I'm nearly 30 now because of various weddings

Recently catching up with middle school, high school, and college friends
I realize most of their current situations are pretty average
Not to say bad, life is still stable and happy
I estimate that nearly half are unemployed
Or their current situation is even worse than being unemployed
Most hope to pass the civil service exam after being unemployed
For those doing well, I seem to see only two types of people
One is someone who, from the first day of college or studying abroad,
realized they needed to work for themselves and hustle hard
Always starting businesses, working jobs, doing academia, or seeking opportunities
With a level of initiative higher than ordinary people
Most of these have hit the right opportunities early on
Accumulating through early work or academic experience
Eventually publishing papers, launching startups, or investing successfully
The other type is those guided well by their families
With strong backgrounds and financial resources
From early education to later work,
their families provided lots of guidance and paved the way
This includes those in politics, state-owned enterprises, medicine, or academia,
especially so
There are also a few outliers
Those who work hard but can’t find a way
Or those with good family backgrounds but remain unremarkable
Our generation of post-95s and post-00s is the last batch before the AI era
In just these few years of work,
the opportunities given by the times have completely diverged from the past
When the time is right, heaven and earth work together; when luck leaves, heroes are unfree
Choice is indeed more important than effort
But when everyone is working hard,
hard work becomes just the baseline