What humans differ widely in is which status markers they hold as important.
You're right that leverage and energy are what really matter, but those can take a long time to discover correctly. Some people might do you a little favor now but turn out to generally be unreliable or not have much capacity to help over the long time. Someone might make you feel amazing right now, but it's because they are a charismatic charlatan and not an actual good person who will lift you up.
Status markers exist to be heralds of the long-term value that a person offers to their tribe. Good status markers are accurate predictors of those properties, and when we disagree about status markers, we're mostly disagreeing about how predictive we think they are and in what contexts they are reliable.
I remember meeting a woman who said she doesn't date men who don't have at minimum, a Masters.
A doctor I matched up with on an online dating app asked me to clarify my occupation, and when I replied, she immediately unmatched lol
Just for fun -- make a Hinge profile and set your first picture to one of you in a white coat with a stethoscope around your neck.
Watch the likes pile up, and then come back and tell me that "no-one cares about status".
I'm mildly curious what qualifies as a high status job, here on HN.
After that, a potential mate will take the stable, serious guy 9 times out of 10.
I don't want to sound racist by naming specific examples, but certain cultures place a really high value on status.
In the case of America, things get complicated quickly[1] certain subcultures in America place a high value on status symbols, while others place less.
Then of course you have some sub-cultures that look down on anyone who doesn't have at least one piece of designer clothing, and another sub-culture (which may be higher status than the first!) that looks down on anyone who does wear gaudy designer brands!
[1] Of course every country has multiple sub-cultures, but some countries have traditionally been more homogenous than others, although that is also often quickly changing, making any sort of attempt at painting cultures with broad brushes less and less accurate.
Very often you will hear people say "X doesn't matter!" on any number of subjects. Maybe it is height amongst males for dating. Or maybe it is income. Or maybe it is status. But what I believe is happening when people say such things is that the person saying that "X" doesn't matter is past whatever threshold is required for that aspect.
The other thing I consider is that these thresholds are actually percentiles across populations. To completely make up numbers for the sake of illustration, maybe 1% of people expect a status of "doctor" or "lawyer", 10% of people expect a status of "white collar professional", 40% of people expect a status of "gainfully employed", etc. The higher up the chain of percentiles you find your own status, the less you probably think status is important because you are noticing that once you are passed the threshold of a person they start to look for other aspects to differentiate you. Stated another way, if you have status that passes 90% of peoples thresholds, you probably think some other aspect of your character is the most important because you rarely, if ever, feel discriminated against because of your status.
This view suggests a strategy. Rather than going "all-in" on any particular aspect (e.g. seeking high-status primarily), one ought to consider all of the relevant aspects and their thresholds.
Then we must not be living in the same world. If nobody cared about status, BMW would be bankrupt, MBAs wouldn't get any students and pigs would fly.
In the context of this article, I will say from experience that status limbo is a hard place to occupy for a long time. You often find yourself having to explain yourself when you aren't following the traditional path. It can feel alienating, particularly when you have resources that allow you to follow your inner calling that others do not. It also can be difficult to accept the ego hit that can be felt when moving from a space where you were a high achiever to one in which you are not. But also as the article says, there are many rewards if you can tolerate and persevere through the discomfort.
Be thankful you have been surrounded by people who don't so far.