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YouTube Instant Creator Accepts Job At YouTube
- lukeqsee 16y agoPoor guy. And I mean it. Google is a big mess of hierarchy, (yes, they're much better than the average -- that's not saying much). Their "eternal" startup mantra is just that. Looks like the world has lost yet another good hacker to the halls of the Googleplex. I hope he loves it. Unfortunately, I don't think he will. Kudos to all the work put in for YouTube Instant. Good luck to your future at YouTube!
- BonoboBoner 16y agowoah... and I always thought Google was THE place to be.
- hvs 16y agoIt was... 10 years ago.
- lukeqsee 16y agoIt's the place to be, if you want an 8-5 job (it ends up being much more than 8-5). I don't blame him for taking the job. I just hope he keeps up his entrepreneur's spirit. He's already shown an entrepreneurial bent, just imagine what he might have done on his own. (Based on what he did, it could have been wonderful.)
- jacquesm 16y agoImagine what he can do with all the resources of google behind him.
- Psyonic 16y agoKudos to you for responding to comments like these with patience and class. The cynicism on here about doing anything other than starting your own business drives me up the wall, but comments like yours help me keep my head.
- lukeqsee 16y agoI was wrong with my original assertion that he is a "poor guy." He is on top of the world right now. He's got a huge opportunity in front of him. I was wrong, and the patience of HN people is amazing. Thanks. I think there is always danger when you take an 8-5 job that you begin to lose your desire to "hack"; I don't think he will. I can't wait to see his work, and, as always, wish him the very best.
- Psyonic 16y agoThanks, lukeqsee. I appreciate that. While I understand that its not unheard of for 8-5's to swallow good hackers, there are plenty of people with the drive to hack working day jobs, and not necessarily because they aren't brave enough to take the plunge. I'd also like to point out that startups can cause hackers to lose the desire to "hack" as well. After the initial stages, so much time is required on other things that hacking often falls by the wayside, and often is never really picked up again.
- Psyonic 16y agoHave you actually worked for google? Where do you get your information? Not everyone works 80 hours a week there, and plenty of smart people have walked through its halls, left to do their own thing, and sometimes even came back after their company was acquired. It's not a dead end, like you seem to suggest. Also, are you familiar with the term, "the sum is greater than the parts?" Pooling resources and talent is often more effective than trying to do everything on your own.
- bwaldorf 16y agoI am amazed he left Facebook.
- dpritchett 16y agoWhy not? Surely a combination of Google and Facebook experience is more valuable than an equal amount of experience at just one or the other. I can see how you'd choose FB over Google coming in from the outside but if you get the chance to work with both it seems like a smart choice.
- brown9-2 16y ago"lost"? This seems a little over the top. He can always leave if he is unhappy. He obviously has a bright future ahead of him, whether it's at Google or not.
- jacquesm 16y agoPoor guy? I don't notice the man with a gun standing behind him that forces him in to servitude here. He's a free agent, he made this little project, got offered a job at a very prestigious company, has his name on the map for the future and a reference that will open doors for a long long time to come (being offered a job directly by the head of the video division of Google, formerly an entrepreneur himself is likely not a daily occurrence). Poor guy indeed. Somehow I feel this isn't the last we've heard of him, and I wish him the best of luck with what he'll do there, and I don't doubt that if he ever decides to go solo that he'll find a lot of people willing to back his (ad)ventures. There are much worse things to happen to you than this.
- lukeqsee 16y agoLike I said, I wish him the best. I hope he does exactly that: use Google as a wonderful opportunity (like it is). Money could make him comfortable where otherwise he would be hacking. I was hoping that didn't happen, and he uses it as another opportunity. "Poor guy"? Maybe that was over the top. Maybe it wasn't. We will see.
- jacquesm 16y agoSo, what's your startup?
- feross 16y agoHey, author of YouTube Instant here. I just want to say one thing: I'll never stop hacking. Expect to see lots more from me in the future!
- lukeqsee 16y agoAwesome. I can't wait. Best of luck to you!
- jacquesm 16y agoI never doubted that :) Good for you man, make a go of it there. Was HN your 'launch spot' ?
- dabent 16y agoI want to publicly thank you for being cool and answering a question I had about ytinstant by email. Your instinct for hacking is an inspiration.
- Psyonic 16y agoAwesome work! Welcome to Google.
- jacquesm 16y agoSuper of the Youtube guys to follow through on this and great for him to see he actually got the job. I'm pretty curious if we'll be able to spot his 'fingerprint' in the features that youtube will roll out over the next period.
- astrofinch 16y ago"Interestingly enough, the ambitious Aboukhadijeh was a software engineer intern at Facebook when he created Youtube Instant." Hm, I was under the impression Facebook didn't allow side projects. I suppose this doesn't apply to interns?
- jacquesm 16y agoProgrammers will do 'side projects' in their heads when you tie their hands, it's like painters having to paint and writers having to write. Not allowing side projects is opposing a force of nature. Silly move by facebook.
- feross 16y agoI've worked at Facebook all summer as an intern. Never have I been aware of any company policy that forbids side projects.
- jacquesm 16y agoFor interns that would be pretty weird anyway, after all, it's not like they are under the kind of employment contract where you could reasonably make the case for that. In fact, your best interns probably do have side projects.
- ashbrahma 16y agoWhat are the IP implications?? Can FB claim the IP since he worked on it while working at FB?
- btilly 16y agoFacebook cannot because it happened in California, and California has strong protections. See http://law.justia.com/california/codes/2009/lab/2870-2872.html http://law.justia.com/california/codes/2009/lab/2870-2872.ht... for details. I'm firmly of the belief that this is very good for Silicon Valley. How many people do you know who work at a job and a startup on the side? In California that generally won't get you in trouble. Elsewhere?
- xentronium 16y agoI am sorta envious of the guy.
- tibbon 16y agoNormally, does getting a job at YouTube require the same hoops to jump through as getting a job at Google, or are their HR departments and processes separate still?
- chime 16y agoThough it's been a while now, back in 2007 I was offered a job at YouTube without going through the interview process because I co-developed the now-defunct Chime.TV ( http://techcrunch.com/2007/06/12/chimetv-a-prettier-way-to-watch-youtube/ http://techcrunch.com/2007/06/12/chimetv-a-prettier-way-to-w... ) and won the Mashup Competition that year. I even confirmed to make sure I wouldn't have to go through the crazy Google hiring practices and was assured that "If you say yes, you don't have to interview - you have a job starting tomorrow on my team at YouTube." It seemed like a very cool proposition too - my code would be visible to hundreds of millions of people immediately. I would've accepted it had my life circumstances been different.
- chopsueyar 16y agoWhat is YouTube Instant?
- noodle 16y agohttp://ytinstant.com/ http://ytinstant.com/
- chopsueyar 16y agoYeah, couldn't find the about page. Is it just an AJAX-based Youtube search autocomplete that pulls up the results and then makes am autoplaying playlist?
- noodle 16y agoyeah, and google instant is just a google search that pulls up results as you type them.
- chopsueyar 16y agoAre you trying to get a rise out of me, sir?
- noodle 16y agojust pointing out the fact that you can make a lot of things sound trivial if you try :)
- brosephius 16y agojust playing devil's advocate here, but why is slapping together an API with some javascript worthy of a job offer? what's so exciting about YT instant? from hurley's twitter message, it sounds like he asked this kid to drop out of stanford to join youtube, which sounds a little crazy. maybe I just have no imagination. (congrats to the kid in any case)
- Mystalic 16y agoThe kid's innovative and imaginative, can clearly build and design product quickly, and has a Facebook and Stanford pedigree. That sounds like a winner to me.
- gbrez1 16y agoI agree and thank you for speaking what was on my mind as well. Anyone with moderate javascript skills could have a site like this up and running within 2 hours. I'm not even a fan of google instant though, oh well, to each his own.
- bretthellman 16y agoAh jezzz, next is a movie deal!
- bartl 16y ago>Interestingly enough, the ambitious Aboukhadijeh was a software engineer intern at Facebook when he created Youtube Instant. Ouch. Does that mean Facebook own the rights? Because IT staff are not much more than slaves in our world: anything you create while employed is property of the employer, even if the work is done in your own time.