Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree • Hacker News Board

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#151

Post by antidoh » Fri, May 04, 2012, 4:31 AM UTC

seanp2k2 wrote: post #87

fleitz wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It "gave us confidence," says Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Wilkerson, former commander of the Marine Corps Reserve, who increased purchases of Lotus Notes after meeting Papows. "Jeff was a Phantom driver just like me."" This is exactly why people lie, because it doesn't matter how well your software works, what matters is that the people buying it feel like you're on the same team. Whether the CEO is a fighter pilot or not s…

Another thing too: what does it matter if you lie about the degree if /you can do the work/ ? Sure, it's unethical and I'm pretty sure it's illegal to lie outright about stuff like that to potential employers / boards, but again, if you come out and say "hey, I lied about this, but judge me on my output and not on my credentials"...that's gotta be worth something. That said, Yahoo isn't doing great, and I'm sure peop…

If he never claimed the credential then I would be more than willing to judge him on his accomplishments.

Lying about the credential wipes out his accomplishments, at least as a C level steward of shareholder value and employee well being. He is demonstrably unethical and I would not feel safe working for him. I would never give him my money, because while he may be able to demonstrate past success, that does not imply that he won't fabricate a ponzi scheme in the future to prop up stock prices and options.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#152

Post by petercooper » Fri, May 04, 2012, 4:34 AM UTC

olalonde wrote: post #142

fleitz wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It "gave us confidence," says Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Wilkerson, former commander of the Marine Corps Reserve, who increased purchases of Lotus Notes after meeting Papows. "Jeff was a Phantom driver just like me."" This is exactly why people lie, because it doesn't matter how well your software works, what matters is that the people buying it feel like you're on the same team. Whether the CEO is a fighter pilot or not s…

My pet theory is that some people lie in order to "shield" other people from their own biases. For instance, let's say Indians have a reputation of being sloppy programmers. If I was a great Indian programmer and I knew about this reputation, I'd probably be tempted to lie about my nationality when applying for a remote job. Female authors have used this strategy for a long time by using male pen names.

As someone in "the media" I often have to get in touch with people at companies to see if they want to speak at things or because I need to do some coverage of them and.. perhaps 9 times out of 10 if there's no address, detailed "About Us" page, or bio pics on the site, the company is very unlikely to be located in the US, while attempting to look like they are. I think it's sad they have to do this, though.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#153

Post by oligophagy » Fri, May 04, 2012, 4:43 AM UTC

seanp2k2 wrote: post #87

fleitz wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It "gave us confidence," says Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Wilkerson, former commander of the Marine Corps Reserve, who increased purchases of Lotus Notes after meeting Papows. "Jeff was a Phantom driver just like me."" This is exactly why people lie, because it doesn't matter how well your software works, what matters is that the people buying it feel like you're on the same team. Whether the CEO is a fighter pilot or not s…

Another thing too: what does it matter if you lie about the degree if /you can do the work/ ? Sure, it's unethical and I'm pretty sure it's illegal to lie outright about stuff like that to potential employers / boards, but again, if you come out and say "hey, I lied about this, but judge me on my output and not on my credentials"...that's gotta be worth something. That said, Yahoo isn't doing great, and I'm sure peop…

Because you screw over people who are just as if not more able than you to do the work but who simply aren't out of control liars.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#154

Post by vorg » Fri, May 04, 2012, 5:09 AM UTC

> holds a Bachelor's degree in accounting and computer science" [...] degree is in accounting only [...] it 1) undermines his credibility as a technology expert and 2) reflects poorly on the character of the CEO who has been tasked with leading

You can recognize them by what they _don't_ say publicly online. When a leader of an open source project bills himself with over half a dozen titles, but none of them are educational qualifications, then they lied about those quals to some current or previous employer/s.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#155

Post by randomdata » Fri, May 04, 2012, 5:11 AM UTC

timwoj wrote: post #24

fear91 wrote: post #16

Jobs didn't need a college degree to be a good CEO. In my opinion, college degree is not neccessary to be a competent CEO. Leaders are praised for different qualities than those which can be simply taught in a school.

It's less about whether he needed the degree, and more about whether he lied on a filing to the SEC about him having the degree.

Lying is inexcusable, but I'm more interested in what prompted him to make the lie in the first place. I mean, who really cares if he has a CS degree or not? What did he stand to gain?

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#156

Post by rytis » Fri, May 04, 2012, 5:18 AM UTC

harshreality wrote: post #139

epynonymous wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

maybe the ability to lie is a core value of becoming a ceo :)

Being able to lie and not get caught might be a core value in the psychopath model of corporate leadership. Getting caught in a lie makes one a poorly qualified psychopath.

I think it's just next level in the game: when you lie and get caught, how easily can you shrug it off and carry on. Not everyone can do this with a straight face. Politicians can. They're good at that.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#157

Post by klbarry » Fri, May 04, 2012, 5:37 AM UTC

klbarry wrote: post #9

This opinion is from someone who's been in charge of hiring a few times and will likely do so again: If you can actually do the job described, I don't give a damn about your credentials. I would not fire an employee who I found out fabricated credentials, if they had been working well for a while.

I thought that this would get a lot of responses, and I'm happy to read so many opinions. To put my thoughts another way: say that you're in a fictional world where discrimination against a particular set of people profound, and they are not protected by any law. Many, to avoid the stereotype, might lie about their identity to not be judged.

I realize that a college degree is different (I personally love college and find it quite useful), and college can be beneficial, I think the value that society places on a degree is so absurd that I feel for those who may he compelled to lie. I may note that I have not encountered such a person yet.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#158

Post by netrus » Fri, May 04, 2012, 5:59 AM UTC

Duff wrote: post #138

oijaf888 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it says that at the time he attended the college, they only offered 1 degree in computers, "Intro to Computer Sciences" and didn't start offering computer science degrees for another 4 years.

Not necessarily indicative of anything -- maybe he spent his time working on the dats processing system sued by the accounting and finance departments.

"I work in the IT industry for 5 years now, so I guess I have a CS BS somehow."?

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#159

Post by tomkarlo » Fri, May 04, 2012, 6:05 AM UTC

newbie12 wrote: post #132

tomkarlo wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All you'll be doing then is turning him into a high-priced industry consultant or public speaker. Not that prison always prevents that (See: Michael Milken) but it at least puts the brakes on it for a few years.

Milken is an interesting case. He literally created the market for high yield ("junk") bonds, and a lot of the charges the feds threw at him were because creating a new market meant breaking stupid regulations about yields and such.

Regardless of whether they're stupid or not, they're still regulations. Unless he was breaking the laws as a form of civil disobedience, he was still basically a guy breaking the rules to make more money.

Re: Yahoo CEO might have lied about having CS degree

#160

Post by Natsu » Fri, May 04, 2012, 6:20 AM UTC

rytis wrote: post #156

harshreality wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to lie and not get caught might be a core value in the psychopath model of corporate leadership. Getting caught in a lie makes one a poorly qualified psychopath.

I think it's just next level in the game: when you lie and get caught, how easily can you shrug it off and carry on. Not everyone can do this with a straight face. Politicians can. They're good at that.

Your comparison to politics has me wondering how he could blame this lie on his competitors or their CEOs.