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Those are pretty cool things to be a tech lead for. While I agree that those projects are not earth-shattering or incredibly innovative[1], Facebook's traffic n

Those are pretty cool things to be a tech lead for. While I agree that those projects are not earth-shattering or incredibly innovative[1], Facebook's traffic numbers make everything technically interesting. For example, the Like button is served 3 billion times per day[2]. I'm sure FB has a lot of infrastructure for that kind of load, but knowing that you might have 3 billion daily hits leads to some interesting technical challenges. [1] Although perhaps somewhat earth-shattering just because hundreds of millions of people use those features. [2] http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/07/facebook-like-buttons/ http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/07/facebook-like-buttons/

badclient 15y ago
Except neither "cool things" nor "technically interesting" have much to do with the author's core message: doing great things and changing the world for the better. It is especially humorous to see someone who worked on Facebook Beacon deride coupon startups and social games: I do not doubt that services like social games and coupons bring delight to people’s lives, and I mean no disrespect to the hard work that has made them possible. But in the face of threats to humanity’s future on the one hand and the extraordinary potential of mankind on the other, at some point we must ask: are we capable of more?