delive

I don't think that is the case in many engineering fields at least. A greater presence of smart people sets the bar that much higher for grades/tests/projects.

Most engineering courses are based on a curve. If the rest of the class is brilliant, it's significantly harder to compete and get a good grade.

The issue with competing against SAP/Oracle is the kind of traction they have in the market already. Their contracts are long, and companies spend so much implementing the software that they're not excited to switch.

Also, as mentioned somewhere else in this thread, ERP software (Payroll, HR, Financials, etc) are all about the details. Payroll and Financials are very complicated, which results in companies only trusting the big players (SAP/Oracle)

Disclaimer: I work for Workday

I actually had the opposite situation growing up and it seemed to help me. I was certainly surrounded by slackers, with a few really motivated people sprinkled in-between. I'd say seeing mediocrity motivated me to differentiate myself and do some really cool things.