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It's one of my pet conspiracy theories that Google has hired tens of thousands of the best programmers not because they actually need them for anything, but pri
by staunch 16y ago
It's one of my pet conspiracy theories that Google has hired tens of thousands of the best programmers not because they actually need them for anything, but primarily to keep them out of the hands of rivals and potential killer startups.
- qq66 16y agoWhy would you think they don't need them?
- staunch 16y agoBecause more programmers != more productivity. Brook's Law, etc.
- qq66 16y agoRight, but Google is one of the biggest websites in the world, operating in nearly every country, etc. etc., it shouldn't be at all surprising that they have thousands of engineers, even though the productivity of each will be lower than it would in a smaller organization.
- staunch 16y agoIt's software. Running the same software in 100 countries doesn't require 100x more programmers. Ask a random Googler what he works on at Google. In my experience 9/10 times it's something they could easily do without.