April 2, 2008
Why you should think twice before hiring a Googler
Googlers are in high demand. Doug Merrill, head of internal systems, has just moved over to EMI (while it’s tempting, after a recent senior departure or two, to start talking about a brain drain, the Google talent-magnet is still exerting Silicon Valley’s strongest pull.)
But how hard should other companies try to lure away Google talent? A prominent Silicon Valley headhunter I spoke to this week offered a contrarian view: that Google is like Microsoft in the 1990s, or IBM in the 1980s. It is so dominant in a particular market that it can’t help making money. That has created what this headhunter describes as a “Google bubble.”
What happens when you release Googlers from the bubble? Like Microsofties and IBMers before them, they are likely to take time readjusting to the “real world”, this person says. It’s easy, when you work for a company that has discovered modern capitalism’s version of the golden goose, to think that somehow you had something to do with it.
Ah. And would you care to give any examples? Or perhaps any explanation for why this article is entitled “*Why* you should think twice…?” Or is this just a deliberate attempt to waste 5 mins of everyone’s time?
Posted by: Pete | April 2nd, 2008 at 8:43 pm | Report this commentyours, peeved
It took you 5 minutes to read that?
Posted by: Andy | April 2nd, 2008 at 10:41 pm | Report this commentPeeved Pete, there was an example. See above: “A prominent Silicon Valley headhunter…offered [their] view.”
This isn’t front-page news, just a blog anecdote. I found it interesting and not at all a waste of my time (20 seconds or so - if it takes 5 minutes to read the above, then, well…).
Posted by: Not so Peeved | April 2nd, 2008 at 10:44 pm | Report this commentobviously it only takes seconds to read this. Then 4 minutes to unsuccessfully control ones impatience, then almost a minute to cough out a squawk of protest.
NotSoPeeved should differentiate between anecdotes about something actually taking place and a vague view by an unnamed source of only asserted significance.
And yes, heaven help us it is “front page news” - I can’t believe that today this piece of tosh is still on the front page of the FT site! Come on guys, your standards are slipping. I need information not vapourware.
Posted by: Pete | April 3rd, 2008 at 7:57 am | Report this commentFunny how many folks think that for some, making money is easy. Reading this would make one believe that googlers do nothing much but sit around for the golden goose to deliver everyday.
Posted by: Curious Onlooker | April 3rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm | Report this comment