> SV as a whole is way more meritocratic and willing to take a chance on smart candidates.
That was funny. Have you tried doing standup?
Yes, there are startups that do take those chances. But SV as a whole... not really. It's just as bad on using degrees as a filter as any other place.
> Try telling Goldman that you're a hard working candidate who has been studying up econ and finance textbooks on your own and would like an internship.
Try telling that to a large number of companies in SV and you'll find similar results.
> Lastly, discriminating against someone for NOT wearing a $1k sounds a lot worse than wearing one.
It sounds about equally bad to me. It's not a matter what people can or cannot do about it, it's about the fact that you use completely irrelevant details to guide your decision.
What's with the "witty" personal remarks? My comment wasn't directed at anyone personally so I'm not sure why you're trying to make it personal.
There are definitely non-traditional candidates that get hired at large, public SV companies (e.g. FB, GOOG, UBER, etc.), some without even a degree. These guys worked hard to stand out with personal projects and countless hours of self-study and are definitely the exception to the norm, sure, but you can't even find an equivalent of that in investment banking and certainly not at hedge funds or VCs (minus EIRs).
And yes, you 100% find those willing to take a chance on startups. Why is this point just disregarded in your comment above? Give credit to the industry where credit is due.
Lastly, companies also instruct candidates to dress down in their interviewing guideline. Many will go ahead and clarify if you're ever confused and just ask. Sure, interviewers should disregard attire when judging candidates but it's not like it's out of the interviewee's control when it comes to NOT wearing that 3-piece suit.
It's like when a candidate has bad BO. Sure, you don't want to have that unconscious bias, but maybeee, just maybeee, it's also the candidate's fault.
That was funny. Have you tried doing standup?
Yes, there are startups that do take those chances. But SV as a whole... not really. It's just as bad on using degrees as a filter as any other place.
> Try telling Goldman that you're a hard working candidate who has been studying up econ and finance textbooks on your own and would like an internship.
Try telling that to a large number of companies in SV and you'll find similar results.
> Lastly, discriminating against someone for NOT wearing a $1k sounds a lot worse than wearing one.
It sounds about equally bad to me. It's not a matter what people can or cannot do about it, it's about the fact that you use completely irrelevant details to guide your decision.