Starting to understand why people use connections/nepotism
Just finished 2nd year and after months of grinding, projects, applying everywhere etc I finally got an internship paying around 7k/month (can maybe go to 10k with incentives).
At the same time, someone I know got a 60k internship almost entirely through referrals because their parents are in high positions at big companies. What annoyed me more was that they were basically selected even before the role was publicly posted.
Meanwhile the “interview” was stuff like hobbies and extremely basic Python questions that a 10th grader could probably answer.
For a while this used to annoy me a lot because everyone keeps preaching “hard work beats everything.” But now I’m starting to realize the world doesn’t actually work that way. Connections matter way more than people admit.
What’s funny is I also technically have that option. My father is involved in one of the major civil engineering projects rn, so if nothing works out in tech long term, getting internships/jobs there would probably not even be difficult for me. Not saying I’ll stop trying in CS or anything, but having that as a backup honestly changes how you look at things.
Now I’m genuinely confused whether I should also start using the connections/resources available to me instead of trying to do everything completely on my own.
Would you do the same in my position?
TL;DR: Grinded hard for a 7-10k internship while someone I know got a 60k one through family connections before the role was even posted publicly. Now I'm wondering if trying to do everything completely on your own is even worth it when connections clearly matter so much.