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Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

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Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#351

Post by UncleMeat »

gamblor956 wrote: post #305
dmoy wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about the rest of that, but > Homebrew, which was used by 90% of Google's engineers at the time of his interview This is definitely not true.

I don't know how true the % is, but that is what Howell claimed and several Google employees verified that his software was used by significant parts of Google's engineering staff. At any rate, the point is that a guy who used software used by a large portion of Google's engineering team because it was superior to the in-house solution could not get a job at Google because he failed to answer a programming question i…

All code at google is built from source from a single mono repo with a one version rule. Approximately zero googlers use homebrew since almost no development is done on macs and there is no need for packages management.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#352

Post by asdfman123 »

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #336
JamesBarney wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a class filter initially designed to not be a class filter: rich people can afford to study for months for free. Poor people can't. I think whiteboarding problems can be silly but.... If you are applying to these jobs you either just graduated, in which case you just spent 4 years finding time to jump through all the hoops the professors gave you, surely you can find another 3 months to become an expert on whiteboa…

I'm a non-CS new grad in STEM with this exact situation. do you suggest a no-name internship, studying algorithms, or both?

Get as much experience in dev as you can. But don't feel like you have to have X years of experience to make it.

Studying algorithms is HUGELY IMPORTANT. They say they "just want to see how you think." That's a lie. Big Tech interviews are like a whiteboarding final exam, and you need to shoot for an A.

Study leetcode. Study resources like interviewcake.com or Cracking the Coding Interview, and take practice interviews at interviewing.io.

Good luck, and feel free to hit me up for advice.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#353

Post by Number157 »

Grustaf wrote: post #139
Number157 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And Wozniak was never CEO of Apple. In terms of title? No. In terms of function? Well sure, he's a co-founder.

Co-founder has nothing to do with CEO. Clearly Wozniak was the technical co-founder, not the business co-founder. I have never seen any hint of him being anything but terrible at business.

> Co-founder has nothing to do with CEO.

In a small company, every person has enough influence to rival the CEO and every role overlaps enough that the distinction given by titles is meaningless inside the company. Mainly the distinction given by titles determines how people market themselves outside the company where the dividing roles will appear clear for marketing purposes, which they are not in reality.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#354

Post by M5x7wI3CmbEem10 »

asdfman123 wrote: post #352
M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a non-CS new grad in STEM with this exact situation. do you suggest a no-name internship, studying algorithms, or both?

Get as much experience in dev as you can. But don't feel like you have to have X years of experience to make it. Studying algorithms is HUGELY IMPORTANT. They say they "just want to see how you think." That's a lie. Big Tech interviews are like a whiteboarding final exam, and you need to shoot for an A. Study leetcode. Study resources like interviewcake.com or Cracking the Coding Interview, and take practice intervie…

thanks! may I ask what’s your contact?

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#355

Post by replyifuagree »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #43
replyifuagree wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how about using revenue growth?

Still not particularly useful if we are comparing new companies to old ones. I'm sure the brand new oil companies of 1875 had incredible revenue growth in the ±20 years after their founding, too. Does that mean that oil men make the best CEOs?

I mean, those oil men clearly had something going on that was relevant to what was tractionable at the time, and revenue growth can be an indicator of finding that traction in the market. As mentioned below, it can also be a sign of graft.

Of course through the lens of history, considering climate change, the best CEO was the one who didn't unleash a huge pile of CO2!

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#356

Post by gamblor956 »

EvilEy3 wrote: post #349
gamblor956 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on Google's track record the past few years, Yes, I seriously believe that Google could not come up with a better package manager. They've taken 6 shots at a basic messaging application and they still haven't gotten that right. 4 attempts at a payment application. Stadia. Wear. Nest (post-acquistion). The had 1 shot with Stadia to do it right and they fucked it up so badly that it's impacting Google's ability t…

And again, do you seriously believe that any of this has to do with engineering and not lack of business vision?

Based on the bugginess of Maps, Duo, Hangouts, Wear, Stadia, and other products, I would say that the poor engineering is almost as much a factor of these failures as the lack of business vision. After all, the product doesn't need to work well for the PM to get promoted. It just needs to exist.

Google is run by the engineers. You don't get to blame the MBAs for its failures.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#357

Post by EvilEy3 »

gamblor956 wrote: post #356
EvilEy3 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And again, do you seriously believe that any of this has to do with engineering and not lack of business vision?

Based on the bugginess of Maps, Duo, Hangouts, Wear, Stadia, and other products, I would say that the poor engineering is almost as much a factor of these failures as the lack of business vision. After all, the product doesn't need to work well for the PM to get promoted. It just needs to exist. Google is run by the engineers. You don't get to blame the MBAs for its failures.

> Based on the bugginess of Maps, Duo, Hangouts, Wear, Stadia, and other products

What are your sources?

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#358

Post by kuu »

necovek wrote: post #210
kuu wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's at least the following: - Attention to detail - Control of flow (if this then that) mentality - More binary thinking - Precision when describing (programming does not allow ambiguity) - A lot of frustration tolerance :) That's at least my experience

I am surprised you did not get that from mathematics, so I wonder what level/type of mathematics did you do? I can get that you usually don't get it from regular high school mathematics, but even there one should learn to deal with proofs and deducing stuff in a precise, non-ambiguous way, and you have to pay attention to detail. Coding allowed me to build things with my analytical mind liking precision and patterns,…

I did not mention that mathematics did not teach me that, but programming pushed that to a limit that maths didn't - probably because I do not spend 8h a day, every working day doing maths :)

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#359

Post by kuu »

antupis wrote: post #76
kuu wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's at least the following: - Attention to detail - Control of flow (if this then that) mentality - More binary thinking - Precision when describing (programming does not allow ambiguity) - A lot of frustration tolerance :) That's at least my experience

Also iteration.

And recursion :)

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#360

Post by EvilEy3 »

imtringued wrote: post #347
EvilEy3 wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> rich people can afford to study for months for free. Poor people can't. Oh boy, here we go again. Smart people can afford not to study for months. 'Stupid' people can't. Shall I, as a 'stupid' person complain about that?

The problem with your definition of smart is that it is both trainable and you are at your "smartest" when you graduate.

Sure. If I have a ready drone and one that will be ready in 4 years, which should I hire?
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