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Google's Ph.D. Advantage

Frisky070802 writes "The New York Times reports on Google's success and desire in hiring Ph.D.'s (free registration required). It says that Google's willingness to let every employee spend 20% of his or her time on an independent project is a compelling motivator and that they estimate that Google has as many Ph.D.'s working for it as Microsoft, which is 30 times larger. How many other companies put "Ph.D. a plus" in their want ads?"

34 of 572 comments (clear)

  1. Is a PHD so great? by harryjrsd · · Score: 5, Funny

    BS = (obvious)
    PHD = Piled Higher and Deeper

    1. Re:Is a PHD so great? by fgb · · Score: 2, Funny

      you forgot
      MS = more of the same

    2. Re:Is a PHD so great? by cperciva · · Score: 4, Funny

      So Dad's PhD is a prestige degree - from Oxford, no less.

      Liar. Oxford doesn't give out PhDs.

    3. Re:Is a PHD so great? by TrentTheWiseA · · Score: 2, Funny

      Deeper and deeper still??

    4. Re:Is a PHD so great? by xsupergr0verx · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dr. Phil went to Oxford? I wanna be Miss America!

      --

      Click here for a free picture of an iPod!
    5. Re:Is a PHD so great? by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 2, Funny

      Deeper and deeper still??

      Not what I wanat to hear from my dentist...

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
  2. 700 PHDs? by Quixote · · Score: 4, Funny

    On this page, they claim to have only 50 Pigeon Harvesting Dogs (PHDs). Now they're up to 700? Wow....

  3. or as a guy with a PHD once told me... by Hooya · · Score: 5, Funny

    PHD = Permanent Head Damage

    1. Re:or as a guy with a PHD once told me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      PHD means Passing (with) High Difficulty.

  4. Waitaminute by Prince+Vegeta+SSJ4 · · Score: 3, Funny
    Google is focusing on the wrong aspect, they have got their foot in the door allready, they need to take a page from other big corporations.

    Once you get Ub3r Big and popular you need more JD's

  5. Re:Umm... by EinarH · · Score: 5, Funny
    Errrhhh..

    From Monster.com;
    "Ph.D. a plus" returned: Jobs 1 to 50 of 399

    "MCSE a plus" returned: Jobs 1 to 50 of 503

    --

    Melius mori in libertate quam vivere in servitute.

  6. Re:Is the PHD the best thing? by mgs1000 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Also most employees spend more than 20% of their work time on personal goals anyway.

    Like reading Slashdot?

  7. Re:Is the PHD the best thing? by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 4, Funny

    I spend a good 60-65% of my time at work doing my own projects (and, yesy, about 10-15% of that looking at Slashdot and sites like it). But, I work for the government, and there isn't much to do most of the time...

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  8. Re:Advanced Degrees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Yes, it seems the advanced degree holders get lazy and want to become managers rather than do their specified coding job.

    You just have to give them a kick in the ass every few minutes to flush out their self-importance.

  9. MOD PARENT DOWN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Do any of the mods actually click on the link?

    That link takes you to a registration page. Please mod this one down.

  10. that's odd... by maxbang · · Score: 3, Funny

    I always thought Microsoft had more phd than Google. Wait, is it spelled fud or phd? See? Their phd has already phdded my fragile mind! Ah, phuk 'em.

    --
    I also reply below your current threshold.
  11. Re:PH.d.........BAH HUMBUG by BarryNorton · · Score: 2, Funny

    i'M wiTh yOu man... whaT i need PH.d 4?

    Why should research training and experience - or even basic education - be necessary to develop on an inspired idea?

  12. How many PHBs by lecithin · · Score: 2, Funny

    How many PHBs have PHDs?

    --
    It could be worse, it could be Monday.
  13. Re:Amen by GoofyBoy · · Score: 3, Funny

    You might want to get an extra PhD in "Punctuation and Capitalization in Modern Society".

    --
    The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
  14. Re:Slightly O/T, but... by grassy_knoll · · Score: 5, Funny

    This meant that janitors, cafeteria staff, etc. had to have university degrees to mop floors or serve burgers.



    So the telecom was hiring english majors?


    Badum-ching
  15. Re:PhDs are sort of a double-edged sword by Landaras · · Score: 5, Funny
    Someone told this story on Slashdot regarding over-qualification months (years?) ago...

    Essentially, someone had a Ph.D but was looking for some sort of relatively menial but steady work so he could continue to eat.

    In order to avoid being thrown out for being over-qualified and therefore requiring more pay / risk of leaving for better work, he changed his resume to the still truthful:

    Education
    Diploma: Smalltown High School, 1975

    Hobbies
    B.S in Mechanical Engineering, Foo State University, 1979
    M.S. in Physics, University of Bar, 1981
    Ph.D. in Physics, University of Bar, 1984

    He was hired, and told that his soon-to-be employer "approved of hobbies."

    - Neil Wehneman

  16. Re:Link and Thoughts by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ARGH! I made a website for my mums boss last year. He was such an arsehole. He was convinced that computers were easy to use, programming is easy and all that crap. What topped it off, is despite computers being so easy, the only way he knew of opening outlook was to open internet explorer and click on the envelope at the top. i hate people.

  17. Re:Advanced Degrees by YouHaveSnail · · Score: 4, Funny
    I may be naive seeing as I'm only 20 years old and just getting started in the coding field (at my first job programming, I've been here just over a year), but it definitely seems to me that advanced degress != coding ability/work output.

    Right, that's a pretty common mistake, and I see a lot of newbies make it. In fact, the actual relation is thus:
    advanced degrees = work output * coding ability
  18. Re:PhDs are sort of a double-edged sword by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You SHOULD hire PhD's. In their contract put a clause in that they have to work for you for 10 years, but after that they can pay a lump sum that will allow them to leave their job for another one. This will work, because PhD's spent years being treated like slaves. They won't know the difference.

  19. Re:PhDs are sort of a double-edged sword by keraneuology · · Score: 4, Funny

    PhDs are supposedly experts: somebody who knows more and more about less and less until they eventually know everything there is to know about nothing.

    --
    If the g'vt kept the data on you that google does you'd better believe you'd be calling it "doing evil"
  20. Re:Keeping your employees happy... by Tingler · · Score: 2, Funny

    I believe Gmail came directly out of somone's "free time" - I'll try to find the article...

    Why don't you Google it? :)

  21. recent interview with google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I recently had an interview with google where it was painfully obvious to me that all of the following were true:

    1. That nobody had read my resume
    2. That the technical interviewees hadnt more than a basic understanding of unix or networking
    3. That they took me for a sucker by offering sub-standard salary in exchange for stock and working a 'cool' company.
    4. That the interviewers were more interested in talking about themselves.

    Had they bothered to even read my resume the would have known that I was a veteran dot-commie with several IPOs and founders stock. That I had used the 'we are cool, you want to work here and take sub-standard pay in exchange for stock' line more times than they had and that I knew that this was not 1996 anymore.

    They would have know that I have several patents and that I know the technology that their product is based on better than the interviewer and perhaps would have put their junior interns to interview with me instead of their pretty-boy prestige PHD types who have 0 real world experience.

    Had they read my fucking resume the would have known that I didnt want an entry level job at their 'cool comapny' for a 1/10th the pay I am accustom to and that I would have quickly passed my collegues or done my very best to expose them for the idiots they are.

    Cool changes like the winds off Candle Stick Point google should know this, if they dont, they're in for a nasty suprise once their keystone investors make their returns.

    My is name withheld to keep the idiots in Google's HR department safely blinded by their own ambition and perceived sucess.

  22. Re:One worked for me, and I've worked with others. by gnuLNX · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't worry we woudn't hire you either....to damn bitchy

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    what?
  23. Well sure they have more PHDs by ellem · · Score: 3, Funny

    But home manny MCSEs do they have?

    --
    This .sig is fake but accurate.
  24. Heavy PH.D companies by z3r0w8 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Being a non-degree'd individual, having worked at several places where the "degree" ratio was something like 70% PH.D, 20% MS, 9% BS and 1% non-degreed, I have found that for the most part I worked well there because I could come up with workable, real-world solutions. I often implemented what they think would be a great thing into something that actually would work. I good portion of what PH.D's seem to lack was just common sense and a good assessment of what technology can really do or what you can feasibly do on a real world budget.:) I do remember one company meeting we had to show us the latest presentation management put together to sell our company better because of declining contract awards. They couldn't understand why with so many PH.D's on staff why we weren't getting the lion-share of contracts. When presented with the slide containing the pie chart outlining our degree percentage, it added up to 102% which I (the non-degreed) guy pointed out.

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  25. Re:Link and Thoughts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What's a hash have to do with quicksort. And learn to spell sure. Do you have a PhD?

  26. meanwhile... by flacco · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...i'm looking for a job that says "college drop-out a plus" that doesn't involve cleaning solvents.

    --
    pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
  27. Re:PhDs are sort of a double-edged sword by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 2, Funny

    The guys who have been around for 5 years are either psychotic or illiterate. Or both.

    If they weren't when they got here, they are now.

    --
    "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
  28. Re:Umm... by Cyn · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here at the United States of America Patent Office a vast proportion of the patent examiners have GEDs. It's by no means mandatory but it is almost expected.

    --
    cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.