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Fortune Magazine Profiles MySQL AB
hdtv writes "Fortune magazine profiles MySQL AB, a midsize company with a fairly large footprint. Fortune magazine popped in on another corporate party, which just happened to take place online across countries and continents." From the article: "'When a company is as spread out as this one,' Basil explains, 'you have to think of virtual ways to imitate the dynamics of what goes on in a more familiar employment situation.' That neatly sums up the broader challenge that many companies are confronting: how to nurture a bond among workers who rarely, if ever, meet. Few businesses are as spread out as MySQL, which employs 320 workers in 25 countries, 70 percent of whom work from home."
"I have a very low opinion of human nature, which is that people are both greedy and lazy," declares Michael "Monty" Widenius, co-founder and chief technical officer of MySQL, which is based in Cupertino, Calif. "Of course you have noble people, but they are a small fraction."
Now that's how to gain customers! Insult them in FORTUNE magazine!
You know what they say about companies with big footprints.
They wear big shoes.
Assertions:
Nerds make good software engineers.
A defining characteristics of nerds is that people don't like them.
Nerds are people too.
Conclusion:
Nerds don't like other nerds, and are happier with distance between them.
Here's a novel idea: when you hire someone give them a headset and a free copy of World of Warcraft and subscription. Hold weekly "meetings" where everyone logs on and you discuss talking points while you slay rats and such. I think that even if you are not a gamer, this could still be fun.
Or you could more closely emmulate a real-world meeting with a sandbox game like Second Life and actually create a meeting area. With Second Life you could even show slideshows and stream a video presentation (given that you have the bandwidth for the video since it streams from you and not second life's servers).
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Music should be free
My Computer Music Tutorial Videos
Telecommuting is huge and is obviously growing... I telecommute from home and enjoy it most of the time, but I also despise not going into a noisy office, seeing others, etc. It can be more profitable and beneficial for companies that allow employees to telecommute as well. Costs on infrastructure is saved, equipment costs, etc., Avaya is huge on telecommuting as well: According to the Avaya commissioned IDC Asia Pacific Business Mobility Survey, an overwhelming 70 per cent of Malaysian managers surveyed trust their staff to telecommute, as they feel that the ability to work in various environments encourages employee creativity and consequently productivity. The survey revealed that more than 50 per cent believe that allowing employees to telecommute improves their productivity. The other major benefits of telecommuting cited include enhanced customer service and seizing new business opportunities. source. I also recall reading about their domestic (United States) operations and how much money they've saved and become more productive.
Anyhow back to the article... spot talent among the company's army of volunteers - a minor league for software programmers. I wouldn't agree with that statement in the article. Most software programmers who do open source programming often have professional programming jobs. Calling them "minor league" is off the mark... There are a few other issues with the article as well: Civilians are being enticed to work free. MySQL owes them nothing for their efforts. Contributors are doing work for enjoyment, for getting a good product they can use. MySQL should and probably does show them via acknowledgment appreciation via mentions. I mean think of placing "MySQL Developer" on a resume. It holds weight...
How long can that last? Eventually, it would seem, these hard-working geeks are bound to feel exploited - or migrate to another product's fan club. Even Widenius acknowledges the possibility. For those that do go, others will pop up in their place. Many choose to support this environment because it is beneficial in the long run to them. If I started a SOHO company, why wouldn't I contribute if I'm getting the program for free as opposed to dishing out for Oracle.
"These users have their own needs to satisfy," he says. "Their main motivation is that they are lazy, and once they fix a problem, they want the fix to be in the next version of the software so they don't have to make the same changes again." I wouldn't call the users lazy by reporting problems. I would call them content with getting a good stable product and contributing to the product.
Infiltrated dot Net
I can understand existing without a wife or girlfriend. (This is Slashdot.)
But without parents? The last young bachelor who claimed to be the product of parthenogenesis wound up nailed to a tree.
These days, that's bad for business. Can you imagine trying to explain it to his HMO three days later?
"Few businesses are as spread out as MySQL, which employs 320 workers in 25 countries, 70 percent of whom work from home."
;-)
That's a lot of employees! They need an Oracle db!
the idea here is not profit for greed or pay a ceo millions but to have a job that pays the bills , offers productivity , reward for work and the real face of what socialism will look like as we evolve toward that model . The big corps will not be able to compete and will through evolutionary business practeces cease to exists . True socialism is without a central control head and this gives one an idea how even a country could govern in a true social environment
I bet you that they are also, down to an engineer, a company of very experienced engineers. This sort of organization would be nuts if they had a number of young engineers working for them, the types that would need more experienced people around to help them learn. Or would it make perfectly good sense to a business graduate? If they can't sink or swim, it's just that they really suck, not that they're young and inexperienced!
What would make working in an office a much more enjoyable environment is if there were fewer protections for thin-skinned people and you didn't have to feel like you had to "watch yourself" or an employee could complain like a toddler about hurt feewings to management and get you fired to avert a lawsuit. If people could be themselves more easily while working, that would help a lot.
Its not clear that Michael and Larry are using the same definition of lazy. Larry is clearly talking about the fact that better automation results is less effort.
As for other comments about languages where the coder does not even put in the "{}"s... well go figure.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
They found that 80% of wall clock time was being spent in wait states in about six functions. Redundant lock checking code was also found to spike CPU utilization when loaded with over 100 users. Fixes are expected in CVS shortly.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
/. readers,
The whole idea behind the distributed organisation is an interesting one, and we are very proud to be featured in Fortune Magazine. And we wouldn't be there where it not for the support from our community - so thank you!
As for the quote that was attributed to me, it is not correct word by word. My point was that if you work from your home, it is important that you have some other devotion too, in addition to the company you work for (MySQL in this case). Otherwise you may lose perspective. That other devotion can be nearly anything. For Erik Granström in Sweden it is his family, his sheep farm (yes, he is also a farmer), and writing books.
I would be keen to hear how others deal with this. What tricks and techniques do you have for enjoying working from home, for being productive, for being social with colleagues who are thousands of kilometers/miles away? Let us know!
Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL AB