[jseliger]

This certainly makes sense: "To conclude, we see that people within a family are proportionally more likely to eventually also choose the same occupation." Still, I wonder if it has become less common with time: the idea of a parent (usually a father) passing the family trade on to the child isn't culturally common, as it used to be during the guild era that got started in the Middle Ages.

On an anecdotal level, I got started as a grant writing consultant because my parents started the business when I was a kid (I wrote a little more about that here: http://seliger.com/about/). But while I became interested i the business as a teenager, neither of my siblings did, and they both work in unrelated fields.

I also feel like I've met a disproportionate number of doctors whose parents were doctors. It does seem like they'd pick up a fair amount of useful information just listening to their parents talk.

[hrktb]

I think it can be less subtle than that. For instance a piano solist will 'test' children inclinement to play music, or more directly to play piano. I know other engineers who also expose their kids to programming like games to see if there is potential.

It doesn't mean the trade will be passed down as is, but if a kid seems predisposed for a field, the parent with expertise will help it grow further as long as the kid enjoys it.