When you are a company that builds core software services algorithms are actually important and not proxies, and can be studied and learnt by heart. For most software companies algorithms they are irrelevant since they are glorified CRUD shops. What google ended up with that workforce, is a percentage of failed projects (in terms of real world business value and longevity)) that would have brought other software companies to their knees. Google produces nice languages and frameworks tho.
They really need to hire less geeky people (disclaimer, also geek but with self awareness). We hire a percentage of people whose first degree is not programming and have formed relevant career paths.
> What google ended up with that workforce, is a percentage of failed projects (in terms of real world business value and longevity)) that would have brought other software companies to their knees.
It's not clear to me why this would be a result of their engineering hiring practices as opposed to their business strategy and product management culture.
They really need to hire less geeky people (disclaimer, also geek but with self awareness). We hire a percentage of people whose first degree is not programming and have formed relevant career paths.