Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum • Hacker News Board

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#31

Post by wilfra » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:23 PM UTC

bdesimone wrote: post #2

I'll be very interested to find out what role Guido will take up at dropbox. When someone like Matz/ Guido/ etc gets hired, what do their job responsibilities, for the community include exactly? Are language writer hires such as this purely symbolic?

Probably very similar to why Universities want Nobel Laureates on the faculty. Sure, they want their brainpower, but it's also huge for prestige and a symbol to the World of what a great University they are.

This will probably help greatly with recruiting. What Python engineer wouldn't want to work with him?

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#32

Post by mark-r » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:24 PM UTC

Sukotto wrote: post #14

See also: https://tech.dropbox.com/2012/12/welcome-guido/

"Some people only need to be introduced by their first name" - maybe so, but it would have been nice for them to mention it at least once.

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#33

Post by briancurtin » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:24 PM UTC

strangetimes wrote: post #29

krosaen wrote: post #7

I was always impressed by how much code Guido wrote at Google, he definitely isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.

Guido apparently wrote a web-based code review tool for Google: http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/2006/11/google-mondrian.htm...

http://code.google.com/p/rietveld/

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#34

Post by Kilimanjaro » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:25 PM UTC

Kilimanjaro wrote: post #24

Why Guido left? That's the question.

If I was a language designer looking for a change, I'd go to Yosemite and apply as park ranger. That would be a change.

But dropbox?

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#35

Post by natural219 » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:25 PM UTC

    Python has been a backbone of Dropbox since its early days as it 
    allowed the startup to write code once but deploy it across platforms.

Can anybody elaborate on this? Is the argument that Python is cross-platform because everybody uses GNU tools on every platform, or are there other reasons why Python is more cross-platform than other languages?

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#36

Post by lquist » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:26 PM UTC

strangetimes wrote: post #29

krosaen wrote: post #7

I was always impressed by how much code Guido wrote at Google, he definitely isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.

Guido apparently wrote a web-based code review tool for Google: http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/2006/11/google-mondrian.htm...

I heard that this tool was not well received at Google; anybody else hear this?

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#37

Post by citricsquid » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:27 PM UTC

Would someone like this be paid based on their fame and/or positive PR value, or would they be paid based on position just like everyone else? I've always wondered if these "programming celebrities" make substantially more just based on their personal brand, or if their personal brand just affords them the opportunity to have any job they so desire (but with the "standard" pay)

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#38

Post by scottmp10 » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:27 PM UTC

FWIW, Guido's role at Google wasn't specific to Python. He worked on real product teams and contributed much more than his Python expertise.

The article seems to think that Dropbox hired him for his thorough knowledge of Python, which probably had some role in the hiring decision, but I expect that the primary motivation was to acquire an excellent engineer.

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#39

Post by lancashire » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:28 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #4

" the adventure found at a nimble 250-person startup like Dropbox becomes more tempting " What is the definition of a startup these days, anyway?

I've always liked Steve Blank's definition:

"A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model."

I would say Dropbox has found a repeatable and scalable business model.

Re: Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

#40

Post by jfb » Fri, Dec 07, 2012, 7:29 PM UTC

spaghetti wrote: post #13

krosaen wrote: post #7

I was always impressed by how much code Guido wrote at Google, he definitely isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.

Wow if he really did contribute a lot (which I don't doubt at all) then how did Google let him get away? I'd imagine his lifestyle there was pretty nice.

If someone wants to go, how could a company, even a great one like Google, keep them?