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Skype Loses Engineering Chief (possibly due to TechCrunch commenters?)
- ericboggs 16y agoOh my. Some of those comments are comedy gold. That said - I'm a bit dubious of the TechCruch Peanut Gallery's role in the departure. Surely Skype did their reference homework before hiring the guy...
- donohoe 16y agoMaybe - but maybe not. People fall through the cracks. Dilbert is based on a little bit of reality...
- extension 16y agoJudging by the TC comments, it sounds like this guy strategically immunized himself from criticism, up until the dam burst.
- jwecker 16y agoI'm not as dubious. Unlike someone's random blog entry, the NYT does do fact-checking, and had at least one source they deemed reliable, as per TFA: "The comments caught the attention of Skype executives who became concerned about their new hire, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak with the press."
- aaronsw 16y agoSorry, but the NYT does not do fact checking for their articles or blog posts. The New York Times Magazine factchecks their long feature stories, but that's it.
- staunch 16y agoThis is extremely shocking to find out when you personally know the facts of a situation they're covering. It would be funny if not for the damage.
- dman 16y agoYes they fact checked the story about WMD's all right. - http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/9226/ http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/9226/
- Eliezer 16y agoI usually find that random blogs online are far more truthful and clueful than the mainstream press.
- RodgerTheGreat 16y agoHere and there, sure. Be wary of confirmation bias.
- lotusleaf1987 16y agoSeriously...I didn't read this article originally, but now looking at the comments--wow. He got raked over the coals. Must be a great guy to have so a motivated fan base.
- CamperBob 16y agoAnybody can have a psychotic stalker. Nothing on that TechCrunch comment page is actionable and HN doesn't acquit itself well by linking to it.
- minalecs 16y agolink to techcrunch article [http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/skype-recruits-yahoo-engineering-exec-for-key-technology-role/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/skype-recruits-yahoo-engine...] techcrunch
- subpixel 16y agoPerhaps telling that his bio is almost as long as all the content he ever posted to his blog: http://madhuyarlagadda.blogspot.com/ http://madhuyarlagadda.blogspot.com/
- callmeed 16y agoI generally don't keep up or care about executive moves at large companies but I find this fascinating on a few levels ... I know there are fairly serious legal risks/fears when it comes to checking references and vetting potential hires. I wonder if this had a lot to do with Skype not knowing how unliked this guy was at Yahoo! ... I wonder how much money it cost them to recruit, hire, and then lose this guy Most of all, it seems to me like there is a startup opportunity here IF (big if) you can ease people's legal fears. Something like this: (a) Maintain a largish db of tech workers that includes the dates they worked at various companies (Joe worked at Yahoo! from 2004 to 2007) (b) Large company wants to hire some manager/exec (Phil). They pay the service $1,000 to evet him. (c) The service matches Phil's work history against it's database and compiles a list of everyone who also worked at each company during those times. An email goes out asking each to complete a quick recommendation page. (d) Anyone who knew him can just say "I worked with/under him" and maybe a thumbs up or down. Perhaps incentivise them somehow (unless that would taint the results) (e) Large company gets a report and never sees names of respondents, only stats like "48 people responded and 75% said Phil is cool" ... maybe some anon. comments. (f) Profit
- maukdaddy 16y agoI'm not a lawyer, but I can't imagine that would fly in the US. Liability is just too big of a risk.
- FluidDjango 16y agoI am encountering more a more people (including just regarding educ. references) who decline to provide reference that say anything beyond the dates of employment/study - on advise of the organization's legals. Who want's to get out on any legal limb in the current U.S. litigious environment? EDIT: Of course candid (or even outrageous) negatively can easily be risked in an anonymous blog comment :(
- callmeed 16y agoRight, that's my point ... stop trying to get references from past employers and start getting them from past co-workers and subordinates. If this comment thread really did influence the decision, that seems like an opportunity.
- BobbyH 16y agoHere's a link to the Techcrunch comments mentioned in the NYT blog post: http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/skype-recruits-yahoo-engineering-exec-for-key-technology-role/#comments http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/skype-recruits-yahoo-engine...
- dcurtis 16y agoThe comments on that article are fascinating. If you start with the link above, you'll see a bunch of really brutal comments about Yarlagadda (they seem suspect, but there are so many of them, it's hard to tell). If you continue through the pages, though, you can watch as the thread becomes an outlet for Skype employees angry about the decision and discussing what happened culturally at Skype after the guy was hired. Skype employee responses: http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/skype-recruits-yahoo-engineering-exec-for-key-technology-role/comment-page-2/#comments http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/skype-recruits-yahoo-engine... Here's a post from "Anonymous Designer" that is telling: "Two engineers gave notice today and another one quit earlier in the week. I am sad because it looks like Madhu is quick to have a negative impact on our company. The engineers here are not happy with this recent hire and have been very vocal. HR is talking to each and every engineer 1:1 so that they don't loose anymore over this. While I am in design and less impacted the environment is very tense. Makes me question whether it makes sense to stay working at Skype. I haven't talked with Madhu but he is definitely rubbing a lot of people I respect the wrong way and quite obviously doesn't understand our culture. Hope there is a resolution soon so I can focus on pixels and not whether I am wasting my time." And another from "Skype Developer": "Madhu presented yesterday for an hour and didn't say anything. Didn't really address comments here and didn't show any technical depth. Josh what have you done? Are we really follow this guy? May be Dan was right to leave. Look out for good Skype engineers on the market. The only exec I saw at Skype that admitted a mistake was Dan. And he did it in front of his whole org. Josh it is your turn. Convince Dan to stay. Fix this. Is the board listening?" ---- The later responses -- which were posted several days later -- discussing internal Skype politics lead me to believe the brutal comments are at least partially genuine.
- flatulent1 16y agoBack in 2009 he wrote Steps to Success see his blog: http://madhuyarlagadda.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=2 http://madhuyarlagadda.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-...
- DanBlake 16y agoI dont know the guy, nor have I heard of him, but I suspect that many of the comments in the TC article are from the same person. Alot of the language is consistent, as are phrases and usernames chosen. Also, If you go back a page or 2, practically all the comments are positive and from people leaving their names. Why not ask techcrunch if they are all from the same IP?
- lotusleaf1987 16y agoI'm really curious if that is the case. It looks like you're right though. That would suck for this guy, but if he really is as bad as the comments make him seem....maybe he deserved it. Also, Yahoo messenger is trash. Full of bots and spam. Maybe if he actually had a product he could point to that was defensible this wouldn't be a problem.
- desigooner 16y agotrue. just surprising that "people from skype" started tagging on to the comments on how everyone's leaving and add to the bucket of comments against this guy. I hope the actual story behind this saga comes out in some manner
- shirtless_coder 16y agoI am 100% with you, just on the basis that people aren't that obsessed with slander in general. I can see 1-2 people commenting multiple times in a malicious way, but if there are more than 2, it has to be 4chan. Normal professionals do not have the time to sit on tech crunch all day slandering former coworkers, even if they are scumbags. With that said, I feel kind of bad for Madhu. Slander, is illegal under U.S. law. If the coward had not been anonymous he could have a court case against him. Although I am sure he has learned his lesson about not being a flaming dick to people.
- jacquesm 16y agoThe lower boundary on the number of people that hate his guts can be safely pegged at 1. Now if more than 1 would step forward and do it in a non-anonymous way it would amount to something. Especially since those left at Yahoo have nothing to fear from their bosses in this respect. But maybe Yahoo has a policy about not speaking publicly about ex-employees which extends to current employees, and maybe they're afraid that this guy would sue. He might even have a case. TC should analyze their logs for that thread and put up a count of the number of IPs tied to known proxies and tor exit nodes and how many of the comments were made from the same IPs. That way they would not reveal any sensitive data but you'd get a much more reliable impression on how much of it is one guy with an axe to grind and how much of it is real. That goes for both the attackers and the defenders. Referrers would be nice as well, especially if they came from some 'call to action' somewhere.
- Jun8 16y agoThis is probably how it happened: (1) This guy glammer-BS'es his way to the position, based on talking to top managers, who probably aren't very sharp technologically. (2) The TC comments hit the fan, which the execs see (this is interesting, high level managers in my company don't even know TC exists, kudos to Skype in this regard). (3) Execs do due diligence and find that the rumors are indeed true. (4) Guy has to walk out. This part is not very interesting. What's interesting to me, is how companies like Yahoo nurture such people to VP positions. I now totally believe all the criticisms that PG leveled at them in his essay, e.g. managers being termed "producers", etc. I guess such guys exist in all companies, but their ratio is a strong indicator of the weakness of the company.
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- azharcs 16y agoTechCrunch article which is cited in the article: http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/skype-recruits-yahoo-engineering-exec-for-key-technology-role/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/skype-recruits-yahoo-engine...
- itsalive 16y agoComments on TC are obviousely from the same angry person. There are only two things that can make a man this angry: a) you take his dignity or b) you take his woman.
- Castor 16y agoI don't know the guy but that video is pretty funny: http://www.bnet.com/videos/voip-ready-for-prime-time/187392 http://www.bnet.com/videos/voip-ready-for-prime-time/187392 the charisma of an oyster, combined with the engineering skills of my mother.
- vmmenon 16y agohehe ... that was really funny :)
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- loumf 16y agoHe misspelled "Simple" and "Traversal" in prewritten text (when defining STUN and TURN). I find a good indication that someone who doesn't understand something is they spend a lot of time defining acronyms.
- mkramlich 16y agoor they work in the US military :)
- djacobs 16y ago"Nowadays, everyone uses a nat to connect to the Internet" haha. Argghhhhh NAT != device.
- nanijoe 16y agoTo be fair, in the context which he uses "NAT" , it IS a device
- keeptrying 16y agoThese comments are probably true. And I say this from experience having worked at a large corporation for the last 6 years. Yes it might be one or two guys writing negative comments but it'll also be someone who has been really wronged and cannot let go of the pain. But you can believe that there would have been others who were also wronged during this guys tenure who are just too meek (as we engineers usually are) to say it out in public. Reasons why its probably true: A) The comments by themselves would not have been enough to fire the guy. There must have been enough complaints by their own staff. In my corporation we managed to get our manager fired in the same way. Everyone complained to HR. Though it took like a year. This guy actually had me on "communications performance plan". It was right out of dilbert. B) Its very very difficult to be a good manager. This is because its easier to play the political game than it is to actually be a leader with morals, the technical chops and great communication/relationship skills. So most people just kiss ass and shit on their reports and climb up the ladder. The higher you go in a corporation the harder it is to be a good manager. Because the amount of communiction/relationship/leadership skills necessary really rises exponentially rather than linerally. I say this from my experience of having worked in one corporation for 6.5 years. I have had MANY managers but only one good manager. C) Sucky indian managers (selection bias). But yes there are many. Now, I'm indian but I have to say that most indians SUCK at being managers (I've been a sucky indian manager myself :) . I've tried to figure out why and the only ponits I can think of are : 1. In tech companies there are a lot of indians and therefore a lot of indian managers. 2. Most managers suck at what they do. This because to be a good manager you have to be able to lead your employees but also be able to take orders from your own manager. Also you never get real world "practice" before your stuck into the role. 3. An indian on a H1-B is going to try harder to keep his job than one that doesnt and I think thats why they do downright deceitful things to look good to their own managers. Ie they become hardline task masters. I've known quite a few bad indian managers. Infact if I get an indian manager the first thing I'll do that day is start looking for another job. The manager might turn out okay but I'm that disillusioned with them. Especially new ones. PS: At the end of it all I did change. :) I got really huge pay increases for my best engineers and saved 1 from getting fired.
- SoftwareMaven 16y agoB) Its very very difficult to be a good manager. This is because its easier to play the political game than it is to actually be a leader with morals, the technical chops and great communication/relationship skills. Unfortunately, at most companies, if you don't play the political game, your career is screwed, too. I managed a team at a company and focused on what was best for my team and the product they were building. I managed to become the single-most hated person in the "division." It was made worse by my passive-aggressive boss. I live by the philosophy "if you don't ask, you won't get anything", and he constantly said "yes" (to mostly reasonable requests). At the same time, when I had issues with employees (one guy who needed to be fired for complete incompetence), he wouldn't back me up on the actions that needed to be taken. Of course, rank and file only hears the "wronged employee's" side of the story. Sorry, I'll stop ranting now. TL;DR: Stay away from management in big companies. You can have your soul or success, but very, very rarely both.
- oiuytghyuj 16y agoCompany hires a new senior manager. All the engineers that report to him start to leave. The company decides the manager is the problem. The company actaully fires the manager instead of blaming the engineers!!!!!
- Devilboy 16y agoDo we really know that engineers left (or wanted to leave) the company because of him?
- oiuytghyuj 16y agoNo that's just what they told HR and the blogosphere - they may have all left to become supermodels.
- Devilboy 16y agoNo I mean besides the anonymous comments on TC, has anyone confirmed that this really happened?
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- davidw 16y agoThe guy seems a bit like the Indian version of Doug Nassaur.
- imaginator 16y agoYou just dredged up some long forgotten pain in me.