Unfortunately the TIME article is now behind a paywall. However I read it back in February and for those of you with a subscription, I highly recommend reading

Unfortunately the TIME article is now behind a paywall. However I read it back in February and for those of you with a subscription, I highly recommend reading it. Having worked at Google I can tell you I have infinite respect for the quality of SREs. They really know the deep dark levels of the system, and take their work seriously, especially given some of the messes they have to clean up. I can't even imagine the shitstorm Mikey Dickerson flew into when he volunteered, but the fact that he was described as the guy who was "actually helpful" is not shocking. I'm not sure exactly how the Obama administration dragooned the tech companies to send volunteers. However, if Obama and Larry Page did have a convo, I like to think it went something like this: Obama: Mr. Page, we have a dire situation and we need a team of your best men now. Larry: What do you need exactly? Obama: 10 of your SREs to help us fix a production system we can't understand. Larry: ... you can have 1.