Is Google Too Smart For Its Own Good?

An anonymous reader writes in with a piece in Fortune speculating on what's next for Google. The writer believes that a supersaturated solution of very smart people, plus stock that may have run out of upside, will yield what he calls Son of Google — a large wave of innovative companies created by Google graduates. And a Google less intent on hiring, and less able to hire, the very smartest people around. Could happen.

Google's success.

[91degrees]

People are forgetting the secret to Google's success.

Luck.

They developed the right product at the right time. Microsoft did the same. They happened to be home when IBM called and got the DOS contract.

heir graduates can come up with quality product but will they be able to provide somethign the market really needs?

Re:That's an interesting idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Excellent example -- but perhaps an even better one is to look at Kleiner Perkins's previous track record -- Google itself is a son of one Kleiner company (they got theri seed money from a Sun founder, Andy; who in turn got his start from KPCB) - and Google's other money came from KPCB itself. Where'd that money come from? KP's other companies, of course - including AOL and Netscape. -- and where'd they get the money for those - From Fairchild semi, as the parent poster suggests.

So in the same follow-the-money way that TFA describes, Google is already the son of Netscape and Sun - and the grandchild of Fairchild.

The same pattern repeats - KPCB generates hype - dumps it on the public market - and takes the money and people to invest in the future.

Pretty much all of silicon valey can be traced back to those roots -- or perhaps to Fred Terman himself who turned Stanford Engineering into a business-friendly environment and recruited Shockley here which lead to Fairchild.

Re:Maybe, but

[jellomizer]

But really smart people can also be mediocre people as well. It is a common misconception especially among geeks who place their status on intelligence. You could be the smartest person on Earth and still a Mediocre person/employee. Things like...

1. Hubris, The ancient Geeks knew this, Jesus knew this. Almost all other major religion know this. But a lot of "Smart" People tend to ignore this. Excessive Pride is Bad MmKaaa. This closes your mind, it prevents you from listening to what the "Less Smart" People who are saying. Because you assume just because you are smarter then them that you ideas are always more correct. Which is wrong.

2. Wisdom. The concept of wisdom is a rather nebulous concept. Wisdom comes from experience, and your own personal insight. It is a case where a 5 year old could solve the problem and not you. Just because the 5 year old just recently experience a similar concept during play. a lot of "Smart" people tend to limit themselves from experiences, Book Worms, Video games... So they do not gain as much wisdom as say someone who never went past high school but has explored the word.

3. Work ethic. A lot of "Smart" People will just flat out refuse to do a job that is beneath them, past their confront zone, or just not in their area of specialty. Like a parson with a BS In Computer Science with a 4.0 GPA and a highly skilled programmer being ask to help out lay network cable from Data Center A to the the New Data Center which is 100M away. Or an Artificial Intelligence expert refusing to program a Database Query. Or Refusing to learn a new language that the company is moving to. Also there are the smart people who just stop working when it is not fun any more.

4. Hunan Skills, Human skills are important because what ever your job is at some level it will used for the benefit of humans. And you cannot advance in your career without human skills.

I am sure anyone who worked for Technical Support has realized People with PHD are the worse group of people to to Technical Support for. Because when they call you they are already embarrassed that they needed to call technical support because they think of themselves smart enough to fix the problem themselves with out the help of some 2 Year vocational school grad. Then when you do talk to them on the phone they are less then honest on following your instructions. Finally when you give them instructions they will not follow it. compared with Blue Collar Factory workers (Which I have learned are actually very smart people too) they are not afraid to call when the problem is minor and can get it fixed before it becomes major, they tell you exactly what they did, they follow your instruction on how to fix it. They also write them self a note on how to prevent it in the future.

I work for Google

[Anonymous Coward]

Going anon obviously.

Two things -

1. Academic != Smart. The amount of small minds here (particularly the worst kind; small minds with large egos) is unreal. Just because you have a PhD does not make you smart.

2. Most Google employees are total sheep. They are the type of people who want to join a cult. This goes against everything business owners stand for.

3. Setting up a business has nothing to do with being smart or academic. Only certain kinds of people (generally, the kind of people who like selling, i.e. not nerds) enjoy and succeed at setting up businesses.

People totally overrate Google employees. It's funny/sad.

Re:Perhaps...

[ufnoise]

However, take into consideration the simple fact that after working for such a software giant, you will have non-compete clauses for several years, and quitting Google to someday form your own business seems less than attractive.


Are non-compete clauses enforceable in California? Are out of state non compete contracts enforcable in California? According to this Wiki the answer to both questions is no.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_clause#En forceability_in_the_State_of_California [wikipedia.org]

Does anyone know if Google requires you to sign a non compete clause?

Working at a large software company in the Silicon Valley, I just had to sign a paper when I started saying my employment was "at will". It also said I wouldn't try to get other employees to leave the company for a period of two years after I left the company.

You can't steal intellectual property and take it with you. You can certainly continue to work in the same area, even if it means having to move to California.

Re:Google's success.

[lilfields]

People are forgetting the secret to Google's success. Luck.

So by your definition, anyone who is successful is so because they are lucky? I have no idea how you were modded up. That's not interesting or insightful in the least.

being "smart"

[Dystopian Rebel]

Unless we define "smart", this is just a silly thread. Being smart is much more than a set of metrics, as you suggest. Many programmers themselves are not even good at programming.

Google is not Mensa. Mensa is not even Mensa. If Google really was stocked with geniuses, it would suggest that they a) know how to find geniuses, b) know how to lure geniuses, and c) know how to make geniuses work together for corporate success. Frankly, I do not believe that ANYONE can do it. It would take... genius. :o)

Software engineering reminds me of Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game: an abstract obsession detached real human values. Many people in the field think they are brilliant because they think what they are doing is brilliant. It is not.

Remember Lucent

[carn1fex]

My uncle lost a ton of money in Lucent because his philosophy for success centered around them having the highest percentage of staff with PhDs in the industry. Take heed?

Could happen, probably won't

[CAIMLAS]

It could happen, but it probably won't. Here's why: Google's employees live better than kings.

What do I mean? They've got a vast selection of food that they could want to eat; they have fairly undisciplined day schedules; they've got no overt worldly responsibilities. And, what's most important, they can spend their days however they want working on things that interest them. They may not be golfing or doing 'leasurely' activities, but most academic types don't care for those kinds of entertainment anyway.

When you enjoy every activity of your day (well, at least 'almost') why would you throw it away to try and compete against such an environment?

Re:I work for Google

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree. I have worked for Google for years. Early on, a lot of people were smart and humble enough to know that we didn't really know what we were doing but gave it our best. We got lucky with the text ads early on. Now the place is full of people hired in the last couple of years who have drunk the kool aid and believe all this press hype about how smart we all are. And all we still have is the text ads. And a hundred little prima donna product manager empires of terrible beta products that would be laughed out of existence in any other company that had to depend on, you know, real results, diversification, thinking differently, all that stuff. We are drowing in prissy phds and their sycophantic product managers. They believe because they are rich that they are smart. There is no real correlation but egos demand it. And larry and sergey are too busy playing with their new toys to even try to get up to speed. All they know how to do now is dilute the stock buying Valley startups so they can get new friends to hang with.