Being a first author at a research paper is a big deal, it shows how much time and effort you dedicated in bringing that paper to its full form.
Being the first surname in a paper tells the readers this is your idea, your concept, your intellectual thinking.
Today I found out that this is really not the case, at least in the university I'm attending.
I don't have a problem per se, it's just that this is absolute and the contribution of work is not really taken into consideration.
We also have to consider that they indeed deserve to be the first author if the idea came from them, if not, then several factors should be considered.
If an individual can be designated as a first author, without the guarantee that they will be at their 100% when working on the paper, then it is problematic.
This is not a rant, but a thinking on the current system, which should be changed.