancy that has just been bought by a slightly larger boutique consultancy.

The smartest all around renaissance-savant-genius I ever knew personally was a social worker by profession, who often moonlighted as a lounge pianist. He had a lot of hobbies, and is a published author and recording artist. His musical ability is supernatural. One of his party tricks is taking the sheet music for two random difficult piano pieces, placing them side by side, and reading/playing them simultaneously while mentally adapting each in real time so it sounds like a well written third piece. He is a human GAN.

The smartest software developer I ever knew hopped around several FAANGs and MSFT, sort of round robin, driving up his pay and rank. Somewhere along the way he bought a building and became a property manager on the side.

Most are sub-employed unless their talents are in an area with huge demand and money. Visible "success" often implies a large dose of politics and conformity, something that few of them really know how/want to do.

- ATF (run-of-the-mill investigator; not making high salary or anything)

- cloistered nun (majored in theoretical astrophysics, not sure how this happened)

- stay-at-home mom of 3

- jazz professor

- composer

This was a fun exercise and I was surprised by my answers. I couldn't honestly think of anyone in "high prestige" careers (e.g. finance, mgmt consulting) that I actually think are smart.

For themselves, with very high day rates, and impressive networks of contacts.

Tried to make it in academia, got nowhere (his field of study was theoretical and not trendy), ended up joining Google where he is now underemployed.

I don’t think I ever met someone I thought was really smart. That leaves me and as for myself, I started 2 companies, 1 was mildly successful.