[virgilp]

But, to continue your analogy - if you're asking me advice on how to make ends meet, then it absolutely is my business to chide you for the expensive lattes you buy daily.

The point discussed in the article is very valid: you need to be perceived as "delivering value" - otherwise, your compensation will suffer. That's the whole reason why you earn well working in finance - not because "only the smartest make it there", but because you're very close to the money. The money a quant brings in can be connected to him with a very short line.

[throwawayjava]

I encourage you to read the original question that the author of this post is ranting about, where the question asker who's being chided in this post makes literally exactly the observation you make in your second paragraph: https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/7mgp1m/h...

The author of that post does understand these trade-offs and is asking the best way to maximize wrt his constraints. So this article just misses the mark.

[virgilp]

No, the author of that post mimics an understanding of tradeoffs (proof[1]). As such, it is perfectly reasonable to chide him/her for it. Also he/she does not make the same observation that I made, "theoretically technical excellence directly translates into profits" is not even close to what I claimed.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/7mgp1m/h...