[maxhe]

I'm a current APM and just went on the trip with Marissa in June. I didn't know her well before the trip. Older APMs spoke highly of her mentorship, but I was expecting her to be less involved with our class simply because she's been doing it for 10 years and things change. Google's a bigger company etc.

But she took time to get to know us, share stories from the Early Days, give advice about the valley, sing karaoke — even with a baby on the way! She seemed genuinely invested in each of us, and it's hard not to reciprocate and respect her for that. I laughed when I read the article because "den mother" is not an unfair characterization :)

But that said, most APMs from my year aren't ready to jump ship to Yahoo!, at least for now.