I think we don't recognize the role of luck enough in our lives/careers.

Let me give you an example from my own life:

I was talking with my boss recently and he brought up why he looked at my application out of the hundreds he got (remote positions advertised on StackOverflow get a LOT of applications).

Basically the whole reason I have the job I have is because the first guy who hired him for a dev job is named Paul Cook so when he saw my application he was curious if I was his former boss.

And that was the reason he gave me a call.

Of course, I had to interview well and be a compelling candidate, but with hundreds of other people applying he could have just as easily never taken a look at my resume.

So, what about you?

What role has luck played in your career?