[gjm11]

Bill Gates was a programmer and used to run Microsoft. Mark Zuckerberg was a programmer and still runs Meta/Facebook. Larry Ellison was a programmer and still runs Oracle.

Maybe you're just pointing out that if you're running a company (beyond a certain size) you are probably spending all your time running the company and therefore aren't really a programmer any more. But isn't it obvious that Spolsky doesn't mean "person whose main activity is writing software" but "person who knows how to write software and has done a substantial amount of that"? Gates, Zuckerberg and Ellison are all programmers in that sense.

[areyousure]

Is Google/Alphabet a software company? Sundar does not know how to program.

[myle]

I don't understand this criticism. Sundar has technical background and great product vision. How many other people have been involved in so successful projects that define the industry like Chrome and Android?

Indeed, Google has hired a lot of people with business background lately to operate large parts of it's business. We should, though, acknowledge that Google operates in many now mature markets where innovation plays secondary role to focusing on existing customer needs.

[VirusNewbie]

He seems lost as well though.

[HWR_14]

I'd say that it also holds true for Apple. It's primarily a hardware company, so have a hardware guy run it.