Just out of curiosity, any "talent" here, on HN, being aggressively recruited by google/facebook? Or is this some other kind of "talent" they are looking for.
Wouldn't most talented people want to start their own company anyways?
Wouldn't most talented people want to start their own company anyways?
As to your second question, some people are smart enough to know that running a business is not one of their core competencies.
And then again, too, "talent" is too gnarled a word to be meaningful intercontextually. The "talents" that Schmidt is shopping for may very well be disjoint from those that pg seeks out.
The reason I'd rather work for them than start my own company (now) is that I'm interested in infrastructure. I could go start a company and be an architecture astronaut (and never sell any infrastructure to anyone), or I could go to Google/Facebook and learn the kind of domain specific knowledge that I can only get at a Google or Facebook.
A few years ago Google required a 3.75 or higher college GPA. That is an amazing GPA for the college I went to, so I've never applied. I wonder if they have relaxed that criteria.
I worked there a bit over two years.
(Note: I didn't hit it exactly; it was a while ago but I think I recall I ended up at 3.139.)
I think the GPA thing at Google is just stupidly silly. I've accomplished quite a bit in my career. Thankfully I don't really need Google, but it does drive me nuts that there is a place that I can't work:)
GPA is only useful as a filter for people just out of college. If you've been in the work force for a while, there are better measures available.
When you are perceived to be a rock star, people are willing to accommodate even seemingly non-sensical requests. Google wants a 3.75+ GPA, thats what they get. Google wants XYZ cert, thats what they get. Google take 5 months to hire you, so be it. It may piss people off individually, but as long as there is a steady stream of applicants, it doesn't immediately impact Google.
Of course the more truly talented, qualified people they dick around with and piss off, the more their reputation begins to slide from 'the best' to 'eccentric' to 'ridiculous'. I think Google is now experiencing some repurcussions that to them seems like a 'talent war'.
My suggestion would be that if you want to join Google then just send them your resume. Let them decide whether or not they want you rather than deciding that for them.
Two friends of mine, fine engineers with background in database systems and large-scale distributed systems, have got offers from both and had successfully played one off the other. One of them ended up in Facebook and the other one in Google.
It's a war, no doubt.