[tvelichkov]

>> The cost of failing to hire a good engineer is small

I'm not so sure about that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Koum

"In September 2007 Koum and Acton left Yahoo and took a year off, traveling around South America and playing ultimate frisbee. Both applied, and failed, to work at Facebook."

"On February 9, 2014 Zuckerberg asked Koum to have dinner at his home, and formally proposed Koum a deal to join the Facebook board - 10 days later Facebook announced it was acquiring WhatsApp for US$19 Billion USD."

[nolemurs]

It seems unlikely to me that as a full time Facebook engineer Koum would have still had time to create a multi-billion dollar startup.

It also seems unlikely to me that he would have been motivated to put in that work for an employer, or that Facebook would have given him the time or freedom necessary to do it.

If he had been hired, he'd have probably been a fine engineer, but there's really no reason to think he'd have added more value than the next guy. The skillset needed to create a successful startup is not the same as the skillset needed to be an effective engineer at a large company.

[tvelichkov]

Are you saying that Facebook employees are not motivated to work? Or that now after he has been hired, he is not adding any value anymore?

Facebook is a multi-billion dollar startup and its created by the people working there. So it may not be my favorite company, but I give respect to that, and the people working there.

I can't say what's the skillset to be an effective engineer at a large company, but I do believe that it must be a SUBSET of the skillset required to create a successful startup.

[OJFord]

> Facebook is a multi-billion dollar startup

Where 'startup' is used to mean 'hip place to work', I gather?

[vl]

But on the other hand if they had been hired, they just would be middle-level managers or second tier VPs and would not have created WhatsApp.