Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google • Hacker News Board

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#181

Post by ummonk » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 7:33 AM UTC

hlurhhh wrote: post #95

thenaturalist wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wholeheartedly agree, and I think it comes down to "signalling by association". For sure she is a workaholic and that gets you far, but to me it seems like she is filling the gap of providing confirmation to insecure overachievers after she - being one herself - made mistakes and reflected on them. Mistakes that could have been avoided had you taken out the ego in the first place. In contrast to my hypothesis: If you…

I wrote this somewhere else in this thread, but I like her because she's one of the few (current) 'well known' women in tech that's successful and stylish. She's exactly the kind of representation I need and want.

It certainly seems like her looks and stylishness are major factors in her popularity (especially when compared to a more accomplished woman like Lisa Su), but you think that is a good thing?

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#182

Post by Erlich_Bachman » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 7:33 AM UTC

lkrubner wrote: post #41

Harj wrote: post #2

Marissa described possibly the most thorough and analytical job search process I've heard from anyone, when she was talking about how she joined Google. I really liked her reflection on this in hindsight on how being overly analytical is dangerous and it's something I try to remind myself of when I'm in danger of overthinking a decision: "I think this is a common thing that very analytical people trip themselves up w…

Too much focus on utility functions, not enough focus on novelty functions, even though it's been proven that utility functions decline in usefulness as a search space expands. Given an infinite search space, a utility function can only find local optima, there is no global optima. In such situations, a novelty function that finds a path from one happy local optima to another happy local optima is a better bet than u…

This is an interesting line of thinking, certainly valueable in some sense.

It is also a very good example of exactly what the previous post refers to: overthinking stuff.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#183

Post by Erlich_Bachman » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 7:35 AM UTC

duxup wrote: post #36

Harj wrote: post #2

Marissa described possibly the most thorough and analytical job search process I've heard from anyone, when she was talking about how she joined Google. I really liked her reflection on this in hindsight on how being overly analytical is dangerous and it's something I try to remind myself of when I'm in danger of overthinking a decision: "I think this is a common thing that very analytical people trip themselves up w…

As someone who feels they're from the outside looking in (left college to work, still ended up in the technology but without a traditional college education) one of the most frustrating things is watch folks who I perceive as traditionally trained CS and similar folks ... is their desire to go hyper analytical ... and then REALLY commit to the result as the best choice above all others because of whatever analysis th…

Life is simply a game with non-perfect knowledge. It's not chess or go, it's more like Dota or poker.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#184

Post by ido » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 7:37 AM UTC

mathattack wrote: post #163

NelsonMinar wrote: post #46

I was also at Google when the AOL deal was signed and remember the decision and outcome quite differently. It was definitely a high risk deal, deliberately so, but in no way was it only "the best-case scenario had us breaking even". Nor was it the case that "all of our models were wrong". The product manager in charge of ads at the time had a clear understanding of exactly how the deal could be hugely profitable for…

Execs rewriting corporate history after the fact. Go figure.

Seeing as this happened 20 years ago and she was quoting from memory, I think we can give her the benefit of the doubt. It could have also been that her view at the time was different than OP's/the person who made the deal & she recalls her opinion as "how it was".

Such things in-fact happened to me (even tho I'm a bit younger than Mayer & my career started a few years later than hers), human memory is really unreliable & a lot of times you remember your feelings & translate those to facts upon recollection even when that wasn't quite the case.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#185

Post by Erlich_Bachman » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 7:40 AM UTC

antt wrote: post #77

rajeshp1986 wrote: post #10

"I realized that, while I had a very deep understanding of artificial intelligence, I did not yet have some of the basics down. I knew how a database worked. I knew how an operating system worked. I knew how a compiler worked. But I hadn't taken classes on those topics, so I went back for my master's and took the rest of the AI offerings as well as a lot of programming basics. That way, I could actually go and market…

Keep in mind that she is a queen of self promotion. When she was talking about 140 hour work weeks she conveniently left out the fact she was paying someone else to do her domestic work [0]. Or that most of her days involved meetings, lunches and dinners. I am reminded of the story of Henry IV who stood barefoot in the snow for three days. And through the grace of God not getting frost bite. We have come so far when…

Are there a lot of successful people who don't outsource their domestic work? It is a norm to be expected, not something you "have to disclose".

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#186

Post by scarejunba » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 7:42 AM UTC

antt wrote: post #77

rajeshp1986 wrote: post #10

"I realized that, while I had a very deep understanding of artificial intelligence, I did not yet have some of the basics down. I knew how a database worked. I knew how an operating system worked. I knew how a compiler worked. But I hadn't taken classes on those topics, so I went back for my master's and took the rest of the AI offerings as well as a lot of programming basics. That way, I could actually go and market…

Keep in mind that she is a queen of self promotion. When she was talking about 140 hour work weeks she conveniently left out the fact she was paying someone else to do her domestic work [0]. Or that most of her days involved meetings, lunches and dinners. I am reminded of the story of Henry IV who stood barefoot in the snow for three days. And through the grace of God not getting frost bite. We have come so far when…

Got to be honest, if someone told me they worked 80 hour workweeks, I'd assume they paid someone to do their housework. That's just comparative advantage at play. In fact, I wouldn't expect them to even bring up their housework. I honestly don't think that's dishonest.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#187

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 8:01 AM UTC

antt wrote: post #171

JudasGoatse wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol. Ifs, buts, shoulda-beens, almost-weres. I'm sure most successes flirt with failure at some point. So what? There's no arguing that both men created immense value. It's totally appropriate that they're lauded for it. I don't know why you're trying to be such a spoilsport about it. Don't begrudge smart, hardworking people their success, it makes you look like a bitter wingnut. I mean, really: Microsoft and Apple a…

There are no ifs and buts. Microsoft wasn't destroyed as a monopoly by the skin of its teeth. Much to the detriment of posterity. Here's hoping the next president starts treating digital monopolies like regular ones.

[deleted]

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#188

Post by JudasGoatse » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 8:05 AM UTC

hlurhhh wrote: post #172

JudasGoatse wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She's not successful, she's wealthy. There's a difference. She got a lottery ticket at Google and cashed in, then proceeded to run Yahoo into the ground. She's widely considered a failure in tech and business circles, and for good reason (I was with her at Yahoo and can testify to her strategic incompetence). If Marissa is the role model you want - stylish but incompetent - then I feel bad for you. Much like Elizabet…

Don't feel bad for me, I'm twenty-something years old and having Marissa as my tech woman icon is just some fun. I'm sorry you don't like her, but the choices for role models as a woman in tech are limited. (And yeah I know about Hopper and Hamilton and Borg, the difference is that Mayer is a current kinda-household name and in Vogue, literally.) Also don't lump Marissa in with Elizabeth Holmes, Holmes could never be…

Maybe you'd find more role models if you didn't segregate by gender (that's sexist, after all). If you can only look up to people who share your genitalia then I think that's pretty limiting.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#189

Post by JudasGoatse » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 8:13 AM UTC

Udik wrote: post #178

antt wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no ifs and buts. Microsoft wasn't destroyed as a monopoly by the skin of its teeth. Much to the detriment of posterity. Here's hoping the next president starts treating digital monopolies like regular ones.

So Bill Gates proved his incompetence by growing a company to the point of becoming a monopoly, at risk of dismemberment by the antitrust?

Forget it, he's obviously a wingnut.

Re: Marissa Mayer on career growth and how a revenue guarantee almost killed Google

#190

Post by throwkd29488 » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 8:18 AM UTC

tomhoward wrote: post #99

dustindiamond wrote: post #61

She seems like a lucky Elizabeth Holmes type.

Elizabeth Holmes is facing fraud charges. Marissa Mayer was an accomplished engineer and then a senior executive at Google through its transition from startup to behemoth, then took on the impossible task of rescuing Yahoo when no comparably experienced man wanted to step up to the plate, and facilitated a solid outcome for shareholders [1]. Reasonable people can debate the merits of her performance and impact at bot…

> Marissa Mayer was an accomplished engineer and then a senior executive at Google through its transition from startup to behemoth

She was a product manager not an engineer. Her greatest accomplishment according to her was keeping the home page simple by only including the search bar. She also made the right decision to invest heavily in google maps.

You also left out the part where she slept with the founder during her time at Google, which undoubtedly gave her a leg up for promotions.

> then took on the impossible task of rescuing Yahoo when no comparably experienced man wanted to step up to the plate

She took it because she struck a sweat deal with board. In exchange for forgoing her google shares, she was able to reap 300 million in 4 years despite having an abysmal performance. Give any experience man that type of deal and I assure you there will be many that step up.