Plebs are never assessed on merit because they don't have any. So you get better treatment for one pleb or another pleb because of what school they went to or their gender, but in the end it's all just interchangeable plebs anyway. If you have real talent ("tech bloggers" need not apply) and a bit of a spine then that is going to be the dominant factor in your success. But we see so many stories these days about how various little plebs aren't getting some perceived due that it's becoming a degenerate force.