How do you signal goodness, though? I wound up with a cushy position (largely by luck), but practically everyone else is barely scraping by. Side projects? Prestigious internships? l337 hax0r skillz? Maybe the 80/20 rule [1] applies and there are only a few, key factors that make some applicants stand out?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle In case you didn't know this but srs you're on hn