All the smart people leave Pittsburgh

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by eschaton

There have been many studies of job performance showing general mental ability (IQ, essentially) is a much stronger predictor of job performance than educational background and/or previous job training. Regardless of what they did before, bright people pick up on new tasks quicker, and adjust to a new profession much faster, than merely average or dull people. This goes for all jobs too, even blue-collar ones.

What this suggests is that higher education, to the degree it's about job training at all, is a grand swindle. We go to get credentialed, but in most fields few worthwhile skills are instilled that a reasonable person couldn't pick up by osmosis. We'd be better off if employers attached IQ tests to job applications - certainly less in debt anyway. Sadly, it's illegal in the U.S.

Actually, that would be a terrible idea because IQ says absolutely nothing about work ethic, people skills, etc. And besides, obviously someone with an IQ of 90 is not as bright as someone with an IQ of 140, but when the gap is smaller (eg, 120 vs. 130), weighing two people's intelligence on that basis alone would be splitting hairs past the standard of error.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

Actually, that would be a terrible idea because IQ says absolutely nothing about work ethic, people skills, etc. And besides, obviously someone with an IQ of 90 is not as bright as someone with an IQ of 140, but when the gap is smaller (eg, 120 vs. 130), weighing two people's intelligence on that basis alone would be splitting hairs past the standard of error.

Work ethic is important. Studies of the "big five" personality traits show that one (Conscientiousness) is nearly as important as intelligence. The others, not so much.

Still, all things considered, a smart but lazy person usually does better in a job than a dumb but hard working one, because smart lazy people figure out ways to work efficiently when they actually apply themselves.

Either way, using academic performance and credentialed status, rather than actual test score results, to determine the worthiness of an applicant is more imperfect, and certainly far more expensive.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Work ethic is important. Studies of the "big five" personality traits show that one (Conscientiousness) is nearly as important as intelligence. The others, not so much.

Still, all things considered, a smart but lazy person usually does better in a job than a dumb but hard working one, because smart lazy people figure out ways to work efficiently when they actually apply themselves.

Either way, using academic performance and credentialed status, rather than actual test score results, to determine the worthiness of an applicant is more imperfect, and certainly far more expensive.

Other than extreme outliers, whose lack/surplus of intelligence will be obvious (and they will accordingly be very clearly under/over-qualified), the bulk of "serious candidates" applying for a given position will fall into a rather narrow range of aptitude. Beyond that, the issue is not so much "being smart" as "being smart enough." Certainly, one needs to exceed a minimal threshold to have a reasonable chance succeeding at a given task, but after a certain point, additional intelligence confers very little in the way of marginal benefit.

Richard Feynman had an IQ of 125, which, while certainly high relative to the general population, is also rather low relative to most physicists. Following your reasoning, he never should have been admitted to MIT as an undergraduate, much less worked on the Manhattan Project. And yet, Feynman's legacy compares well with (and quite frankly, greatly outshines) many of his higher-IQ peers. There is just so much that IQ does not say about a person. Maybe someone a bit lazier (but "smarter") could have compensated for a lack of work ethic by creating some shortcuts and doing "well enough," but Feynman's more than made up for his "lesser intelligence" with his work ethic, interpersonal skills, and creativity.

In all fairness, it probably would be more efficient to track people according to their IQs from the earliest possible age and educate them accordingly. But the aggregate net gain would unjustly deny a not-unstaggering number of people the opportunity to prove that they're more than just a number, would make the already high barrier of success even higher for non-"model minorities," first generation immigrants, and the socioeconomically deprived, among other groups who traditionally perform worse on these kinds of tests. Can our educational process be streamlined? Certainly. But reducing everything to a single number would do little but incentivize intellectual serfdom.

[fleetiebelle]

My jaw dropped when I saw the kind of bonusees they get (million $ bonuses, stock options, free food, onsite gym - well PPG has this also - and $4000 baby bonus, on-site bike shop repair etc...)

I've heard that the reason these companies offer so many perks is that it gives their employees fewer incentives to leave the office. If you don't have to go anywhere to get a haircut or drop off your dry cleaning, you're more apt to work a 12-14-hour day.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

I've heard that the reason these companies offer so many perks is that it gives their employees fewer incentives to leave the office. If you don't have to go anywhere to get a haircut or drop off your dry cleaning, you're more apt to work a 12-14-hour day.

I have read that as well. If you eat dinner there (for free), you're expected to put in another 3 hours or so of work afterward.

Keep in mind that not every company in Silicon Valley has these kind of perks.

[XRiteMA98]

I totally believe this. One software company that I worked with (aka they made their money from selling software) bought us dinner before the deadlines, encouraging us to work long hours, doing testing especially (you don;t want your product to crash in the hands of the user after you bring the new version on the market).
The problem was that they usually bought crappy food, pizza, calzones, hot dogs. Not healthy at all.
One day I can do this but for a month? Yuk!