Do past grades and salaries really indicate how good you are?

My simple answer is no but people - whether employers or customers - naturally want to get the upper hand.

When I was in school, mathematics was my worst subject. My mind operated in a world of fuzzy logic, not precise logic and so I excelled in the arts. If I got a C or D in maths and chemistry I'd run around and hoot in celebration because I didn't get an F.

Something happened after I graduated from college. One day as I was browsing aimlesly in Kinokuniya, I was moved to buy this book on cosmology. Something in it must have unlocked a part of my brain because after I finished it, I saw mathematics in a different light. Complex calculus actually started to make sense and man, it spooked the hell out of me. A few months later I found myself helping my sister with her form 6 math problems. That was my first lesson never to take past performance as a definite indicator of future performance.

The second one involved salaries. I once attended an interview where they made a big deal about my last job's salary. It was low because the frickin company promised everyone bonuses that never came and the company finally shut down due to financial mismanagement. But anyhow, because on paper my salary was 15% below the industry average, the interviewers proceeded along the lines that I must not be good. I knew these bastards wanted to get me for cheap because while they were excited with my ideas and track record, they kept harping that my last drawn proves I'm not as good as I make myself out to be. And yet they didn't want to show me the door either. Finally I gave them my middle finger and left.

I don't know what to make of people and companies who insist that if you failed once, you will fail forever in your life or if you succeeded once, you will succeed forever. Well apparently, this infantile way of thinking is a pillar of corporate thinking, particularly in HR departments. I notice they always start the relationship on a position of distrust. What they do not admit is the fact that performance and environment is linked. If you are a superstar hired by a crap company, you will probably get crap results. But who at the interview table will admit their company is crap.

So while I don't mind revealing my numbers to potential employers, I do mind if they make conclusions about me based solely on that history. Maybe its just me but I don't work with people of impaired judgement, namely those who insist that I'm only as good as my past.