early 2000s was a different time also. nerd career paths hadn’t yet become prestigious and formalized.
there were no middle schoolers optimizing their resumes for how to get a Jane Street internship in 8 years bc Jane Street was only a few years old. same for a lot of other firms.
It really started around 1994 with Netscape and then the dotcom cultural mindset that valued ability over credentials.
Also at that time, as you say, there wasn’t a broad cultural awareness of the money to be made in quantitative fields. In fact this was the era of Revenge Of the Nerds movies and glorification of the idiot jock getting a business degree and the passionate nerd being the butt of the joke. You really only went my route if you were a total fuck up loser. Now the social view of things has completely pivoted.
I would say interestingly the middle school kids optimizing their resume only make it so far in industry. They’re never really passionate about what they’re doing they’re just laddering. At some point they shift to management or product or something. At the top firms though the people who really make the money and whose opinion has ultimate power are the fuck up losers who live and breathe their passion and would do it for free if that’s all there was.
there were no middle schoolers optimizing their resumes for how to get a Jane Street internship in 8 years bc Jane Street was only a few years old. same for a lot of other firms.